Axtec, the UK’s leading specialist in axle weighing technology, says its latest test-weight tractor and trailer combination – featuring a new DAF XF 480 4×2 tractor with Super Space Cab – will prove indispensable for operators seeking to maximise vehicle utilisation.
The truck, supplied by DAF Dealer Lancashire DAF, is complete with a bespoke step-frame trailer engineered and refurbished by Truck Services Sandbach Ltd. Axtec has provided a Weighbridge Test Vehicle since 1997 and reports that the equipment has faithfully delivered highly accurate, reliable results time after time, and with the ultimate goal of keeping operators’ vehicles safe, reliable and legal.
The truck and trailer – the only one of its type in the UK – is used to calibrate and check the accuracy of new or existing Dynamic Weighbridges and to ensure that equipment is performing to Axtec’s exacting standards.
A new, all-steel suspension trailer is due for delivery in March and will replace the refurbished step-frame trailer. An all-steel set-up is an essential requirement because air suspension can mask a maladjustment in a dynamic weighbridge, and so the regulations insist that the test vehicle must have steel suspension on all bogie axles.
“Our new test vehicle provides us with a reliable, flexible and highly accurate method of testing and calibration – anywhere in the country,” said Axtec Managing Director, Keith Gresham, “and it’s proved a vital piece of kit for over 20 years. Our latest DAF XF will ensure we can continue to deliver high service levels for our customers for many years to come.”
Axtec’s latest Series 5000 Dynamic Axle Weighbridge now has approval to Class 0.2, giving an accuracy of +0.1%, and capable of checking all six axles of a tractor / trailer combination, plus gross vehicle weights, in just 40 seconds. Even with its previous Class 0.5 Approval rating, Axtec’s Series 5000 was the most accurate dynamic weighbridge on the market, thus permitting its use as a Public Weighbridge.
Axtec’s ‘dynamic’ axle weighbridge avoids the effects that stopping and starting have on compensating axles which can lead to inaccurate weighing. Axtec’s equipment is the most accurate of its type in the world. Accordingly, Axtec is contracted by the DVSA (and has been for over 20 years) to maintain its entire UK network of 55 roadside enforcement weighbridges.
