"Let me slide"

...is the slogan found on the 2 new trucks of transport company Eiland from Heerde.

The first introduction to the Fliegl sliding system was in 2011 when the then body shop Degroot Franeker did a demo tour with a Renault Kerax 8 x 4 with a mounted sliding body.

Yet it wasn't until 2023 that John Bosman , owner of Eiland, decided to invest in this revolutionary transport system, and then all at once in 2 wagons that came factory insulated.

Temperature of asphalt drops

Asked about the reason for this investment, John replied; there are more and more trees along the road that you get stuck in with a dump truck, more and more bridges and overpasses but most importantly the fact that the maximum temperature of asphalt is going to drop to 150°C in the near future due to emissions.

If you then arrive with a poorly insulated container and it takes a few hours before you can unload you soon find yourself with asphalt that is too cold where the bitumen will no longer work optimally.

Fliegl uses as insulation special foam boards of 7 to 12 cm thick which do not absorb moisture and are sandwiched between the steel tray and the aluminum outer wall. The entire container is therefore insulated; side walls, bottom, as well as the front and back walls.

As the temperature of the asphalt drops, more adhesive will also be used which then causes problems of sticking in the traditional tipping bucket. This is a known problem that already occurs when using ZOAB.

The sliding bottom and sliding wall are equipped with hard steel scrapers that scrape the box perfectly clean when unloading. Driver Jos no longer has to enter the box to scrape it clean.

2-phase sliding system

Fliegl unloads its cargo in 2 stages; first the front half of the bottom slides over the other and then the headboard pushes the rest of the cargo out of the bucket. With this sliding principle, the product is not compressed and you also limit the pressure on the side walls of the bucket, allowing them to be built lighter. Another practical advantage is that when the job is finished, the excess asphalt can be pushed back to the front so that the weight is nicely distributed over the axles. That's a lot more comfortable to drive.

Higher asphalt quality through Mix Effect

Another very big advantage of extending the asphalt John sees in mixing during unloading. With a traditional dump truck, about 2 tons of coarse and cold gravel will first fall into the processor and only then the hot asphalt with the bitumen resulting in weak spots in the road. With a Fliegl sliding system, you actually unload in "slices" and coarse and fine material and cold and hot asphalt enter the finisher at the same time so that it forms an even asphalt bed.

Useful vehicles

John chose 2 totally different driving sections: a fixed car 10 x 2 with a 25 m³ bucket and a 6 x 2 tractor with tandem trailer with a sliding bucket of 27.5 m³.

The 10 x 2 MAN has wide-spread axles bringing the total weight to 50 tons. Empty, the combination weighs 18,100 kg. Only the 4^e shaft is driven and the 3^e and the 5^e axle are elevator axles. This saves a lot of fuel and causes less tire wear. Axles 1, 2, 3 and 5 are steering axles, which makes the truck super maneuverable. The DAF tractor-trailer is then more of a dual-purpose vehicle; the tractor fits a concrete mixer and a fifth wheel to pull a trailer. This is another reason why a tandem trailer with a fixed axle and a forced steering axle was chosen. Again, by using wide-spread axles on both the tractor and the trailer, together we get 50 tons mtm. Empty, this combination weighs 20,800 kg.