Philippi-Hagenbuch Hard Rock & Oil Sands Truck Bodies Maximize Payload, Minimize Maintenance

LAS VEGAS (Sept. 24, 2024) — Philippi-Hagenbuch takes hauling hard rock and ore to an innovative new level with its HiVol® HardRock® and Oil Sands® Bodies.

Philippi-Hagenbuch will discuss HiVol® HardRock® and Oil Sands® Bodies, along with other custom hauling solutions, in Booth 6135 during MINExpo on September 24-26 in Las Vegas.

Designed with the hard rock and oil sands industries in mind, Philippi-Hagenbuch engineered its unique hard rock and oil sands bodies to easily handle highly abrasive material while minimizing carryback and maintenance requirements. The wide-bodied designs are designed to reduce material carryback, minimize material abrasion and eliminate material loafing during the dump, keeping operators comfortable while allowing trucks to haul at maximum capacities.

Philippi-Hagenbuch’s “Engineered to Order” approach allows each mine’s specifications and preferences to be realized with HiVol truck bodies designed for their specific mine’s needs. The custom design approach provides each operation with the highest possible payload, longest lifecycle with less downtime and best possible long-term return on investment, taking into consideration challenges the mine has had in the past and engineering solutions to counter those concerns.

To ensure the body will fit a company’s application and specifications precisely, Philippi-Hagenbuch engineers work closely with mining customers in identifying key factors that will impact the design of the truck body. Those factors may include density and cohesive qualities of the material, height and width restrictions, loading equipment and climate conditions. In addition, Philippi-Hagenbuch applies its proprietary Load ProfilingTM process in examining the natural angles of repose and how the material lays once it is loaded into the body to maximize its payload capacity, distribution of weight, and reduce potential for material to fall out of the body.

Once it has identified all the key factors, Philippi-Hagenbuch begins the engineering process. As with all of its products, company engineers focus on a proprietary process for all HiVol bodies that removes unnecessary steel and, as a result, unnecessary weight, providing higher payloads with a decreased environmental impact. By doing so, they can add features, such as greater width and the most substantial floor bolster system available; all based on Philippi-Hagenbuch standards that have been refined over six decades. The combined design aspects contribute to greater capacity to equal fully utilized Gross Vehicle Weights (GVW).

A substantial taper of the body from the front to the back helps to decrease wear and carryback potential on the body sides. Because the body is narrower at the front than at the back, material releases immediately as it begins to dump and slides straight out of the body without abrading the sides. By constructing the body in a manner that reduces wear to the sides, Philippi-Hagenbuch is able to reduce weight from the sides of the body and use the extra weight capacity to reinforce other areas of the truck body that generally receive the most wear.  

Reinforced body side top rails are half sections of rounded pipe that tie the inside steel plate to the outside plate at the top and cover the gap between them. They provide added reinforcement to the sides of the truck body and eliminate the potential for material to build up within the sidewalls. With outside steel plates that taper inward near the top, the top rails also provide a compressive effect. In other words, they provide added strength to the body walls to protect their integrity in the unlikely event that they are struck by a loading tool.

In addition, steel bolsters that run from side to side under the body floor double the size of the “sweet spot,” the area that can handle the greatest material impact, within the center floor section. The patent pending bolster design runs through the frame rails, which run from front to back and tie the floor together more substantially than any other floor in the industry. The floors in all Philippi-Hagenbuch custom bodies create a super structure that won’t buckle under the immense weight of the mined materials. At the same time, it keeps payload at a maximum capacity.

Philippi-Hagenbuch also incorporates specially sourced 450 and 500 Brinell steel throughout every HiVol body from SSAB’s steel mill in Oxelosund, Sweden. This unique steel contains less carbon than most 450 and 500 Brinell steel being used in truck bodies today. The lower the carbon level, the less likely it is that the steel will become brittle and crack in cold weather conditions. As a result, the steel in Philippi-Hagenbuch bodies is able to handle intense environments and require little maintenance, even after hundreds of thousands of tons hauled. It’s a critical reason why Philippi-Hagenbuch is a pioneer in SSAB’s “Hardox® in My Body” program.

Crafted to perfection, each HiVol body is engineered to the mine’s specifications which improves loading safety and greatly reduces the potential for loading damage. Philippi-Hagenbuch designs each body to ensure the width is correctly paired with the loading tool. This provides for the lowest possible loading height and allows the shovel to get closer to the floor of the body, nearly eliminating the chances that loading equipment will damage the sides. It also translates to less vibration to the truck driver and less impact within the truck body when material is loaded.

In addition, the HiVol is constructed to ensure that the tail of the truck body has ample clearance at full dump. Taking berm height requirements into consideration, Philippi-Hagenbuch engineers its bodies so they do not fall below the center of the wheels or the height of the berm at full dump. This helps eliminate tail damage from dumping into a pile.

Philippi-Hagenbuch’s patented Body Lifting System also contributes to easy maintenance and installation of its truck bodies. The system builds four removable free-floating lifting eyes made of 450 Brinell steel for temporary integration into the floor of the truck body. This compares to traditional bodies, which place lifting eyes on the body sides and pull in on them when the body is being lifted. During installation or removal of a body, the 10-inch diameter lifting hole covers are removed and operators can attach rigging to the eyes that are inserted from beneath the body. The lifting eyes integrate into the floor support structure so there is no stress placed on the body’s sides, increasing their life. Lower lifting points also mean bodies don’t need to be lifted as high during removal, which results in the ability to remove or install a body within most mine maintenance shops. This provides greater efficiency and enhances safety for personnel during installation and removal. Worker safety is further increased as lifting straps can be hooked from the truck floor rather than from the high sides of the body.

About Philippi-Hagenbuch Inc.
Engineering innovative haul truck solutions for over 55 years, Philippi-Hagenbuch Inc. is located in Peoria, Illinois and has been building equipment for off-highway haul trucks since 1969. During this time, PHIL has become the global leader in off-highway truck customization. In addition to their innovative tailgates, push blocks, rear-eject bodies and trailers, Philippi-Hagenbuch designs and builds end-dump bodies, trailers, sideboards, load ejectors and water tanks for nearly every make and model of articulated and rigid frame off-highway truck available. Engineered in Peoria, Illinois. Manufactured globally. For more information, visit www.philsystems.com.