The Hercules’ innovative curved dump body design is revolutionising the payload capacity of all classes of haul trucks.
The Hercules is lighter, stronger, more durable, requires less maintenance and can carry more dirt than the rest. The curved design reduces stress throughout the dump body, enabling us to go thinner and lighter while maintaining structural integrity.
Independent studies have also shown a reduction in stress throughout the truck chassis because a flexible dump body absorbs forces when loading and hauling.
This all adds up to a dump body that’s lightweight without any loss of strength, which means your fleet can carry more payload every trip. Ultimately, this means millions of dollars in free cash flow for your operation and a payback period as little as a few months for a solution that will keep delivering above and beyond for years.
Every Hercules is custom engineered and built from the ground up based on your unique operational requirements and is designed to deliver the same outcomes across all commodities, including coal, gold, and iron ore.
In 2020, Schlam manufactured its 1,000th Hercules in Australia. The first Hercules was manufactured in Australia in 2003, and it took 17 years to reach the 1,000th milestone, which it crossed in July 2020. It took the company just 22 months to reach the 1,500th mark.
The goal on any mine site is to maximise achievable payload of their haul fleet within the limits of their trucks.
As we have refined our Hercules design over the years, the weight of the body has reduced, allowing us to increase capacity and ensure our clients are maximising the payload potential of their haul fleet.
Schlam has options for bodies that are up to ten tonnes lighter than competitors with comparable floor thicknesses.
The benefits of a lightweight dump body are significant, however quite simple. Decreased body weight means an increased payload potential, enabling a mine site to either haul the same amount of material using fewer truck hours or haul more material with the same number of truck hours. Either way, the operating cost per tonne is dramatically reduced.
It is important to note that lighter does not mean weaker. Our lightweight bodies have a long history of performing in high impact and high abrasion environments for well over 50,000 operating hours.
Traditional bodies are still excessively heavy, meaning you’re carrying steel when you should be carrying ore. The result is your fleet will consistently not be hitting its promised nameplate payload capacity. In effect, you could be losing up to 10% of payload per trip due to excess steel. Over weeks and months, this adds up to a significant loss of productivity and profit.
Our combination of expert engineering, world-class manufacturing and full lifecycle support has resulted in a dump body that has been continuously improved over the last ten years.
Interested in talking more about how the Hercules can improve your fleet performance? Contact us on payload@schlam.com
