Volvo VNM
Daycab tractor is a nimble partner for a long, heavy lowboy.
By Tom Berg

Easy Going

Kevin Thomas, 35, and Kenneth Thomas, 30, grew up on a farm where they learned to operate equipment and work long hours. "We have a lot of pride in our family," Kenneth says, "pride in doing things right. It was instilled in us by our father and grandfather." Kenneth got a degree in finance and worked as an internal auditor for 3M Corp. in Minneapolis for three years. But the lure of home and family drew him back to North Carolina. With a business plan he had done as a college class project, he and Kevin set up their truck washing and ferrying company in November 1988. It's been go-go since.

Drive a long-haul Volvo? Go get yourself a chain saw and chop off its sleeper, then plug up the hole in the rear of the cab. What you'll end up with will resemble the VN tractor you see here. From the doors forward you'd think you were in a VN-660, until you went to make a turn. Then the short wheelbase would tell you otherwise.

This daycab tractor was among the vehicles on display at the recent introduction of Volvo's new heavy-duty VHD. Meant for construction jobs and trash hauling, the VHD replaces previous conventional-cab vocational trucks and is now in production. The intro site was Asheville, N.C., North American home of Volvo's heavy equipment division.

The medium-nose VNM, painted in Volvo's '00 show colors, was on static display, hooked to a Fontaine 48-foot tri-axle lowboy trailer toting a Volvo L45B wheel loader. This impressive rig illustrates vocational uses of an on-road model. Firms which rent construction equipment are typical users, pulling heavy, specialized loads but not venturing far off the pavement.

Kenneth Thomas was my guide on this short trip in and around Asheville. We climbed into the VNM out on the highway, where his brother, Kevin Thomas, had brought it. They run Thomas Industries Inc., shuttling trucks among shows and detailing them for dealers in the Greensboro area, where Kevin lives. They also have a truck wash in Burlington, where Kenneth resides but doesn't see too often.

He said he had been on this trip for almost a week and didn't know when he'd get home. "Being gone is part of it," he remarked. So is pressure to get things to the right place at the right time, and he and Kevin were on their cell phones often, coordinating details of this day.

We gave Kevin the VHD dump truck we had been driving and took off with the tractor-trailer. The two trucks presented an interesting contrast in ride and maneuverability, with the VNM performing noticeably better at both. Where the VHD took a while to corner and was a bit choppy at highway speeds, the VNM was quick to turn and rather smooth, much like any highway truck. Easy does it with lowboy

A low-slung lowboy trailer limits travel because it can easily bottom out. A driver has to be constantly aware of humps, including driveways and railroad crossings. With a lofty piece of equipment aboard, he/she also has to look for overhead obstructions like utility wires. These are real concerns because wheel loaders, dozers and such often go where none have gone before, so there are no warning signs posted.

About a third of this Fontaine's 48-foot length is devoted to wheels and gooseneck. The overall length is good to spread out total weight to satisfy bridge formula laws, even if it becomes a handful in negotiating tight corners. This VNM tractor compensated with its short 160-inch wheelbase, which is partly a function of its setback steer axle. For bridge formula states, it would do better with a forward-set axle. But as it is, it's a compact package with power, heft and maneuverability.

Like most VNs, this tractor has an air-bag rear suspension and long parabolic leaf springs up front which yielded a soft but controlled ride. Its short wheelbase made it bounce just a little. Big, power-movable mirrors with flat and convex glass, along with a large rear window, gave an almost unobstructed view of the loaded lowboy just behind.

Dandy Daycab Design

To our immediate front was the familiar VN dashboard. It's wide and flat with a wrap-around side panel; legible gauges and workable rocker switches are mounted per industry recommendations. A rotary headlight switch is low and to the right of the steering column, but it serves little function half the time because the daytime running lamp circuit illuminates the headlamps.

DRLs and marker lights can be interrupted by a rocker switch on the dash for trucker-to-trucker signaling, said Ed Saxman, Volvo's manager of sales engineering. If you don't like that, you can disarm the DRLs or delete them when you order a truck.

The ignition switch is on the steering column, out of the way so the driver can't be cut by the keys in a crash. It can be ordered so it locks the steering wheel when the key is pulled. In a frontal collision, the steering column compresses and an air bag deploys before the object you just hit reaches the cab, Saxman says. And of course, the cab meets Swedish crashworthiness standards. These features are standard on the VN and the new VHD.

The wheel and column are multi-adjustable, so anyone ought to be able to find a comfortable driving position. You step on a small pedal up and to your left, releasing the column for a one-swoop pull or push to set the wheel just where you need it.

Yet so good are the basic controls that I had to adjust the wheel/column on only two of the six trucks I drove. Next to that adjustment pedal is a flat "dead pedal" area for resting your left foot during long cruises — a nice touch.

The National air-ride seat is also multi-adjustable, with (let me think) four or five switches at my left fingertips to inflate lumbar supports and such. The front one is the most important, as it raises and lowers the seat.

I still pine for the days when a single forward-facing push-pull switch was all you needed to set a seat, but then they weren't as comfortable as today's seats, including this one. It had leather coverings, and they must be a good grade because the leather didn't feel sticky.

The windshield is huge and looks down over the sloping hood, so you can see the pavement just ahead. The side windows are likewise large, almost eliminating blind spots.

The wide cab common to the VN family provides a lot of living space in an over-the-road truck; in a daycab it offers more than enough room for a two-person bench seat next to the driver (who could use it for naps during those inevitable waiting times, as well). And there's about 8 to 12 inches of space behind the seats for tool storage. I found the wide cab disconcerting to drive on some of Asheville's narrow streets, but I suppose I'd get used to it.

Power, handling excel

Our gross combination weight was about 69,500 pounds (with both of us aboard). The 12-liter VE (for Volvo engine) 425, making 425 horsepower and 1,550 pounds-feet of torque, pulled the hills well with this load. Even more impressive is the Volvo Engine Brake, which in the High setting could slow and almost stop the rig on a steep downgrade, even at lower revs. Only the Intebrake on Cummins' ISX and Signature diesels feels stronger, but not by much.

Cummins and Detroit power are also available in VNs, but Volvo would like to sell every truck with its own diesels, as it does in Europe and elsewhere in the world. Maybe someday. Right now about 35% of Volvo trucks get Volvo diesels, which come in 12- and 7-liter form.

Parts availability has been an issue in the past, so dealers now must stock parts and have them on the counter within six hours of a request, Volvo says. Prices are said to be close to competitors' comparable parts.

Most of my short run was on interstates, though I did enough street travel to appreciate the VN's maneuverability. Its ability to turn sharply let me delay that final cut, giving the trailer extra room to track before tugging it the required 90 degrees. The long lowboy followed fairly well through tight corners, even one with an acute angle. Like a little kid, I watched as the tires on the three axles flexed and scrubbed slightly as they were dragged slowly through such bends.

Not so impressive was the feel of the gearshift. I had a hard time finding 2nd gear in the VN's Fuller 10-speed. Vagueness throughout the pattern may be due to the lever's position to the left of center, which requires some linkage to reach the transmission. Thomas noted that there was no strong spring action to keep the lever out of the Reverse gate. Volvo engineers say they tried a stronger spring, but it led to other problems. Most drivers get used to it within a day, they said. Thomas had driven it more than I, and while he did grind a few gears he found them better than I. Call me a rookie.

You can call me gutless, too, because I let him have the pleasure of returning the rig via the narrow residential streets and numerous corners to the hotel.

Older brother "has the touch"

I allowed as how a tractor-trailer this big had to be an unusual sight in the upscale neighborhood, which had formed through the years since the gracious old hotel was built starting in 1910. Just then we passed a 48-foot flatbed waiting to be relieved of its light but bulky load of styrofoam insulation for the hotel's new addition.

At one corner on the hotel premises I had to get out and ask a motorist to back up so we could make the swing. There he was, a macho man in a tall pickup, yet he acted like he had never seen a big rig and was irked at the inconvenience of having to move his costly plaything. Other motorists appeared perplexed, too, but moved out of the way with little prompting.

The Thomas brothers put in long days, even though they're not primarily truckers. For instance, they go into a show venue days before opening and begin preparing the trucks.

For this show, at which Volvo unveiled the VHD to customers and the trade press, they came in to rehearse a running demonstration, detailed the trucks for the first show, then rewashed them after we had taken them through dirt and mud.

"I'm not a truck driver," Kenneth remarked after he parked the truck to his brother's specifications. "I drive trucks as part of what we do, but I don't claim to be a truck driver. I just don't have the feel for it. Now Kevin, though, he has the touch..."