Under the name of the Construction-series, DAF offers a line of heavy-duty chassis-cabs, developed and built for the construction business. These are trucks that have to go off-road frequently, transporting heavy loads. I caught two of them recently, a CF 8×4 and its smaller family member, an LF 4×2.
Across Europe, traditional 8×4 truck chassis with a day cab are highly common. These are offered by all European manufacturers and are mainly used as the underpinnings for dump trucks and concrete mixer trucks. Such chassis are also often equipped with any type of container roll-on/roll-off system (hook-lift, chains, cables).
This 2017 CF Construction demo truck has a Meiller dump bed. Meiller is a Munich-based family business, dating back to 1850. The truck is powered by the 12.9 liter MX-13 engine, 480 hp.
Standard CF vs CF Construction. Thanks to its straight front axles, the Construction gets much more ground clearance. It also has a steel bumper, in three separate easy-to-replace parts, and a steel skid plate to protect the radiator.
In the Netherlands, this 8×4 is rated at a legal maximum gross weight of 37,000 kg (81,571 lbs). That’s the sum of the maximum axle loads, from front to back: 9,000 kg – 9,000 kg – 9,500 kg – 9,500 kg. Front axles with a 10 metric tons rating are also available.
The CF Construction is also offered as a 6×4 and 10×4 chassis. The latter (GVM 49 metric tons) gets a third steering axle, which is also liftable. The axle conversion is done by the Estepe company. The rear tandem is the same for all axle configurations.
An 8×4 chassis with a powerful engine is of course also ideal to tow a heavy drawbar trailer. Such dump trucks are often hooked up to a low bed trailer for transporting heavy machinery.
Now to the CF’s cute little brother, the LF Construction.
The LF-series is DAF’s lightest truck model. The tilt cab is an example of cab sharing at its finest, as it’s also used by Renault (D-series), Volvo (FL-series), Kenworth (K270 and K370) and Peterbilt (220-series). As far as I know, all cabs are built by Renault.
The 290 hp, 2017 LF 4×2 dump truck gets its power from the 6.7 liter PX-7 engine. Developed and built by Cummins. That sounds familiar? Our man in the field, Jim Klein, drove a RAM 3500 with the same power unit under its hood.
Unlike the RAM 3500, the DAF is completely unsuitable as a plush Family Truck(ster). On the other hand, the DAF does have a GVM-rating of 19,000 kg (41,888 lbs). Serious business in this truck segment!
Yet another Meiller product, a three-way dump bed in this case.
The truck’s payload capacity is 11,485 kg (25,320 lbs). That’s around 7.7 m³ (272 ft³) of dry sand…
…so now you can calculate how many wheel barrow rides that are. Pictured an 80 liter Ford Fort (excessive overloading is no issue), just a randomly chosen starting point.
Greetings from the PACCAR-family. From the US, a Kenworth T680 and a Peterbilt 579.
Related CC Global articles:
2016 DAF CF 8×4 Truck – No Concrete Plans This Weekend
2003 DAF CF 85.380 8×4 Truck – The Demolition Men Have Arrived
2019 Ginaf X6 4243 S – Desperado, The Blazing Asphalt Hauler
What is the turning radius of that 10×4?
Around 23 – 25 m (75 – 82 ft). There are 10×4 chassis with a substantially less turning radius (even < 20 m), but then you must have 4 steering axles instead of 3.
See here for a few examples:
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/cc-global-terberg-man-and-ginaf-10×4-dump-trucks-heavyweight-champions/
Very impressed by the design of these. Well engineered and attractive rigs. Thank you for this post!
Righto Mr D, a few questions (as ever).
Does the 8×4 definition refer to the 8 driven wheels at the back?
Secondly, I can sort-of understand why there’d be a need for more than one driven axle in Northern Europe, but why elsewhere?
Finally, the disc brakes on the back axles of the DAF in the cut-away really got my attention: I had no idea discs were used on trucks. And are they also on the front axle(s)?
The truck has 8 wheels in total, never mind the dual wheels on the rear axles, just count them as single wheels; 4 of them are driven (on the rear tandem). Hence: 8×4.
Other options for a chassis with 4 axles (thus 8 wheels): 8×2, 8×6 and 8×8.
The soil is very soft here and the trucks are heavy, 4×4, 6×6, 8×8 and 10×8 on-/off-road chassis are quite common. If you want to go all the way, you can call Tatra for a 10×10 truck. That’s the Tatra Phoenix with a DAF cab (CF-series) and engine, example below. Legal maximum gross weight 50,000 kg – 4 steering axles, as can be seen in the picture.
Disc brakes (all around) have become a common item on heavy trucks and tractors in the more recent past.
Thanks for that. Man, that Tatra is amazing. The only thing not powered or moveable on it is probably the badge (and even there, might be a flipaway on the James Bond edition!)
And since it’s a Tatra, it naturally comes with a backbone tube chassis.
Video of a 6×6:
Discs are common if not standard now on trucks and trailers EBS ABS & EPBS systems are standard stability control systems activated by sensors in the truck but acting on the trailer brakes are old tech brake coding on combination vehicles has been around for decades meaning when the service brake is applied the combination begins braking at the rearmost axles first helping to prevent jack-kinfe situations occuring, car tech has some catching up yet to do.
Its a 8 wheel truck Wheels are eith single or twin tyred hence 8×4 is 8 in total 4 driven wheels.
We had an 8 wheel ex tipper on the milk the tipping deck is on twistlocks it and the noist are simply removed and a tank twist locked on it was a day cab reasonably roomy for the driver but also it had a AMT transmission 16 speed not manual 18 which hampered it some but the chassis and axles were the same as the other trucks which are all stock trucks when not on tanker duty yes with full steel bumpers and skid plate BUT and its a big mistake the brake activaqtion airline is the lowest point on the L/F side of a DAF CF right behind the bumper and they get broken easily according to the mechanic who repaired one that broke of for me one morning. Usually a truck like this over here anyway will pull a 8 or 10 wheel tipping drawbar trailer and be rated 50-54 Tonnes HPMV and 510 hp not the lesser 480 or 460.
Funny how the design of the LF cab was used not only by various brands, but on various classes of truck too.
Starting from the small Midlum, the LF an the Volvo FL, up to the now discontinued Renault Premium