For those who struggle to back a normal van wouldn't have a snowflakes chance in ( u know where ) of backing this van up not to mention swaying behind you on the road
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When the power of Love becomes greater than the love of power the World will see peace ! 24ft Trailblazer 5th wheeler n 05 Patrol ute and Black Series Dominator camper trailer ( for the rough stuff)
JC, I hope that all up weight of 3.75t includes the Triton
With that front axle on the van, swaying wouldn't be a problem, the 2 main advantages would be towing stability and very little ball weight. With the pivoting front axle and the rear axles set so far back it'd be a lot easier to back than a conventional van. The rear axles of the van are it's pivot point, and being set so far back it would be much less sensitive to steering input when reversing.
-- Edited by Ondabeach on Tuesday 6th of October 2015 10:00:23 AM
-- Edited by Ondabeach on Tuesday 6th of October 2015 10:00:47 AM
-- Edited by Ondabeach on Tuesday 6th of October 2015 10:01:25 AM
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Cheers, Steve.
"Any day above ground is a good day... unless you're a spelunker :)"
Ok, some interesting theories going on here but sorry, no cigar as they are all wrong.
I'll try to make this as simple as possible; the front axle is a rigid axle same as the rear's, so there is no a-frame for the towing.
It is a single pole from the tow ball to the centre of the axle mounted by a piviot point.
Steering; on this single tow pole about 200-300 mm ( estimate) from the axle end there is an attachment on the R/H side where a drag link is attached & connects to the R/H wheel like the drag link on a 4x4 or truck.
The two front wheels are connected behind the solid axle with a tie rod link; ( again same as a truck,4x4), adjustable for alignment.
As the tow pole moves from left to right it steers the front wheels same as a steering wheel does.
All six wheels are braked via an over ride system.
Reversing; reasonable difficult but possible over a short distance.
This guy is dutch, drove articulated vehicles ; that licence has been cancelled due to open heart surgery as he is in his late 80's. Lives in Vic.
He designed & built the chassis him self about 18yrs back, had the van built on it by Spaceland vans.
He is the sole owner & its always been registered so no inspections required, maybe a different matter these days if a change was to come about.
Never been pulled over & checked; but did say that the cops in Shepparton were looking hard at him when he came through but no being stopped; maybe it would be to hard for them.
The weight I stated is van only, no ball weight at all & towed by a Triton, beats me.
So there you have it; maybe clear as mud to some but thats the way it is.
JC.
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Be your self; there's no body better qualified ! "I came into this world with nothing , I still have most of it"
Ok, same difference then, the front wheels steer, so that's all good. BIG problem with the weight though... the braked towing capacity of a dual cab 2WD Triton is only 3000kg and 4WD is 3100kg, so highly illegal, not to mention dangerous
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Cheers, Steve.
"Any day above ground is a good day... unless you're a spelunker :)"
If anybody can remember the movie 'The Long, Long Trailer' their van had a bogie wheel set up at the front. Shots of the van being towed showed it tracking straight and level. No ball weight. And I imagine there would be no problem with swaying.
Anyway, around six months ago several of those bogies were on eBay - apparently imported from America. I forget the asking price.
At the time I wondered why that concept was never adopted in Australia. Certainly, I haven't ever seen one in all our 27,000kms of travel so far.
Has anybody seen them on the road or had experience with them?
If anybody can remember the movie 'The Long, Long Trailer' their van had a bogie wheel set up at the front. Shots of the van being towed showed it tracking straight and level. No ball weight. And I imagine there would be no problem with swaying.
Has anybody seen them on the road or had experience with them?
Murray
I think you will find those wheels at the front were dolly wheels. They did not take the full weight of the van. They were available in Oz at the same time, there were a couple of local manufacturers.
I have seen that Spaceland a couple of times. I also saw it in the Spaceland factory at the time mine was there. His first tug was a Discovery D1 which has a maximum towing weight of 4,000/150 kg. The owner was absent at each sighting.
-- Edited by PeterD on Tuesday 6th of October 2015 05:15:29 PM
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PeterD Nissan Navara D23 diesel auto, Spaceland pop-top Retired radio and electronics technician. NSW Central Coast.
I just had a look at my copy of the 'Long, Long Trailer' movie.
It was a four (4) wheel device, looked like it could pull a semi trailer! Although the wheels were quite small (would be turning very fast at towing speeds) four of them would be able to handle a fair amount of weight. The mechanic called it a dolly and stated that it takes the weight off the trailer hitch. The four wheels were on the same axle rather than tandem so would not be a problem in tight turns.
Anyway, the dolly that was on eBay earlier in the year was similar. I thought that using one of those dollies would be similar to the van JC wrote about but on a smaller scale.
Murray
-- Edited by Long Weekend on Tuesday 6th of October 2015 09:24:04 PM
