Kann Curb Master ASL: City of Ocoee

This truck used to be the Kann ASL demonstrator, Alan (FormerWMDriver) has a video of it being used as such. As far as I know this is the first Kann ASL built. The City of Ocoee bought and repainted it two months ago. Coming from a fleet of CP Pythons and Hercules, the Kann is a huge improvement. The driver had nothing but good things to say about the truck, she says the city is actually looking at getting two more.

Kann mimicked the Australian style trucks with their first true ASL. This specific truck keeps with tradition, conventional cab Freightliners were sometimes pressed into ASL duty in Australia. I'm personally not a fan of an arm with lots of swing out, but as long as you aren't collecting in tight areas it doesn't pose a huge problem. The Kann is certainly better than the AutoReach or other similar designs. The hydraulic rotary actuator gives the arm a nice smooth cycle. The conventional ram type packer works better than the pendulum or paddle designs the Aussies are fond of, especially with our usually larger American carts. Controls are all electric with the joystick looking very similar to the one in a Curotto Can. I'm told the pump is small for an ASL, less flow needed means better fuel efficiency.

The mounting of the arm is unusual, being above the rigidly attached packer follower instead of under the body like most similar designs. I guess it makes maintenance easier, but at the expense of hopper space. The body is fairly tall, the arm dumps high and swings wide, so not the best choice for tight areas. In the first half of the vid you can see how the truck takes up the whole street to make room for the arm. It would be awesome if they took the current design and gave it the McNeilus Automator treatment, with a low profile round top body like the one Kann built for their commercial side loader, a shorter arm and larger but lower hopper. Would make a really great unit that address the shortcomings (swing out and height) of this already solid one.

Thanks to Susan (the driver) and Ron (the supervisor) at the City of Ocoee for helping me out with this vid, much appreciated. Filmed June 25, 2013.

[ek]

Side loaders are loaded from the side, either manually, or with the assistance of a joystick-controlled robotic arm with a claw, used to automatically lift and tip wheeled bins into the truck's hopper.

[amrepmike]

haha I just went back to watch the video posted of this truck on its first days in Ocoee last night and thought "I'd really like to see more of this truck". I like how she uses the lift function as reach before actually extending the arm. It drives me crazy when other drivers extend the arm when its not even needed. Quick packer too, dont see backed up hoppers being much of an issue. Glad to finally see a full video of one of these, awesome job

[rws]

Wow. Thanks to you, I am actually semi-impressed with this truck. Never been a Kann fan, but I like the simplicity of this truck. The crew was awesome for letting you get that hopper footage. And what can I say- You're known for your exceptional camera work, but this has to be your best work to date! BTW thanks for not waiting a decade to upload this one haha

[westcoastrefusetrucks]

This is fantastic! I'm very happy to see a video of this truck! Very unique arm. Seems to work great! Nice to see more footage of Kann. I truely think that Kann should use this video if they really try and push marketing this truck rather than the video they made. You covered just about every angle they could want and it's great quality! I am glad to see some high quality footage of this truck. Amazing work!

[georgewuzheer]

I get that, I was just reminded of the pressure when you mentioned the grippers and got off topic lol. Up close they look pretty sturdy,  would knock down a cart before they give way. Heil used to have Python gripper assemblies falling off of the arms. Not sure if it was only the ones with the gears in an oil bath or all of them, they ended up doing a bit of a redesign to reduce weight/strengthen.

[georgewuzheer]

Yeah this arm really shines when used that way. The gripper angle is odd, at the perfect height to grab they face down, the Australian arms don't have that issue. It doesn't seems to mess anything up though. No lid stop, the spill guard kept the lid open. Works well for carts put out backwards. The uneven packer isn't uncommon, just an issue of worn wear blocks/pads/whatever they use. You see it all the time on RLs.

[Trashman]

woot! way to go, Kann. you guys sure seem to have addressed the improvements George talked about, plus the "beefing up" of the grippers that concerned me. Only major question about those new grippers will be how well they slide between closely-placed carts. But yeah, watching this again (umpteenth time) helps one recall how narrow the hopper was without a reciprocating follower setup. Quite eager to see the updated version of this ASL, particular with how much I liked the Compaction Systems SidePaks from Oz....

[kdghetts]

Wow! Now that's a great video! Great content and outstanding quality! Thanks

[legodude]

I like the grippers, not too rough on the carts and maybe less maintenance too. Not a bad truck, honestly, certainly better than say AutoReach (for swing out trucks). Awesome job!

[LeoDaBlox]

This was a truck that I also saw here in Ocoee, but sadly they were replaced by Labrie Automizers, pythons, and McNeilus ZRs. And WM and Waste Connections took over in 2020.

[KennysTrucks]

Nice work! It's different. This might take me a while to get used to, or to start liking them.

[georgewuzheer]

That's where the truck really speeds up, if you avoid using the reach as much as possible. Kann must have designed it to be used that way, the grippers are too low in the stowed position, it takes at least a foot of reach before they're high enough to grab a cart. I was impressed with the packer, but apparently big boxes can clog things up, a crusher panel might be a nice option. Thanks!

[legodude]

2:50 stop, nice that if you're close enough you just go up a bit, grab the cart, continue to dump, then down... makes a fluid motion IMO. I noticed at 3:49 that the grippers kinda go up as the arm goes down into the stow position; odd and annoying I would think to have to position the grippers up higher to compensate for that weird angle the grippers are at when grabbing a can. Lid stop at 5:55? The hopper looks pretty deep, no worries of clogging it looks like! Arm has pretty fast cycles, too.

[georgewuzheer]

I'm sure Kann put a lot of effort into making the gripper assembly lightweight, to avoid problems like Heil had with the Python. They aren't gripping super tight on this particular truck, the cart slides at the top and empties too close to the hopper, but I would guess all that's needed is a grip pressure or belt adjustment, not a fault of the design.

[georgewuzheer]

Not sure why Kann thought putting the demo truck on a conventional was a good idea. 99% of ASLs are on cabovers, and the conventional alone is enough to turn away potential buyers. Kann isn't uncommon here, I've seen a few of their FLs. Lol the older parts of cities do, glad you liked it.

[AussieGarbo]

Been wanting to watch this video for ages!!! The arm really does look a lot like what we have down here, even has the spill shield :D Only difference is really the reach slide positioned at the top and the grab head offset to the side of the arm instead of being directly beneath it. Packer clip you achieved was a bonus, pretty quick cycle time, but does it slow down a bit if the lifter is working? Truck itself looks awesome here having only been recently painted at the time, guess the non-COE makes for something different too. Really enjoyed this video, thanks for the post. You know if Kann has sold any of these?

[MegaDirtyHands]

I'm very impressed with this truck and your video.
The only thing I would suggest is that the operator drives with the wheels closer to the kerb, as to avoid using any reach where possible, which also makes you quicker and more efficent. Or as we call it down under the "all in one motion" when using a side loader.

[legodude]

Damn it and the hopper, was it just me or did it look like it wasn't in sturdy? I thought it was a bit crooked and then back in the home position it like straightened out... k that's all I got