Guy Announces Two New Four-wheel-drive Models
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Latest Guy Products for Cross-country Service Have Well-tried Features and Good Performance Characteristics STYLED the Quad-Ant and the Lizard respectively, two new fourwheel-drive vehicles are announced by Guy Motors, Ltd., Fallings Park, Wolverhampton. Developed during the past few mouths and subjected to severe cross-country work, these models have, we are advised, proved to be capable of traversing any class of ground, from sand to soft, wet clay. The former, performs satisfactorily with a load on the vehicle and a towed load, which brings the total gross weight to 5 tons 9 cwt., whilst the latter has a gross laden weight, including that of the towed vehicle, of 19 tons-10 cwt.
When fully laden and towing a heavy trailer, both these vehicles will, it is claimed, negotiate badly surfaced gradients of 1 in 2.17, whilst they have maximum speeds in excess of the normal legal limits.
This type of machine is the outcome of attempts made during the past 12 years to produce an ideal cross-country vehicle. In this matter, Guy Motors, Ltd., has played an important part, and it produced a four-wheel-drive sixwheeler with chain tracks, but, at the time, some difficulty was experienced with the wear of the tracks.
Later, after much research, not only on the mechanical side, but in connection with the correct method of distributing weight on each axle, and with the use of a low-pressure tyre with a 'tread that gave maximum adhesion, machines driven on six wheels and eight wheels were developed. It was considered that, if experience gained with these types could be applied to a smaller number of wheels, a distinct advance would have been made, more especially as initial costs and maintenance charges would be lower and improved speeds would be possible over rough country.
It is for this reason that Guy Motors, Ltd., has commenced the development of the Quad-Ant and Lizard types. Although, up to the present, the vehicles have been utilized for only military purposes, they have features which commend them for use under conditions which are nor-Many impassable to the ordinary bar-wheeled and six-wheeled types. They are efficient as tractors or load carriers, and can readily he employed for certain industrial purposes.
The Quad-Ant and Lizard have a patented type of frame and system of suspension of the engine and transmission units. The engine, clutch, gearbox and transfer box are all mounted as a unit, being suspended in the frame on the crankshaft centre at the front and the output-shaft centre at the rear through a ball mounting, which permits maximum frame distortion without affecting or stressing the transmission units. There are two steadies, of plunger form, mounted on either side of the crankcase to take torque reactitin and vibration. These mountings are resilient and eliminate the transfer of stress from the frame to the respective units.
The engine drives through the orthodox gearbox on to a transfer box, located behind the main box and provided with double helical gears to minimize noise. The oil-set propeller shafts run forward and aft from the transfer box to both of the axles, the drive in the case of the Quad-Ant being by bevel pinion and by overslung worm and wheel in the Lizard.
The steerable front axle is driven by constant velocity universal joints of a special type, which ensure that there is no fluctuation in the speed of drive in the hubs when the two wheels are at different angles on steering lock.
Provision is made to enable either the front or the near drive to be disconnected so that the vehicle may become a two-wheel-drive, if desired,
The Quad-Ant is fitted with a robust four-cylindered engine, similar to that used in Guy freight vehicles, whilst the Lizard may be equipped either with a 5LW Gardner oil engine or a six-cylindered petrol unit.