Case Study – Low Approach Slide Bed System
Opportunity – The vehicle recovery market has traditionally been supplied with hydraulic slide bed type vehicles for many years, these generally give an approach angle of between 7 -9 degrees depending on chassis and body length. This angle has been fine for the traditional type of vehicles but over recent years many cars are being fit with front end spoilers to make them handle better and improve fuel economy, these spoilers make the ground clearance very low and foul and become damaged when being loaded onto this type of vehicle.
The industry recognised the issue and developed low approach slide bed using either rack and pinion drives with hydraulic motors, or cable and pulley systems. Both of these methods are complex, heavy and need regular maintenance and are expensive. Because of the weight they are limited to use on only larger chassis so making the overall cost of operation prohibitive for many operators.
Working closely with our long standing customer Powertec, C&C Hydraulics helped to develop the concept through to final product. The complete system has been designed and tested using the very latest Solid Works 3D CAD allowing the optimisation of weight and strength by carrying out a full structural analysis during the development process. After this the system went through rigorous testing with actual loads to verify the products suitability for the market place. Once the whole system had been proven we then applied for a patent to ensure the technology used was protected.
The product differs vastly from other similar offerings in the fact that it uses very simple technology married to a new concept we call SPA, this is the sliding pivotal alignment system that makes the product work so well. The benefits are tremendous:
- Lowest approach angle
- Lowest weight
- Simple to use
- Low Maintenance
- Low operational costs
- Safer to operate
Ladyroyd Garage of Bradford have just taken delivery of a So-Low fitted to an Iveco 72C17 chassis, the owners comments speak for themselves “ It’s unbelievably simple to use with the specially designed safety features and can carry a 3000kg payload it’s what the market needed” In fact the customer is so impressed he is looking at ordering another one.
The new design is available in 4000kg, 6000kg 8000kg and 10,000kg capacities
Patent Application 1601627.1