Need greater versatility? Thompsons creates bespoke tar bodies for Gem Contracts’ new ’20 reg’ tippers

Latest News | 17th Mar

The issue: tippers doing tar work need insulated bodies to keep the load hot. Insulation adds weight, so the bodies are constructed not in steel but in lighter aluminium. However, aluminium is less durable than steel, which therefore limits the type of loads that the truck can carry, reducing its operating versatility. So what’s the solution?

Answer – turn to Thompsons.

And that’s exactly what Gary Morgan of GEM Contracts Ltd of Stirling did for his latest two ’20 reg’ Scania G500 tippers.

Gary says,

“If anyone can come up with an ideal tar body, it’s Thompsons. We bought our first body from Thompsons Scotland a couple of years ago, and it’s been absolutely fault – free with zero downtime. It’s been a perfect product for the job, but now we need to take our trucks a stage further to be similarly successful over a wider range of tasks. So we asked David Penman and his team at Thompsons Edinburgh to give us an optimum bodywork solution.”

Which they duly did, producing two carefully reconfigured bodies mounted on a pair of top – spec sleeper cabbed G500 Scania 8×4 chassis. Despite Gary’s new Tarmac – liveried trucks looking very similar to other examples of the genre, their bodies are different in one key area – the inclusion of a 3.2mm thick steel Hardox floor liner that essentially makes them a highly innovative composite design built in both alloy and steel.

Whilst the floor liner adds to the vehicle’s unladen weight, Gary has offset around 240kgs of this by fitting the Scanias with alloy wheels, as well as a lightweight Edbro CX15 front end cylinder. Empty, the trucks tip the scales at a very respectable 12,400 kgs, thereby allowing a carrying capacity of over 19.5 tonnes.

Gary adds,

“Now equally suited to carrying tar, aggregates and heavier stone products, these new Thompsons bodies significantly extend the range of what our trucks can do. What’s ultimately important to us is a tipper’s whole life costs. This latest body spec promises an increased capacity for work over a pure alloy design, but without the risk of extra maintenance costs or unplanned downtime. Residual values are important too, so we are now investing in trucks that should give us the maximum possible return when we come to sell them.

Thompsons Edinburgh really are masters of their craft, and we’ve already ordered a fifth body from them for our next vehicle due for delivery in September. At that point, all our tippers will be 100% Thompsons!”

Speaking for Thompsons Tippers Scotland, factory manager David Penman comments,

“We’re delighted to have come up with an ideal solution for Gary’s needs. These new bodies demonstrate not only how Thompsons continually evolves its products to meet changing patterns of truck operation, but also that we place particular emphasis on working closely with our customers to really understand and deliver on their requirements.”

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