A fruitful collaboration
The best ideas come from working together. A good example of this is a cooperation project between MAN TopUsed and the Kirchheim service outlet, which has seen an MAN TGX HydroDrive converted into a new agricultural truck for Henning Landwirtschaft und Bioenergie in just five days.
What brings a used MAN TGX HydroDrive to the countryside? It all started out with a request from a customer. The company Henning Landwirtschaft und Bioenergie was looking for a vehicle that could be relied on to make short trips, for example to transport chaff to the local biogas plant. Hakim Erol from MAN TopUsed/Used Truck Sales took advantage of MAN’s excellent internal network and immediately set about trying to find a suitable solution for Henning.
Erol called on Andreas Bickhard from MAN Service for the technical implementation work. Together with the professionals from the workshop, they got an unprecedented project up and running. The team quickly opted for a used MAN TGX HydroDrive as the base vehicle for the customer’s field operations, making for a smooth driving experience even in this agricultural setting. “The MAN HydroDrive can show off its strengths to the full when loading operations in the field are combined with overland journeys of a maximum of 15-20 minutes. It achieves enormous fuel savings on the road compared to a conventional permanent or part-time all-wheel drive vehicle,” explains Andreas Bickhard.
The conversion work for the MAN TGX HydroDrive took only 5 days. The new tyre combination with 445/65 R 22.5 V on the front axle and 600/50 R 22.5 H on the rear axle guarantees a high degree of tractive output in an off-road setting and efficient transportation on roads. The vehicle’s 60 km/h speed limitation allows it to be driven by someone with a class T driving licence. The wide-bodied front axle of the MAN HydroDrive posed a particular challenge for the workshop team. To strike the right balance between off-road capability, steerability and overall vehicle width, the front wheel arches were modified, and the steering angle adjusted.
The result exceeds all expectations, with MAN’s customer and its drivers now benefiting from an outstanding degree of driving safety and tilt stability as well as incredible efficiency gains – something that is unheard of in the agricultural sector. “Compared to a tractor, our MAN agricultural truck consumes 8-9 litres less per operating hour. That is simply unbeatable in these types of applications,” Andreas Bickhard reports, with a hint of pride.
Outstanding feedback from the field
“Economically, the new truck is streets ahead,” confirms driver Nico Stiebing, who has been with Henning since 2017. The 22-year-old usually uses the MAN for manure transport and for forage harvester transportation tasks, and is very satisfied with the new solution:
“The benefits of this vehicle compared to the tractor-trailer combinations we used previously are the significant improvement in driving comfort, the ability to brake using the retarder, which is not available in tractors, as well as the ability to transport loads quickly even in hilly terrain thanks to the impressive engine power.”
He also explains that the MAN is well-suited to off-road use thanks to the tyre conversion and can easily hold its own against the tractor-trailer combination in dry ground conditions.
The positive feedback from the team at Henning is, of course, particularly pleasing for the project team that sent the MAN agricultural truck into the field. In this case, the seeds of excellent networking certainly took root in Kirchheim.