Allison Is The Safe, Easy Choice For Road Maintenance Crews

March 30, 2009 - PRLog -- Road maintenance duties are extremely diverse. The truck fleets run by local authorities, The Highways Agency and their contractors, serve motorists and local communities in various ways, from patrolling the motorways heavily laden with contingency emergency equipment, to driving in posts for safety barriers and filling in potholes along country lanes, to provide just a few examples.  

In assessing how the myriad of needs can be met as safely and efficiently as possible, there is a rigorous review of duty cycles to make, involving months of research by fleet managers and procurement teams. With no ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach available, it should come as some comfort to this market that Allison’s fully automatic gearbox is trusted across many different vehicle applications.  Managers and crews from The Highways Agency have been running vehicles equipped with Allison fully automatic transmissions following new vehicle acquisitions last year, and share their story.

Highways Agency’s Mercedes Econics keep the North West moving
Supporting an incident on one of the nation’s largest, busiest and increasingly congested road networks – the 310 miles of motorway and trunk road carriageway (and over 2500 structures) throughout Greater Manchester, Cheshire, Merseyside and southern parts of Lancashire – requires reliability, ease of use and high levels of safety. To design a new Incident Support Unit (ISU) for the Highways Agency and the emergency services, a major joint venture, Aone+, has been created, combining the skills of three leading performers in the market; Halcrow Group, Colas, and Costain Group.

The ISU has selected 25 Allison-equipped Mercedes Econics to deliver an enhanced on-call emergency service, typically involving rapid response to incident management tasks such as setting up lane closures so that spillages or debris left on the carriageway are cleared safely.

Low Speed Manoeuvrability
The Econics’ MB – OM906LA engine (providing 280 BHP and 1100Nm of torque) is complimented by Allison’s 6-Speed 3000 Series automatic transmission, complete with retarder. The transmission transfers engine power smoothly and efficiently with very little loss even in constant stop-go traffic. “Allison’s fully automatic transmission offers inch-perfect movement at an incident scene allowing the driver to keep both hands on the wheel for increased control. Because of the stop-start nature of our work, automatics are also ideal when requiring crawler gears,” adds Purfield.
T
he Allison transmission allows the drivers to keep both hands on the wheel, and incorporates Adaptive Controls, which adjust shift points based on drivers’ behaviour, load, and operating conditions.  The Adaptive Controls ensure optimum shift points are achieved, and when combined with smooth powershifting, strain through the drivetrain is minimised to offer increased reliability. “The net result is that the controls protect the powertrain by keeping the truck working with excellent drivability. Not only is the maintenance team happy, but also the ISU responders like using the transmission too,” adds Purfield.

Economical in the long term
Instead of servicing with traditional automatic transmission fluids at 12,000 miles, Purfield will evaluate Allison’s TranSynd™ transmission fluid, which enables longer intervals at a reduced cost.

With TranSynd™, gearbox oil changes are undertaken at 150,000 miles, 4,000 hours or 48 months (whichever occurs first) and new filters at 75,000 miles, 3,000 hours or 36 months (whichever occurs first). “Such attention to detail with the transmission oil will help us reduce downtime in the fleet,” adds Purfield.

Thus far, there have been no issues or problems with reliability. "This is a safety critical choice. Virtues such as ease of use and reliability with an Allison automatic are welcome by-products,” continues Purfield.

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About Allison Transmission, Inc.
Allison Transmission, Inc. (Allison) is the premier global provider of commercial duty automatic transmissions and hybrid propulsion systems. Allison products are specified by over 250 of the world’s leading vehicle manufacturers and are used in many market sectors including bus, refuse, fire, construction, distribution, military and specialty applications. Founded in 1915, the Allison business is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.A. and employs approximately 2,700 people. Regional headquarters with dedicated support staff are located in China, The Netherlands, Brazil, India and Japan. With a global presence in 80 countries, Allison has over 1,500 distributor and dealer locations. More information about Allison is available at www.allisontransmission.com.