Another American Chassis with Four-wheel Drive.
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INF learn that the Freeman Motor Co., of Detroit, has just introduced' a new chassis embodying fourwheel drive. It i's being built in three lead capacities for 3, 5 or 7 tons.
The power unit has six cylinders, and the gearing afforde eight forward speeds; braking is effected through all four wheels.
One of the main features of the design lies in the drive to the front wheels. There are no universal jointg, the power being taken through bevel gears running in Oil and totally enclosed. The bevel wheel of each set of gearing is carried horizontally and mounted on a shaft, which takee.. the iilace of the stub-axle pin in an ordinary axle. A second set of gears, this also ef the bevel pattern, takes the actual drive to the wheel. The bevel gear and differential of the primary reduction are mounted above the dead axle. In the ease of the rear wlieelS, the primary drive is the same, but the final drive is by means of internal gearing in the wheels. The provision of two distinct forms of drive does not appeal to us as being really practicable. • The engine employed is a Buda, developing 80 h.h.p. at 1,800 r.p.m. Mounted as a unit with this is the Fuller four-speed gearbox mid a multiple-disc clutch of the same make. Amidships is an auxiliary gearbox giving a low ratio of 2 to 1. The highest gear ratio is 84 to 1, and the _lowest 104.5 to 1.
Auxiliary springs, parallel with the main springs at the rear, come into action as the load is increased.
A service brake takes effect on a drum 10 ins. in diameter and 4 ins. wide, mounted on the propeller shaft