Brunton custom builds crew truck for Alex Fraser

Melbourne's Brunton Engineering has custom built on a truck tray, all the storage and fixed services an asphalting crew might need in a typical day on the road. The customer was Alex Fraser and Co of Laverton in Melbourne's west.

At the back, below the tray, is an adjustable height bitumen spray bar, fed by a 2300 litre bitumen tank. Also below the tray is an auxiliary diesel tank for filling skidsteers or other plant associated with the job. On the tray is a 1000 litre water tank for servicing compactors and general washing.

A stand up height room with a lockable door at the front of the tray, houses a toilet and lockable cabinets for tools, as well as microwave for meal times. Retractable steps provide access.

Under the tray are lockable bins for a jack hammer and a small compactor, plus racks for LPG bottles and a 130mm engineer's vice. Reeled hoses provide access to diesel and compressed air at the rear of the tray.

A CCTV provides the driver of the Isuzu truck, with a wide angle view of the asphalting operation at the rear of the truck, while a warning light and buzzer come on if the spray bar or compactor door, are left in the non travelling position.

Brunton's principal Geoff Brunton, said it took him and his staff about six weeks to complete the job, versus about 18 months which was quoted by another company for a similar unit. But a couple of weeks of the six, were spent waiting for specialist parts like the bitumen spray bar, to come from New Zealand.

A last minute inclusion was a name plate that states that the builder is Brunton Engineering. That has already paid off with another industry operator ordering a similar unit but this time on a crew cab and chassis.

The company charged Alex Fraser about $71,000 for the considerably equipped tray. But that did not include the bitumen spray bar and some other bitumen equipment.

Brunton reckons the units could well appeal to other sectors of the construction industry and in particular those involved in concrete pours.

More information: Geoff Brunton, 54-56 Freight Drive, Somerton 3062, 03 9303 7475, brunteng@netscape.net.au

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Brunton custom builds crew truck for Alex Fraser

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