Its finally arrived, no more clutch and gearbox dumpers. Dana gearboxes will no longer be fitted to Thwaites and Mecalac dumpers as legislation has finally caught up with them and they have gone the way of the Pel-Job ED750.
To be quite honest it has been long overdue as the technology in the Dana and its predecessor, Newage, dates back to just after the 2nd World War so it’s had a good run. It can’t be right that with today’s modern technology we are still fitting a gearbox with no synchromesh and relying on a size 10 foot on a pedal to ride a clutch when you want to inch forward towards a trench. How many times have you seen a dumper in a trench when the driver’s foot has slipped on a muddy pedal!!!!
Of course they won’t be banned overnight, there are thousands of them out there but by end of 2023 you won’t be able to buy one, you’ll have to go hydrostatic, but in my opinion that’s a good thing that will make the operation of a dumper infinitely more safe for both the driver and the groundworker stood next to it.
PES will still be able to offer a service exchange Dana or Newage gearbox or repair your existing gearbox in the case of Newage where casings etc are no longer available or you have a tight budget.
As the largest supplier of Thwaites, Terex, Terex/JCB and Barford dumper parts in the UK we are the dumper specialist with an infinite amount of knowledge and expertise.
So don’t panic, your Thwaites, Mecalac, Terex, Terex/JCB or Barford dumper with a Dana or Newage ‘cog swapper’ has years of good honest toil left in it but when its time to go to the big dumper place in the sky its replacement will have a posh, smooth, controllable hydrostatic drive system which the dumper driver will absolutely love.
