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Most Kiwi truck drivers will have driven over - or on - a section of road built using the precast concrete products made by Preco Ltd.

Now Tauranga-based Preco has a truck of its own on the road. And it didn’t need to look very far to decide on its first truck.

Head office for the company is the Tauriko business estate, and not far along the new network of roads is the recently opened Penske dealership.

Preco director Ian Davies says the company has outsourced its transport work for the past 20 years. But winning a contract in Wellington, not far from Preco’s precast plant at Otaki, led Ian and fellow director Brian Griffin to look at other trucking options.

“We’ve always used contractors but when we won the Wellington job, which is about 700 loads out of our Otaki plant, we decided it was time to have a go ourselves,” says Ian.

Preco products are being used in projects at the Gisborne wharf and the Papakura to Pukekohe rail upgrade. They are also found in the Kaikoura earthquake reconstruction and roading projects such as Transmission Gully and the Hairini underpass. 

The new truck will be based in Otaki where its primary job will be moving loads of Preco’s pre-cast X-blocs being used in a Wellington foreshore protection project. The X-blocs interlock to prevent coastal erosion.

It was Penske’s Mark Ellerington who put together the MAN TGX 35.540 package for Preco.

“We looked at a few different brands and what was available, and it was good to keep it local,” says Ian.

“Talking to people in the industry it was clear the best way to attract high quality drivers was to have a modern, high specification truck.”

The MAN TGX 35.50 8x4 has the roomiest XLX cab option and is powered the MAN D26 13-litre engine developing 540hp and 2500Nm of torque. Power is delivered via a MAN Tipmatic 12-speed transmission with Retarder 35 and a 3.70:1 rear axle ratio.

Taper leaf spring front suspension rated at 6300kg combines with ECAS air suspension at the rear rated at 23,000kg. Disc brakes feature ABS/EBS, and the Alcoa Evo alloy wheels are shod with 275/70 R22.5 dimension tyres.

The 8x4 works as a tractor unit fitted with a JOST JSK37C2 sliding fifth wheel and a new TMC Super Quad trailer custom-built for Preco which incorporates a rear steer axle with a cab operated steering lock. 

“With transporting concrete, we needed an 8x4 for the weight and a quad trailer with as much deck room as possible. It’s an HPMV unit and will be carting 30 tonnes of concrete,” Ian says.

“We need plenty of length so we can get the eleventh or twelfth block on, depending on the size. So, we went to 15.2 metres, the longest we could.

“The rear steer is an important feature because we have to get into some tight locations when we are moving concrete blocks.”

The simple but effective black and orange signage on the MAN TGX is the work of Marty’s Signs at Mt Maunganui.

“We gave them a basic design and they came back with three options. Marty and John were really good to work with,” says Ian.

There’s one more step to giving the Preco name a higher profile on the highways with the PRECO personalised plate ordered for the MAN.