Hino 700

John T Carroll

I saw my first Hino artic (for years) in Cork today, it was a Hino 700 of Vanfleet Transport and had a 12D Reg., it was delivering to Dunnes in Ballyvolane.
Are Hino still selling trucks/tractor units in Ireland??, the last Hino tractor unit that I saw in Cork was belong to Hennessy Transport of Ballineen, I don't think they have any of them now. Cork County Council used to run a lot of the smaller units a good few years ago.
If they are still selling them here then why do they seem to have fallen from favour?, any truck drivers that I spoke to over the years said that the cab would rust away but mechanically were very sound.
That Hino 700 looks to be a good lump of a unit and is probably around 450 BHP.

jimgoose

Hino trucks were all over the place in the '70s/'80s. I haven't actually seen one for years! :cool:

foxy farmer

Robert Pino Harris is the main importer for Hino here. Based in the Naas rd in Dublin. A readymix firm not to far from me has a few of them. Defo very popular back in the 70's and 80s.

ofcork

There are a few dealers in ireland still dennehys in carrigtohill being one,hennessys run mostly daf i belive from the ones ive seen.

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

Crumbs868

Still probably the most popular tipper(plenty of 14x and 15x regs about)

In terms of artics, as far as I know vanfleet would be only one of handful that had artics since the mid 90s(a concrete company also has a few).

They are assembled on the naas road by pino Harris

dieselbug

Is there an issue with them not meeting emission standards. Spoke to someone recently who had the opinion that they are not allowed to be sold in the UK for this reason.
No idea if that's true or not.

Crumbs868

dieselbug wrote: »

Is there an issue with them not meeting emission standards. Spoke to someone recently who had the opinion that they are not allowed to be sold in the UK for this reason.
No idea if that's true or not.

After Foden shut up shop harris(also has the rights to the UK) teamed up with a lot of the old Foden dealers in the UK. They did gain a small bit of ground there but not sure these days

CIP4

The interior of the cabs on the cabs of the hino 700 series always looked a lot more basic than equivalent Scania and Volvo in particular. It kind of seemed like a stripped out budget version.

Gavman84

My dad drove trucks for years the fleet was all Volvo but one fella didn't like them so he gad a hino artic. Can't remember the model around early 90's but jaysus they were horrible looking and a was not reliable either! He got a scania after that. Love the Volvo trucks myself always out with my dad in them.

John T Carroll

CIP4 wrote: »

The interior of the cabs on the cabs of the hino 700 series always looked a lot more basic than equivalent Scania and Volvo in particular. It kind of seemed like a stripped out budget version.

Yes, the one I saw didnt have any sleeper bunk in it as far as I could see, still I suppose its horses for courses, I vividly remember that all the "big trucks" in all the UK ports I used to be in and out of in the late 60s and early 70s almost all had a Gardner 180 in the front.

dieselbug

John T Carroll wrote: »

Yes, the one I saw didnt have any sleeper bunk in it as far as I could see, still I suppose its horses for courses, I vividly remember that all the "big trucks" in all the UK ports I used to be in and out of in the late 60s and early 70s almost all had a Gardner 180 in the front.

Ah yes Gardner engines, wooden framed fibreglass cabs and an AEC 760 was king of the road.

colm_mcm

These are 4 cylinder?

John T Carroll

The 180 was a 6 cylinder normally aspirated engine.

dieselbug

Looks like about 20ish dealers in UK according to the Harris website with 7 in the Republic and 2 listed in NI.

Little or no mention or promotion of artics just rigids.

http://www.hino.ie/ContentBuilder/DisplayPage.aspx?DataId=DA000054

Going back to the 70's & 80's they were very popular I remember at the time (it was during another recession) it was said you could walk in without an arse in your pants and drive out a new Hino such was the finance arrangements then.

Going back to the Gardner There was two six cylinder engines and a straight eight cylinder fitted to trucks that I crossed paths with.

Gardner 150, LX engine. The 180, LXB engine and the 240, HLXB was a straight eight cylinder.

They were a low compression, low revving governed engine.
Drivers would complain that they performed the same whether loaded or empty.

9935452

dieselbug wrote: »

Is there an issue with them not meeting emission standards. Spoke to someone recently who had the opinion that they are not allowed to be sold in the UK for this reason.
No idea if that's true or not.

i was always told that the reason hinos were popular in 70/80/90s was the exchange rate to japanese yen was very good so made them cheaper than other manufacturers .
then the exchange rates changed in the 90s which made the trucks dearer

Shannon757

I see a Joe Mcgrath in Tulla hauling sand about. O6-07 reg I think.

Nekarsulm

There were a good few Hino artics pulling animal feedstuffs to and from the local Co Op back in the early 80's. I remember the only fault lads remarked on was that first gear could have been a bit lower, as there was a steep slope up out of the creamery meal yard.

cargo

I recall seeing a fairly new one pulling bottles of gas around a few months ago. i.e. one of the private operators delivering the small bottles to shops. Little short unit (no sleeper) with a short trailer behind also.

John T Carroll

colm_mcm wrote: »

These are 4 cylinder?

A UK friend of mine had a 4 cylinder, a 4LW?, in a fishing/pleasure boat, this particular engine was hand crank started but the decompression set up also incorporated a starting assist, each cylinder had 3 stage individual decompression levers acting on the inlet valves. To start, you put all the levers to full decompression, you then cranked the engine up and put one of the decompression levers to stage 2, this gave the inlet valve(s) a very big tappet clearance and had the effect of making the inlet valve close earlier giving maximum compression with higher compression temperatures and easier starting. Once it started you then put the same decompression lever to stage 3 which gave the inlet valve its normal "10 thou" clearance or whatever and the valve timing returned to normal, you then just put the other 3 cylinder levers to stage2 I think, then very quicky moved them to stage 3. This was a patented Gardner design and in my opinion anyway was fairly clever. I was on this boat a number of times and it certainly started very easily the few times that I cranked it, admittedly in the summer months.

yourpics

Very popular for tipper work, cement mixers, hook loaders etc

Very strong, great for that type of work construction etc

Easier on diesel than alot of competitors and if driven properly you only have to replace the brake linings (use engine brake).

They used to say if you have to drive a Hino make sure you are not seen, but I wouldnt agree, great truck, underrated and written off by too many.

Still my pick of the trucks!

As regards artics, these days they are a rarity, only Vanfleet that I see with them.
There is some regulation than oil tankers have to be builtin Europe so that has ruled them out for oil tanker work!