Aussie Iron
Explorer
Dan.
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Canter 6X6 - Yes or No.
- Thread starter Aussie Iron
- Start date
Dan.
BLC392
Member
Think of the hours in the shed, the tranquil buzz of a grinder and drill. The internet download time of sourcing parts. The fabrication of loadsharing suspension, extending the chassis, engineering certification, cats and dogs living together, mass hysteria, ‘you’re always in the shed’ comments...........
And, there is always the gobsmacked stares as you cruise through a town with a rig like that, and you know that the bloke standing at the servo or sitting at the corner of the bar is thinking to himself, ‘wish I had that, think of the places I’d go’
Sorry about that, got lost in the moment
I like it, ‘why not’
Maybe do a cost/benefit analysis?
Do you need(?) the extra axle for load carrying? If so, maybe the next size truck
Just thinking out loud
B
And, there is always the gobsmacked stares as you cruise through a town with a rig like that, and you know that the bloke standing at the servo or sitting at the corner of the bar is thinking to himself, ‘wish I had that, think of the places I’d go’
Sorry about that, got lost in the moment
I like it, ‘why not’
Maybe do a cost/benefit analysis?
Do you need(?) the extra axle for load carrying? If so, maybe the next size truck
Just thinking out loud
B
Aussie Iron
Explorer
Okay let me tell you where this comes from. We are starting to talk about doing a few desert runs in the top of WA. Now we're not talking GIbb River Road or the Gun Barrel tourist routes. Actual desert crossing following the Rig highways that were put in when they did a lot of test drilling for petroleum. For this we need to be able to carry more fuel and supplies and hopefully a quad bike.
The original way I was going was a powered trailer and most of the parts have been collected for the job. In this case I would be running a live drive of the gearbox out the top of transfer case. This shaft would run at gearbox speeds and run to the rear of the Canter where it would run through the hitch centre and to a transfer case mounted under the trailer. This transfer case is from an earlier Canter and has vacuum shift so we would be able to select high and low range. Powered Trailer were made to be used behind Land Rovers 101's and Volvo C303's but never really caught on as they tend to push the vehicle around if you end up on a slippery surface.
This I have already done, when it was listed here I wrote a small write up on visiting the Gent that originally built it.
I've been thinking.
No I wouldn't be modifying my current Canter, that was only meant to visualize the concept. We would start with 2WD Canter so we have a straight chassis to the rear, this we would need so we have room under the chassis for the load sharing suspension. An FG front axle will be used on the front and FG 4x4 diffs (limited slips) will be used for the rear. I'm currently working on designing a splitter for the rear drives with thoughts at this stage is to make it fit to the front of the first diff and have the drive for the rear up and over the first. This splitter will be capable of selection for 2WD, 4WD power divider as in torsen centre diff used in AWD vehicles and 4WD lock (positive power to both axles). This centre section I will find in a AWD transfer case.
Yes there will be some problems getting the paper work sorted out. A lot more homework will be on going.
Dan.
The original way I was going was a powered trailer and most of the parts have been collected for the job. In this case I would be running a live drive of the gearbox out the top of transfer case. This shaft would run at gearbox speeds and run to the rear of the Canter where it would run through the hitch centre and to a transfer case mounted under the trailer. This transfer case is from an earlier Canter and has vacuum shift so we would be able to select high and low range. Powered Trailer were made to be used behind Land Rovers 101's and Volvo C303's but never really caught on as they tend to push the vehicle around if you end up on a slippery surface.
This I have already done, when it was listed here I wrote a small write up on visiting the Gent that originally built it.
I've been thinking.
No I wouldn't be modifying my current Canter, that was only meant to visualize the concept. We would start with 2WD Canter so we have a straight chassis to the rear, this we would need so we have room under the chassis for the load sharing suspension. An FG front axle will be used on the front and FG 4x4 diffs (limited slips) will be used for the rear. I'm currently working on designing a splitter for the rear drives with thoughts at this stage is to make it fit to the front of the first diff and have the drive for the rear up and over the first. This splitter will be capable of selection for 2WD, 4WD power divider as in torsen centre diff used in AWD vehicles and 4WD lock (positive power to both axles). This centre section I will find in a AWD transfer case.
Yes there will be some problems getting the paper work sorted out. A lot more homework will be on going.
Dan.
Sounds pretty good. If running a walking beam setup you'd want to run some big fishplates along the chassis to brace it, probably 8mm and maybe 2ft each way from the centre mount.
One thing that concerned me about using the stock tcase to get drive for both rears is its strength. Idk if that worries you at all, you're more intimate with the inards of them than I am. Also depends on tyre size and torque output I guess. Would you have room in front of the diff for another tcase, esp on a swb? I'm sure you've seen the gearbox that the 6x6 acco's came with, to send drive up and over the 1st diff. Apparently they had heaps of dramas with lubrication though.
My thoughts were to ditch the gearbox in favour of a 2wd 6sp and run a divorce tcase from the US, with twin rear outputs. Keep my parabolics and invert them to be a walking beam. Nothing super complex about any of that except some messing around to get the shaft angles over the first diff. The tcase I was looking at from USA was 6k though.. I think you'd pretty quickly hit 20k in parts doing it that way.
One thing that concerned me about using the stock tcase to get drive for both rears is its strength. Idk if that worries you at all, you're more intimate with the inards of them than I am. Also depends on tyre size and torque output I guess. Would you have room in front of the diff for another tcase, esp on a swb? I'm sure you've seen the gearbox that the 6x6 acco's came with, to send drive up and over the 1st diff. Apparently they had heaps of dramas with lubrication though.
My thoughts were to ditch the gearbox in favour of a 2wd 6sp and run a divorce tcase from the US, with twin rear outputs. Keep my parabolics and invert them to be a walking beam. Nothing super complex about any of that except some messing around to get the shaft angles over the first diff. The tcase I was looking at from USA was 6k though.. I think you'd pretty quickly hit 20k in parts doing it that way.
Aussie Iron
Explorer
I believe the standard transfer case is heavy enough. We're not talking about adding to much more HP so I believe that will be all right. I have thought about another transfer case with two rear outputs but there is not a lot around that I can find , like you say without spending big dollars. Example being :- Foley make a drive that fits to the front of first rear diff, they use to make Land Rovers 6x6 and it is 8,000 Euro out of England ,then imports.
That FG 6x6 camper has a replacement transfer case that when he did those conversions was 6,500 US. back around 1998/99. We will have to stretch the wheel base to the first axle a little bit, but my idea is to use as much standard pieces (tailshafts) as possible.
Dan.
That FG 6x6 camper has a replacement transfer case that when he did those conversions was 6,500 US. back around 1998/99. We will have to stretch the wheel base to the first axle a little bit, but my idea is to use as much standard pieces (tailshafts) as possible.
Dan.
BLC392
Member
I know this is going to sound absolutely so far left field, but?
How often are you going to need the extra assistance from the trailer drive, <1, 5, 10% of the trip?
How about electric drive to trailer differential? You are already carrying extra load of fuel, the batteries can be used for other accessories, charged by solar, controlled from the cab, no transfer case, no extra drive shaft through trailer coupling hassles. No extra load on the drive train. And in the event that you need to reverse the trailer, simply unhitch and use the onboard electric drive.
Control in the cab can be as simple as a potentiometer/fly by wire. Think of electric brake system in reverse, instead of stopping its driving.
While your are shooting along the highway the Emotor can recharge the batteries
Electric drive parts are readily available and the systems are not that tech difficult.
When you get home, simply unhitch the trailer and you’re back to a stand-alone truck
Sounds like I’ve just come up with an idea, dibs on the rights, if anytime wants to build it, We can negotiate royalties.
That’s my thought of the day.........................
How often are you going to need the extra assistance from the trailer drive, <1, 5, 10% of the trip?
How about electric drive to trailer differential? You are already carrying extra load of fuel, the batteries can be used for other accessories, charged by solar, controlled from the cab, no transfer case, no extra drive shaft through trailer coupling hassles. No extra load on the drive train. And in the event that you need to reverse the trailer, simply unhitch and use the onboard electric drive.
Control in the cab can be as simple as a potentiometer/fly by wire. Think of electric brake system in reverse, instead of stopping its driving.
While your are shooting along the highway the Emotor can recharge the batteries
Electric drive parts are readily available and the systems are not that tech difficult.
When you get home, simply unhitch the trailer and you’re back to a stand-alone truck
Sounds like I’ve just come up with an idea, dibs on the rights, if anytime wants to build it, We can negotiate royalties.
That’s my thought of the day.........................
BLC392
Member
Further to that thought, you would need a substantial tow hitch. The standard 50mm tow ball and hitch won’t cut it. Something that incorporates a thrust load bearing arrangement. Could be used with the typical box hitch setup and replaced with standard towball when you need to tow the box trailer.
That’s my thought for tomorrow..............
That’s my thought for tomorrow..............
