As the largest supplier of parts for Thwaites, Terex, Terex/JCB and Barford dumpers in the UK many people don’t realise that we have other strings to out bow as well, not just dumper parts. Up until 2007 most dumpers fitted Newage axles and gearboxes with just a few Dana and ITL axles used but that all changed when CommaTECH, the owners of Newage, went into administration. Although the Newage part resurrected themselves as PRM Newage they concentrated solely on their successful marine and ground support business and never went back into the construction. Dana then slipped into the void that was created and just like Newage supplied 90% of construction axles now Dana does.
In the 30 plus years that PES have been in existence, we have always supplied reconditioned Newage axles and gearboxes. At one point we were supplying upgrade kits for 3 tonne Benford, Terex and Thwaites rear axles, upgrading them from the 200 series to 300 series as the 200 series was notorious for blowing the centre casing out if it was put under too much load. As many as 5 of these upgrades were leaving sunny Devon every week but as it’s over 17 years since the demise of Newage this business has declined to such an extent that only the occasional Newage product arrives here for repair.
These days its all Dana products that we are repairing and reconditioning, whether it be a Dana axle or Dana gearbox. Dana is a massive organisation with a $10.2 billion, yes billion, turnover in 2022 with 30% of that coming from the off-highway sector. However, whereas the Newage axles hardly ever changed, you had a 200 series, 300 series, 600 series or 900 series just with different arms on depending on which OEM it was the story is a little different with Dana axles. There are currently 96 different axles fitted to dumpers since 2007 and therefore it is impossible to offer them on a service exchange basis like we used to with Newage.
The Dana gearbox is essentially the same gearbox as the old Newage 85M, some of the parts are even interchangeable. The most popular gearbox models that we repair are the Dana 401/303, the Dana 401/301 and the Dana 401/300 which are fitted to Thwaites and Terex, Terex/JCB and now Mecalac dumpers. This will eventually go the way of Newage though as this is the last year that a manual gearbox will be able to be fitted to a new dumper as all the OEM’s go over to hydrostatic to comply with legislation.
In terms of axles, we see a lot of Dana 110/51, Dana 110/60, Dana 112/120, Dana 112/64 and Dana 112/258 axles coming through the door for repair, but with over 96 different types it’s hard to keep up.
Now to prove how in ‘front of the curve’ PES are and what we do other’s follow I’ll let you into a little secret. The person who rebuilds all these driveline components is Tina, who is probably the most knowledgeable person on Newage and Dana products in the UK and has been doing this at PES for over 30 years. PES were employing women to do traditional ‘man’s work’ before it became trendy and necessary to shout it from the rooftops and proclaim to the world that you are progressive.
So, there you have it, a little potted history of Thwaites, Terex, Terex/JCB, Mecalac and Wacker Neuson drivelines from the UK’s dumper experts. No wonder we are the UK’s largest supplier of dumper parts as we know what we are talking about (especially Tina). So, if you’ve got a problem with your Dana axle or gearbox for your Thwaites, Terex, Terex/JCB, Wacker Neuson or Ausa (remember them, I think they still exist) send it to PES and Tina will fix it for you…………….simples.
