101

On or around Tue, 04 Jan 2005 23:39:40 +0000, Dougal enlightened us thusly:

yeah, I found those pages. Stewart & Stevenson don't seem to be making the SS300 any more. There's limited evidence that someone was planning to make more of 'em, but no sign of actual production.

Alex

The landrover based one is here.

Alex

I had one! They are facinating vehicles. I don't think I would recommed one for long distance overland work. Right now Bedford TMs are very cheap and I would buy one of those for an overland motorhome. When I built mine Unimogs were cheaper and anyway get away without HGV so that is the way I went. You need reliability for overland trips and IMHO the best way to get that is to run a standard vehicle well within its design weight. You can get a Bedford TM for less than a 101! That would make an easy choice for me!

David

The only thing that worries me about that is the two-axle steering, surely with full lock on front and rear it would spin around practically on it's centre? I can't imagine how it would fair at higher speeds, especially on the motorway.

Alex

Don't they govern the steering range with speed ?

Steve

On or around Fri, 07 Jan 2005 09:21:00 +0000, Steve Taylor enlightened us thusly:

I doubt it'd be a major problem. You have 2 axles which don't steer at all, after all, and at motorway speeds you're only apply very slight steering input. I suppose it might be possible for the whole thing to oscillate around the vertical axis, but I doubt it would.

If I ever get to build the 6-wheeler with rear steering, I'll report on how it goes :-)

I'm still contemplating wether to make my 6-wheeler rear steer, given it's short wheelbase. I'm having trouble finding out how to apply the ackerman principle to a rear-steering axle, and also how to work out the desired front-rear ratio. The first doesn't worry me so much, and the second is gonna require some long-forgotten trig skills. Have to re-learn them for the summer, as I'm determined to get this project rolling this year.

I'm thinking I might fit a steering axle at the rear and lock it dead-ahead for the time being, see how much tyre scrub I get.

I've nailed the 6wd problem, thanks to a judicious purchase on Ebay just before Xmas.

Alex