Pumpa Engineering - Lusty Australia Extendible Trailers

Pumpa Engineering manufactures a large range of Lusty Australia trailers.

Longer Lorry lightens the load

BlueScope Lysaght's New South Wales operation has commissioned the longest trailer of its type in Australia to enable it to deliver steel building products in 40 metre lengths.

The massive $135,000 rear steer trailer was designed to extend from 14.8 metres to a huge 40 metres, giving the flexibility to deliver the maximum length of material that can be handled safely on-site.

The trailer can be pulled by a conventional prime mover, and has the capacity to transport loads of up to 10 tonnes double the previous trailer's capacity.

According to Michael Meehan, BlueScope Lysaght's NSW Regional General Manager, the new trailer will result in a quantum improvement in BlueScope Lysaght's service offer.

"It's just fantastic," he says. "Being able to order product in 40 metre lengths is a huge advantage in building and architectural terms eliminating the need for inconvenient and unattractive joins and seams in walls and roofs."

Getting 40 metre lengths delivered to site offers a further advantage in terms of flexibility of supply, says Michael: "Unlike situations where product is roll-formed on site, we can deliver to suit the customer.

"If they need some of the product this week, and some of the product in a few weeks' time, that's not a problem. When profiles are rolled on site - you've got to do it all in one hit, which can create storage problems if you don't need to use all of the material at once."

According to Michael, another advantage of site delivery, as opposed to roll-forming on-site, is the quality. "All of our products are manufactured in controlled factory conditions, ensuring optimum quality," he says. "Unless you have very good processes, it's the only way you can guarantee a perfectly consistent product."

The increased capacity of the trailer will also cut down on delivery costs - as much larger loads can be delivered to customers. "This new trailer has twice the capacity of the old trailers, which basically amounts to half as many trips. This represents considerable transport cost savings to our customers," says Michael.

"The trailer extends by means of its unique box section steel chassis. The chassis consists of four large box sections, which telescope to extend the chassis to the full 40 metres. The sections can all retract to make a shorter 14.8 metre trailer."

"Every box section opens individually with airoperated rams. When you pull the button, the rams open the large pin holding the section closed. Once the section is open, you then apply the brakes to the trailer, put the prime mover into a low gear and proceed forward. As you move forward the trailer extends."

The box sections also provide greater strength to the chassis, especially when compared to the standard two-rail trailer chassis. When fully extended, the distance between the trailer's front and back wheels is a huge 30 metres.