Bragg buys dual lane

The wide range of road and permit regulations around the world often requires a special trailer design to allow the trailer access to the national road system or to maximise its use and capacity. US roads, with many regulations differing even from one state to another, are a perfect example.

Scheuerle, a German specialist trailer manufacturer for heavy and oversized loads, has, with its North American representative, Transport Systems & Products, Inc., drawn up a design that meets those different US regulations and that offers the highest capacity due to its dual lane design.

The WideCombi is yet another type in the Combi range of hydraulic modular trailers and, by that, also offers all the possibilities of a modular trailer. WideCombi is produced in standard modules of two or four axle lines. Each line has two widely spread pendulum axles, each with four 235/75 R17.5 tyres. Axle spacing is 2,745 mm. All axles offer mechanical steering with a maximum steering angle of 60 degrees.

Due to the dual lane design, the standard WideCombi is 4,800 mm (15 feet) wide. By splitting the longitudinal centre beam and inserting spacers, trailer width increases to 5,486 mm (18 feet) in the X-version and to 6,095 mm (20 feet) in the XL version.

The modular design of the WideCombi allows for 6-, 8-, 10- and 12-axle line combinations. As standard the trailer is operated with an hydraulic adjustable gooseneck for four-axle tractors. An hydraulic powerpack on the gooseneck powers the hydraulic system, including the hydraulic suspension that also allows self loading and discharging. Loading height is 1,240 mm but the hydraulic suspension offers an adjustable height of +/- 325 mm.

As an option the WideCombi can also have a drawbar coupling element instead of the gooseneck. Another option is the addition of a lowbed to create a 4-bed-6 line trailer.

The WideCombi carries 18,150 kg (40,000 pounds) or 23,500 kg (51,810 pounds) at, respectively, 96 km/h (60 mph) or 40 km/h (25 mph) with applicable fifth wheel loadings of, respectively, 26,000 kg (57,320 pounds) and 33,430 kg (73,700 pounds). Maximum payload capacity for a 12-line trailer is 180,400 kg (397,790 pounds) at 96 km/h (60 mph) or 252,030 kg (555,650 pounds) at 40 km/h (25 mph).

Bragg Heavy Transport, Inc. will operate a total of 10-axle lines, together with a lowbed, from the company's Long Beach, California, US operation.