Equipment World Digital Magazine
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/846046
EquipmentWorld.com | July 2017 65 A year after announcing plans to add an Extreme Duty (XD) off-road package to its lineup, Western Star has unveiled the sec- ond member of the XD family. Initially offered on the com- pany's flagship 6900 as the XD-40, the XD-25 – a hulked-up 4900 with 25 tons of capability – debuted during Western Star's recent 50th anniversary celebration. Western Star is targeting smaller, off-road construction, mining and quarry site hauling operations with the new configuration. Western Star's XD off-road sus- pensions offer maximum ground clearance, the company says. Using a double-slippered spring suspen- sion, springs are controlled with heavy-duty track rods that eliminate the need for spring pins. That al- lows the spring packs to slide on wear pads without shock loading. Its double-channel 120 KSI steel frame gives the truck a rigid back- bone and great stability, but it is Western Star's planetary gear sets that give the truck the capability to haul massive loads while still keeping the chassis accessible for maintenance. At the launch event, Western Star president Kelley Platt said the units are specifically designed to handle off-road jobs without com- promising fuel economy and cycle time efficiency. "With a vocational truck, we have to be able to build exactly what the customer wants," Platt said. "It opens up another option for the rigid-mount, the traditional yel- low iron, customer," added Peter Arrigoni, vice president of Western Star, "and it's probably the only market that we are the cheapest." The XD-25 will be powered by heavy trucks | by Jason Cannon | JasonCannon@randallreilly.com Western Star's XD-25 purpose-built for construction, off-road hauling A Chalmers suspension, offering additional articulation, has become a standard across Western Star's XD lineup.