Sinotruk HOWO 4×2 Tractor Truck

What this machine is

The Sinotruk HOWO 4×2 tractor unit. Two axles, one driven, on six 12.00R20 tyres. A 371 hp Sinotruk engine, a 12-speed manual gearbox and the HW76 single sleeper cab. Rated at 25 tonnes towing.

Overall 6.13 m long, 2.50 m wide and 3.73 m tall. Left-hand drive, convertible to right-hand drive. China II, III or V by unit. Model years 2019 to 2023.

What it is used for

Haulage, at the lighter end.

Urban and regional distribution. Palletised goods, drinks, building materials, general freight into and around a city, where the loads are moderate and the roads are made.

Twenty-foot container work. A single box is well inside 25 tonnes, and running it behind a 4×2 rather than a 6×4 is the difference between a distribution business that makes money and one that does not.

Light tankers and small trailers. Fuel and water distribution on shorter routes.

Why two axles, and the arithmetic nobody does

Almost every prime mover on this site is a 6×4 rated at 40 tonnes, and buyers default to them. That default is right when the loads are heavy and expensive when they are not.

A third axle is a cost you pay every day. Four more tyres to buy and replace. More unladen weight, hauled on every kilometre including the empty return leg. More fuel. More brake and suspension components to service. A larger vehicle to manoeuvre in a yard that was not designed for one.

The question is not which truck is better. It is what your heaviest regular load actually weighs. If it is under 25 tonnes, the 6×4 is carrying an axle you never load, forever.

Where the 4×2 loses, and it does lose. One driven axle means less traction on loose or wet ground, and less ability to recover itself when it does get stuck. On a construction site, an unmade yard or a wet season route, the 6×4 keeps working when this does not. And the ceiling is hard: 25 tonnes is 25 tonnes.

This is a road truck for made roads. Bought for that, it is the cheapest way to run a haulage business we sell.

Condition, and what we do before it ships

Through our own workshop before it loads: inspected, put right, and photographed at each stage while the work is happening.

On a 4×2, the single drive axle is doing the work two axles share on a 6×4, so that is what we look at hardest. Ask for the differential, the rear suspension and the fifth wheel, and we will send those frames.

Shipping it

57 m³. Loaded at our yard in Tangshan and shipped through Tianjin Port.

The saving on this truck is not really in the freight. It is in the six tyres, the fuel and the servicing, repeated every week for ten years.

What to tell us

Your heaviest regular load, honestly, because that is the number that decides between this and a 6×4. Your roads. What you will pull, and whether you need us to supply it. Your destination port, the quantity and whether you need right-hand drive.