Tracked construction vehicles specialist Prinoth has introduced a tracked concrete mixer for the off-road construction market in collaboration with leading North American concrete mixer manufacturer McNeilus.
A statement from Prinoth said the concept originated from an increased demand for off-road placement of concrete, which requires a concrete mixer to allow contractors access in hard-to-reach locations, providing new opportunities for projects not previously accessible.
The statement added that the main benefits of the collaboration between Prinoth and McNeilus are time and cost considerations. “Concrete is a perishable product, so time is of the essence once you start mixing. A tracked mixer allows vehicles to quickly and easily move through soft soils or rugged terrain to get to job-sites almost or entirely inaccessible by a standard vehicle – saving time. Access to these jobsites can require a helicopter to haul and/or pour concrete, this mixer makes that cost unnecessary.”
Engineering teams from Prinoth and McNeilus collaborated on this unique project, each adapting their equipment to suit the application and maximise mixer capacities while maintaining stability for an off-road application, the statement added.
Prinoth developed a special chassis while McNeilus developed a custom mixer body. The Prinoth PANTHER T16’s dropped frame chassis was a key design element to lower the overall height of the off-road rubber-tracked mixer. By reducing the overall height, the centre of gravity is lower, which ensures high stability and off-road performance. These modifications were necessary to allow moving the vehicle from one job-site to another on a trailer without requiring special transportation permits.
McNeilus designed the mixer body for this special project to maximise payload and create an easy mounting process to the chassis. Specifically, special considerations were taken to customise hydraulic components and design routings to fit the new chassis. The result is a heavy-duty 6.8 cubic metre custom McNeilus mixer body that will stand up to the environment the vehicle will operate in.
