Hot on the heals of its new twin cam engines Scania in Sweden has announced two new variations to its G25CM and G33CM heavy duty gearboxes designed for use with really heavy applications such as mining, heavy-haulage and trucks that operate under hilly or rough conditions.
The new variants, comewith an “H” (for Heavy) in their designations with the G25CH and G33CH both sharing the virtues and properties of their siblings, but with a sturdier planetary gear.
Scania says the it is now offering what is probably the trucking industry’s smartest combination of robustness, smooth gear shifting and fuel efficiency.
“By adding these options, we are making it even clearer that our XT range and our mining offer mean serious business,” said Stefan Dorski, senior vice president and head of Scania Trucks.
“Their ability to deal with the kind of challenges trucks in heavy-duty operations are facing will make a difference regarding uptime and R&M cost for customers,” Dorski added.
Scania says its latest generation of automated gearboxes is renowned for its technological excellence and when they were introduced in 2020, the gearboxes brought what the company claims to be best-in-class capabilities such as increased fuel and transport efficiency, smooth and fast gear shifting and reduced weight.
The company said that one of their main virtues is the wide gear ratio spread that together with the relevant rear axle gearing makes sure that the engine can work on low revs while also providing its full torque.
“Scania’s heavy-duty offer has never been stronger, not only do we offer a full line-up of engine options but this addition, in combination with our wide axle range, means we can cater even better to the most demanding and heavy applications in the trucking industry,” said Eduardo Landeo, product manager at Scania Trucks.
Scania says that heavy-duty truck combinations with high gross train weights typically use 6×4 rear bogie axles with “short” gearing of 3.5:1 and higher or sometimes much higher.
In hilly conditions or with high rolling resistance, this puts a lot of stress on the outgoing axle in the gearbox, however the short gearing, typically in combination with hub reduction axles, is beneficial for take-off and starting the vehicle, making the truck more powerful but also leading to higher engine revs at cruising speed according to Scania.
Scania’s striving for low engine revs and favourable fuel consumption, means the trick is to find the optimal balance between the rear axle gearing and the actual operation the company said. This means that the properties of its heavy-duty gearboxes will enable more trucks to be able to now use a faster gearing while still having all the margins on their side.
The G-range for Scania Opticruise was introduced in 2020 and set new standards for the industry as it was 60 kg lighter than its predecessor,thanks to its all-aluminium housing and smaller dimension, while it also offered lowered noise levels.
Scania says that the G-range helps operators save fuel through its reduced internal friction and by only having two synchronisers, since it uses pneumatic actuators and shaft brakes (three in total). When working with a smart engine management system, such the Super-based powertrain, the G-range is instrumental for swift and accurate gear shifting according to the company.
