OM926

The OM 926 LA had its world premiere in April 2001 at bauma in Munich — a construction equipment fair rather than a truck show, which says plainly enough who it was built for. It is the six-cylinder of the large-bore 900-series pair, 7.2 liters from 106 × 136 mm cylinders, developed from the OM 906 LA but with the extra displacement contained in much the same package: 240 kW, 1,300 N·m, and only 530 kg. Unit-pump injection, three valves per cylinder, full electronic management and a decompression engine brake came as standard equipment for a life spent at maximum load.

Its best-known application arrived seven years later. The Zetros, shown at Eurosatory in Paris in 2008 and built at Wörth, put the cab behind the engine so the front end could be serviced in the field and the whole truck flown in a C-130, and drew its drivetrain from the Atego and Axor — planetary hub-reduction axles, permanent all-wheel drive, three differential locks. The OM 926 LA powered both the 4×4 1833 A and the 6×6 2733 A, and could work up to 2,500 m above sea level without losing rated output. Elsewhere it turned up in Claas combine harvesters and Brazilian-built Atego trucks.