Bremach 35Xtreme / Katherine

Not a bad looking truck. I assume diesel, dosn't look too wide in the wheelbase. Clearance good. Might be a bit of a bugger to get parts for though.
Well spotted.
Cheers Paul

Hi Doug ,

Thanks for the photos - it's a beauty . It does not look that wide in the wheel base either . Did you talk to the owners and get a bit of info about where they had been ?

Wonder what it's like on a sand dune .

Are they selling it when they go home ?

Willie .

Hi Doug,
They are actually made in Italy. This one has Swiss plates - CH on the back is the Swiss country code - ZH means it was registered in Zurich. We lived in Switzerland for 15 years before moving to Oz in 2005 and I've seen a few of them there as delivery trucks in the mountains. Sorry to be a clever bugger.
Barry

there was another in Cairns early July.definitely a good looking unit. The fellow who was driving it highlighted fact it had same track as Landcruiser. He also mentioned no problems being serviced by Iveco agents in Australia.
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cheers
Howard

Have a link in my Favorites that I have read about a journey in one of these, including Australia.
http://www.bush-sweepers.org/e/indexe.html
Gives a bit of insight into there selection.

Cheers Pesty

Hi all,

Doug told me about this thread, so I'll add my two cents.

I can give you a few details on this little Italian bus, as I was the first owner of the one that Howard spotted in Cairns.

We had this truck converted to a camper for a 50,000kays one year trip around OZ (and NZ) in 2005.

The company is now located in Brescia (formerly Varese) in northern Italy. In the fifties they actually started their business with building tricycle ice cream delivery motorbikes. A part of the name Bremach still contains the then famous "Aermacchi" motorbike brand name.

In the 80s they started to build 4WDs based on the IVECO small truck engines (and other vehicle components).

It's a rather small company, they only build between 200 and 400 vehicles a year, and hardly two of them are identical. Their customers are mainly town councils, using the vehicles as road-sweepers or snow ploughs. But they are also used for rescue services, or electricity and telecommunication companies use them to service their equipment at places that are difficult to get to.

Since they are only build in extremely small numbers, they are quite expensive in terms for what they offer concerning features or ride comfort. The noise level is quite high.

But on the other hand because it is a hand built truck you have an incredible variety of options. There are single, dual and triple cabs and there is the van. The van is completely modular, so you can tell them where to put doors, windows, and seats. The even built a version with gull wing rear doors on both sides.

There are two wheel bases 2.40m and 3.00m. and four different options for the length of the box (small and large rear overhang).
Both vehicles on the pictures are the longest models, with a total length of roughly 5.35m. Tread width is 1490mil and the total width of the truck is 1.77m, so basically the same as a Troopy.

The engine in the vehicles on the pictures are 2.8 turbo charged four cylinder with 125hp. Doesn't sound that much (and actually isn't) but it's not as bad as one might think either. It roughly offers the same performance as an 1HZ troopy. (Although you have to rev it a bit more than the Toyota, which is better in torque at low revs). You can actually reach a top speed of something like 130km/h, but it's definitely less stressful if you're sitting on 95. With 13-15l Diesel per 100km fuel consumption is also similar to a troopy.

The engine is the same as in all the FIAT Ducato and IVECO Daily small trucks. It is known to be very reliable. and built in extremely large numbers, so parts are cheap. Newer models have a 3.0 litre engine with 146hp.

The trucks have a six speed ZF gearbox and a dual transfer case giving them 24 forward gears and 4 reverse gears in total. Level one of the transfer case is synchronized and can be switched while driving. So basically you have 12 on road and 12 offroad gears.

Another thing that is special about the Bremach is its tubular frame, which is extremely warp resistant. That means you have not that much axle articulation (you have front + rear 100% mechanical diff locks of course) but it makes it ideal for mounting all sorts of boxes on the back without the necessity to mount a subframe (like you need it on a Unimog for instance)

Concerning the ride, the centre of gravity is high, so driving sideways on a slope can be sphincter tightening and you will want to avoid that. But the big tyres together with the high ground clearance and the very low gear ratios make it extremely capable off road. You just drive a bit of a different style like with a regular 4WD. Quite often you can crawl slowly over an obstacle where others will need a certain momentum. Even though it is quite heavy, it is good in soft sand since you can easily deflate those Michelin XZLs to 13psi or even lower. and that makes a massive footprint. But I admit the Simpson is probably not an area where I would like to take it, because of the lack of power, and because of the many bends on top of the dunes where you might tip it over.

Bremach has a competitor on the Italian market called "SCAM" (they surely didn't think about selling their trucks to English language countries, when they decided to use that name :-)

SCAM was founded (in the early 90s I think) by former Bremach engineers who had a falling-out with the Bremach management. They started to build their own truck with a wider tread (2m), that was closer to the IVECO Daily, using the whole passenger compartment of that truck. SCAM use a rectangular frame and they offer permanent 4WD (I think Bremach is still working on it). The SCAM is more comfy with more passenger car features, but it also has more special parts, whereas the Bremach is more tractor technology, with standard parts available all over the world.

There will soon be an IVECO Daily 4WD which is acually a SCAM badged with an IVECO label. I reckon that truck will be available in Australia since it is the ideal place for them to sell it in large numbers. But as I said it is wider (similar to an OKA) so you will not be travelling the OTL with it and also there is no van.

Hope this helps.

Cheers Wolf