Krone Profi Liner

The Profi Liner is one of the curtain semi-trailers in Krone’s range; the same category on Krone’s product page also lists the Mega Liner, the Coil Liner and the Paper Liner, among others. The record’s figures belong to one variant, type SDP 27 eLB50-CS, and come from Krone’s per-variant data sheet for it, checked against the German edition of the same sheet, both product pages and Krone’s operating instructions. Where the page quotes a figure from a nine-page Krone build description for one show vehicle of the same type code, from Krone’s anniversary news item, or from a different type on Krone’s Turkish page, it says so. The trailer articles on this site, from trailer types to load securing, were written about the class rather than about a vehicle. This is one of the vehicles they describe.

One nameplate, five generations

Krone dates its own product. Its twenty-fifth anniversary news item of March 2023 says the Profi Liner was first presented in 1998, the year the new Krone Liner family made its big appearance at the IAA Nutzfahrzeuge; the Profi Liner 2 followed in 2003 with the Multi-Lock outer frame, the third generation in 2006 and the fourth in 2009, and the item calls the current trailer the Profi Liner 5 — the name the data sheet carries for the type this record covers.

Four weights

Krone publishes four weight figures. The tare weight, approximately 5,940 kg, is what the trailer weighs empty. The axle load, 27,000 kg, is what the bogie is rated at. The king pin load, 12,000 kg, is the load the trailer is rated to put on the tractor’s fifth wheel. The permissible total weight, 39,000 kg, as the product page’s table calls it, is the rating for the whole trailer loaded — a technical figure, as the next section shows, not the registered one.

Krone prints all four as table lines. The fourth also happens to be the sum of the second and third — 12,000 plus 27,000 — but that is an observation of ours rather than a derivation Krone sets out. Krone does print what the tare leaves of the 39,000 kg, a technically possible payload of approximately 33,060 kg — 39,000 less 5,940, a subtraction Krone does not set out either. Tare and payload both carry Krone’s own “approx.”, and the sheet is qualified “(Dimensions and weights for standard units)” and “Subject to modifications!”. Krone’s operating instructions repeat the main figures for the basic vehicle model, and say in the same place that the technical data “can vary depending on the vehicle equipment” and that a vehicle’s own is noted in its documents. None of the four is a road limit: those are set in law, for the trailer’s axle group as well as for the combination, as set out in gross vehicle and gross combination weight.

Technical and registration values

Krone’s data sheets label the 27,000 kg and the 39,000 kg technically possible; its product pages and operating instructions print the same two figures as a plain axle load and a permissible or permitted total weight, without the qualifier. Krone’s build description shows what the qualifier carries: against one order, the technical and the registration and operating values are printed separately, and the second set is lower: 24,000 kg axle load and 36,000 kg gross weight for German registration and operation, against a fifth-wheel load unchanged at 12,000 kg. Three tonnes apart at the bogie and three at the gross — our subtraction in both cases.

The technical values say what the structure and running gear can take, the registration values what the vehicle is registered and operated at in one member state. The same document gives what the axle load is built from — three axles of 9,000 kg each, which is where the 27,000 kg comes from, that multiplication ours. A trailer has no wheel formula, which is why the record above says tri-axle; formulae describe driven and steered axles on a motor vehicle, and are explained in axle configurations.

The example type plate in Krone’s operating instructions carries the technically approved axle loads and total mass and, where applicable, the nationally approved total masses for registration and operation. The build description does not say that its registration and operation masses go on the plate; that a trailer built to it would carry both sets there is our reading of the two documents together. The plate entry it does specify is the type and the EC type-approval number, and the type is SD, as on the example, not the SDP 27 eLB50-CS under which the figures above are published.

The deck

The clear side length is 13,620 mm and the clear side width 2,480 mm. What rule sits behind a 13,620 mm deck, and what it does and does not fix, is set out in semi-trailer dimensions.

Three figures place the deck against the king pin. The data sheet’s side elevation is dimensioned 1,668 mm from the front of the load space to the king pin, and 7,630 mm from the king pin back to the centre of the bogie; the table gives the axle spread as two gaps of 1,310 / 1,310 mm. At the front, one number appears under three names in three Krone documents: a turning radius on the English sheet, a front overhang radius on the German one, the corner dimension of the 2” king pin in the build description. All three say 2,040 mm.

King pin load and coupling height

Two lines concern the towing vehicle: the 12,000 kg king pin load, and the unloaded fifth coupling height, published as a band rather than a value at 1,050 to 1,200 mm. Krone’s own checklist before coupling asks whether the tractor unit’s coupling load is suitable for the trailer and whether the coupling heights of tractor and trailer correspond. Why the height is a band Krone explains on its English product page: the coupling height is variable because the running gear is height adjustable and the superstructure is bolted, the front wall and roof connections and the side post carriage designed with a hole pattern so they can be adjusted, and the side and roof curtains “can (ex works) be tailored” to the changed height. Krone also describes the internal height as able to be returned to its original position if required. The 125 mm front construction height is not part of that mechanism as Krone describes it — it is the neck depth, quoted in the build description as including the floor and the fifth-wheel plate. The build description shows the band in use: that show vehicle was built with its coupling height set at 1,150 mm. How imposed load, coupling class and height fit together is the subject of the king pin and the fifth wheel.

Brakes

The brake system is to ECE R 13 and includes a vehicle stabilising system and a spring parking brake. The electronic side is a 2S/2M EBS with two sensors on one axle and RSS, diagnostics through an ISO 7638 socket. Underneath are low-maintenance axles with air suspension and 430 mm disc brakes at offset 120, on six tyres in 385/65 R 22.5 to Krone’s choice of brand. What a category O3 or O4 trailer must have, as against what a maker chooses to fit, is drawn in trailer brakes and EBS.

Build, equipment and lighting

The data sheet’s technical description lists the rest of the standard build item by item. Two mechanically operated landing legs, 12 tonnes capacity each, half round with a base plate, support the trailer uncoupled. The front wall has solid corner posts, is reinforced with a plywood inner skin, restricts lateral loading, and carries a quick release for the side curtains and a retainer for the curtain cord. The rear doors are container-type, with a bolted steel frame, integrated double door locks, concealed door hinges, a hinged and movable roof header, and a clamping device with a ratchet for the tarpaulin at the rear frame, with delta-shaped rubber profiles and trapezoid-shaped steel corner buffers at the rear. Three pairs of side posts are fitted symmetrically, with plank pockets. The alloy cant rail runs the length of the trailer to support the sliding curtain and the posts, with diagonal bracing integrated into the roof tarpaulin; the curtain itself is one PVC sheet with full-length vertical reinforcements, rollers at the top and tensioners at the bottom, a stainless-steel curtain tensioner, and a white roof tarpaulin. Steel parts are shot blasted and KTL-primed, with the standard single-colour surface coating; the axles and wheel hubs are painted black, the underrun protection and light panel coated white, the wheels finished silver, and the outline marking reflective to ECE R48. Wheel covering follows EC regulation and spray suppression the EC guideline for it. A spare wheel carrier is listed as an option, not part of the standard build.

The electrical side, beyond the EBS already described: lights to UN ECE Regulation No. 48, a 24-volt lighting system with two 7-pin sockets to DIN ISO 1185/3731, front and rear marker lights, two multi-function rear lights including a rear fog light and reversing lights, and contouring, number-plate and side-marker lights in LED.

Body certificate and load securing

The data sheet’s technical description carries a load security certificate to EN 12642 Code XL for the standard build — the standard Annex III to Directive 2014/47/EU lists for the strength of the vehicle body structure, so a statement about the structure rather than about the straps inside it, and what a Code XL body may do without additional securing is set out in load securing. Two other lines belong to the same subject: the Multi Lock side rave carries securing positions every 100 mm along the vehicle, and the floor is 30 mm phenolic coated plywood with strength to DIN EN 283, rated for stacker-truck axle loads up to 7,000 kg.

The VDI 2700 beverage certificate and the “up to 140 km/h” qualifier appear on the product page against the optional Safe Curtain — the 140 km/h also against rail carriage of the Profi Liner TIR with piggyback equipment — and not against the standard curtain on the data sheet, and the show vehicle whose build description was read carries that option.

The build description lists a load security certificate among the show vehicle’s papers, next to the EU certificate of conformity. The operating instructions add the inspection booklet, to be kept in the vehicle as proof of the validity of that certificate and of the trailer’s maintenance condition; Krone’s booklet is made out to one vehicle identification number and states that “in order to ensure consistent road worthiness and operational safety of new vehicles, an annual inspection is required”, adding that “if the scope of testing defined in this test log is already covered by annual inspections (MOT), additional testing is not required”, and asks that the test then be confirmed by the authorised expert in the booklet.

The same name on a different trailer

Krone’s Turkish market page publishes a Profi Liner that is not this vehicle. It is type SDP 27 eLB43-CS: a tare of 7,000 kg in the standard version at plus or minus 3 %, a 24,000 kg axle load, a registered laden mass of 35,500 kg, a 102 mm neck and an internal height of 2,700 to 3,000 mm — on the same 13,620 by 2,480 mm deck. On the two published tares it is 1,060 kg heavier empty — our subtraction; the Turkish page gives its tare at plus or minus 3 % and the German sheet gives its own as “approx.”.

How it loads

The data sheet describes three ways in: sliding curtains down the sides, container rear doors, and a sliding roof, “Roof also movable to the front and rear”. Krone’s product page marks opening the roof from front to rear for overhead crane loading as “(optional)”, and the show vehicle in the build description has a sliding roof that does not move from front to rear.

Source notes

All figures are Krone’s for type SDP 27 eLB50-CS in the standard build; the data sheet is qualified “(Dimensions and weights for standard units)” and “Subject to modifications!”, and the tare and the payload are both stated as approximate. The 27,000 kg axle load and the 39,000 kg total weight are labelled “technically possible” on the data sheets; the product pages and the operating instructions print them without that qualifier, as the axle load and the permissible / permitted total weight. Krone’s own build description for this type gives the German registration values separately and lower: 24,000 kg axle load and 36,000 kg gross weight for registration and operation, against an unchanged 12,000 kg fifth-wheel load. Technically possible payload, Krone’s figure: approx. 33,060 kg. Two Krone statements about coupling height do not agree — the technical table on both product pages and both data sheets gives 1,050 - 1,200 mm unloaded, while the prose on the same English product page says the coupling height is variable from 1,050 to 1,170 mm; the table is followed above. Krone attributes that variability to the height-adjustable running gear together with the bolted, hole-pattern superstructure, not to the 125 mm front construction (neck) height. The 2,550 mm width above is the outer width in the technical data table of Krone’s operating instructions and is dimensioned on the data sheet’s drawing; the drawing also dimensions the king pin 1,668 mm behind the front of the load space and the centre of the bogie 7,630 mm behind the king pin, against an Aggregatabstand of 7,780 mm in the build description for one optioned show vehicle, order 2721708. The EN 12642 Code XL certificate is on the data sheet for the standard build. The VDI 2700 beverage certificate and the “up to 140 km/h” qualifier appear on the product page against the optional Safe Curtain (the 140 km/h also against rail carriage of the Profi Liner TIR with piggyback equipment) rather than against the standard curtain, and the show vehicle whose build description was read carries that option. Krone’s Turkish market page publishes a different vehicle under the same nameplate: SDP 27 eLB43-CS, 7,000 kg tare in the standard version at +/- 3 %, 24,000 kg axle load, 35,500 kg registered laden mass, a 102 mm neck and an internal height of 2,700 - 3,000 mm, on the same 13,620 x 2,480 mm deck.