On or around Fri, 23 Jun 2006 19:45:16 +0100, "Lee_D"
<
[email protected]> enlightened us thusly:
>Ian Rawlings <[email protected]> uttered summat worrerz funny about:
>> On 2006-06-23, Alex <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> At the end of the day though, the 6-wheeler 101 or pinz is meant for
>> carrying heavy stuff, hence the extra axle.
>
>Have to agree.. I'd bet had Dave realised how close the undercarriage was
>coming he would have got the pick and shovel out but lets face it we've all
>been there (Austin step forwards please). That extra axle has afforded a
>fixed bed for the last 3 months which I would imagine having done some
>rather less demanding caravanning is worth it's weight in gold.. not to
>mention the extra 200 odd litres of fuel being carried just in case.
The extra axle makes it into a serious expedition vehicle. The main thing
wrong with that conversion is the way the suspension works and it probably
for serious off-roading needs at least 4 diff locks: one between front and
rear, one between the 2 rear axles and one each in the rear diffs. Not sure
that a front axle difflock would make much difference. I don't know how
many diff locks it has, in fact.
The suspension comment is about the fact that it's not actually a true
6-wheeler, it's a 4-wheeler to which another axle has been added. One thing
wrong with it, dynamically, is that the 2 rear axles are too far apart for
the amount of articulation available - ideally, the suspension need a
re-work into a proper 4-wheel rear end (see how most 6x4 trucks are done);
this would allow better articulation, and would get the axles closer
together which would improve the turning and reduce tyre scrub. You could
do it even better by putting a steering axle on the back (at the cost of
added complexity and stuff-to-go-wrong).
Having said that, it's a very capable truck as-is. Looking at the video
clip, DF actually does it more-or less exactly right: he approaches steadily
in the first instance, rather than charging flat-out. When that approach
fails, he then tries it again a bit faster, and then again, until he just
clears the dune without apparent problems. Not sure when that was taken but
at some point in the trip he lost the 6WD and if the truck's only in 4WD at
that point, then it does well. He could have hit that dune at 30 mph in the
first place, thrown the truck in the air, flown the dune and crashed down on
the other side, and might have broken all sorts of stuff in the process
including his teeth.
>If it were my truck I guess I'd be looking at the likes of the detriot
>lockers for the rear two axles at least, but thats not a cheap doo and it's
>not my truck....
see comment above...
>The fact that the truck has completed the trip under it's own steam is
>surely testiment to the marque of which we should all be proud.... yes it
>needs some TLC now but thats a once in a lifetime road trip in a 30 year old
>vehicle, unless you happen to go twice.
exactly. and notwithstanding losing the 6WD part-way through he doesn't
seem to have got stuck, or not permanently. They got all the way round and
back home.
Given the money, if I wanted to do a 6-wheeler 101-based expedition truck,
I'd use 110 axles and suspension on it which would improve the articulation
and allow (more easily) spacing the axles much closer - it would also get
you disc brakes all round which solves the "101s don't stop in reverse"
problem and lose quite a few of the difficult-to-source 101-only parts.
Personally I'd do it with a steering back axle but that's a matter of
personal choice, really.
It would of course upset the rivet-counters no end, but hey, someone's got
to do that
and in any case, the rivet-counters wouldn't approve of the
whole 6x6 thing anyway.
engine-wise, nice as the V8 is, for remote places it'd probably be better to
go with a diesel. LR TDi with a nice big intercooler would probably do it
nicely - with mild tweaking it should produce about the same power as the
3.5 V8, with maybe more torque.
BTW, if anyone wants me to build it... you know where I am, and I charge
quite reasonable rates
That's a semi-serious offer, BTW.
actually, it'd be loads of fun to re-create the 8x8 the successor to which
is now being made by some lot in America, based on 2 sets of 90 parts;
AFAICS this would be relatively easy.
--
Austin Shackles.
www.ddol-las.net my opinions are just that
"Quos deus vult perdere, prius dementat" Euripedes, quoted in
Boswell's "Johnson".
