Junee Shire Council maintains its roads with heavy-duty Hino tippers.
Junee is a famous railway town on the main line halfway between Sydney and Melbourne in New South Wales.
Its rugby league club is even named after trains. Former Junee Diesels players who have gone on to bigger things include NSW State of Origin coach Laurie Daley and former Reserve Bank Governor Bernie Fraser.
But it is diesels of a different sort that have impressed Junee Shire Council lately.
The council has over 800km of gravel and sealed roads to maintain, and in February bought two Hino 700 Series FS 2848 heavy duty units through Wagga Trucks.
The FS 2848s were fitted with steel tipping bodies prior to delivery and tow dog trailers in 48-tonne configuration.
They have Hendrickson HAS airbag suspension, ProShift 16-speed automated manual transmission (AMT) and 480Hp (353kW) 2,157Nm intercooled 6 cylinder turbo-diesel engines.
Junee Shire Council’s works engineer Peter Harris rates the 700 Series Hinos as high-spec and good value for money.
“The FS 2848s also had the right wheelbase for the 48-tonne capacity we needed, and we didn’t have to spend any money on chassis modifications,” Harris says.
“The ProShift 16 AMT acts like a true automatic transmission. It takes the guesswork out of driving.
“The way the transmission’s auxiliary intarder brake works is phenomenal. It’s not just off or on like on some other trucks, and it has the ability to almost fully brake the truck.”