Bent Gordon here..:-))))))) love it

What i know of Allisons is that they are tough durable boxes and failure is extremely rare...and i'd much rather have one in my steed than ZF's awful AS tronic...if you put an R between the A&S and an E after the S you'll know what lorry drivers call them.

I suspect any design of engine or box could be destroyed by deliberate abuse, if the (correct volume of) transmission oil that was drained out of the ruined box was burned, as against still good oil being contaminated by detritus from the box breaking up, then it does tend to point to abuse.

Is the tip particularly bad where getting stuck and having to give the vehicle serious welly a particular issue, that's about the only possible normal scenraio where i know from experience serious damage can happen, especially in poorly specified vehicles not up to the job.

I would have thought the vehicles would have been under R&M contract, but as you mention the fitters (not the dealer or workshops where you would speak to service manager/reception) are they bought and maintained in house, if R&M doesn't apply its going to be expensive.

PS, should have bought Dennis.

Edited by gordonbennet on 07/12/2015 at 10:36

Alexander Dennis build bus bodies in Falkirk & I think Scarborough - the chassis/engines all seem to some from Sweden & Germany.

The tip isn't any problem as it's a concrete structure and we tip down in to a pit as it's a incinerator.

PersonallyI think it was a duff gearbox but the fitters don't know why it failed so are trying to blame the driver.

In a previous life i used to tip regularly at Biffa's site near Beaconsfield and at another one near Denham, Biffa's in particular was really heavy going and i had completely the wrong specified vehicle, a Sedd Ack double drive never in a million years designed for such heavy tip work, small International engine (designed for a track layer with infinite gearing hydraulic drive) and for good measure the wrong 6 speed gearbox with a too high first gear, no crawler or low range.

Had no choice but to enter the axle deep slurry and muck flat out in first gear in order to keep the turbo spooling or she'd die if the revs dropped, far too fast for the conditons, did this day in day out up to 6 times a day on the two year contract, ended up ripping the whole suspension off the rear live axle, luckily we had an old school mechanic who rebuilt it to his own brick outhouse standards and it never broke again, then Northampton Diesels breathed on the pump resulting in massive torque where it was needed at the bottom rev range, ending up with the vehicle it should have been specified as.

Eventually that was retired and a Leyland Constructor took its place, that thing could go virtually anywhere the track layer or compactor could go, superb vehicle for the job with the best brakes on a lorry i've known, including today some 35 years later.

I should think the oil from the gearbox will tell its own story, that would be my defence, if its been drained and got rid of where's the evidence of abuse.

Edited by gordonbennet on 07/12/2015 at 20:42