Double skinned body work on six and eight wheelers is by far the most common in the UK market place. It is however very much a UK phenomenon. The basis for it is historic, if one looks back fifteen years to the days of single skinned "ribbed" bodies, body work often had to be replaced during the life time of the chassis cab, and visually the body work would present a poor appearance very early in it’s life as the side panels deformed.
The solution was to produce body work with an inner and outer skin, the inner skin would deform under the impact of the load, whilst the outer skin would remain undamaged, presenting an unblemished exterior. This principal when combined with a Brinnell 400 or 450 steel floor, amounts to the double skinned bodies of today.
Predator double skin body
The disadvantage of the double skinned body design is it’s weight. At Abba we cater for operators who are not weight conscious and for those who are. We produce the Streamline 2 which is a double skinned body, built with a Brinnell 450 floor, and grade 50 mild steel double skinned sides. However in 2006, Abba introduced an all new single skinned body called Predator. The Predator body required a very large capital investment programme, and has the largest percentage of Brinnell 450 material in any UK body. It is a combination of advanced design and Brinnell 450 steel which enables Predator to overcome the problems of fifteen years ago, ie to produce a single skinned body that will not distort in service.
Predator single skin Brinnell 450 body
The Streamline 2 is our most competitive product for very strait forward reasons, grade 50 steel is less than half the price of Brinell 450 to buy.
Predator is the lightest, heavy duty body manufactured in the UK, offering a weight saving of around 600Kgs, against most double skinned bodies.
Individual operators should examine their own businesses in order to make the right decision, if you are paid by the load and are not carrying aggregates even on a back load basis, Streamline 2 is the body for you, the only reason to consider Predator would be fuel consumption (carrying an additional 600Kgs when running empty has a cost) and improved residual value.
If you are looking for maximum flexibility, then Predator is the answer, when installed on many of the major manufacturers chassis, an operational 20 tonnes payload is achievable, to be successful in a highly competitive market, increased flexibility and utilisation is the key to profitability. Whatever your view Abba has the product to help.