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Chalky mud fails to stop 4x4 Bedford
Page 24
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UNITED Service Garages (Portsmouth) Ltd has become sole agent for the Detroit Automotive No-Spin differential unit for the Bedford CF range.
No-Spin replaces the existing planetary gear and if one wheel starts to spin, drive is still transmitted to the other, unlike a conventional differential.
To fit the No-Spin unit, part of the casing of the differential has to be changed but in spite of this, the cost has been kept down to £365.
For many applications full four-wheel drive is not essential, but the capability to drive through mud is. Here the NoSpin unit comes into its own, providing traction in ppoor conditions.
I was able to experience the operation of the unit during a test drive both on the road and on Portsdown Hill at Portsmouth (writes Steve Gray). Portsdown Hill is composed of chalk and before I arrived it had been raining.
This turned the chalk into a very slippery and treacherous surface — far worse even than ice. The tyres on the vehicle — a twin-rear-wheeled CF van — quickly filled up with chalky slush and lost their grip, but apart from one steep hill which beat it, the CF kept going.
Conditions were so bad that braking just produced a sl and steering was aim impossible. Certainly the I Spin worked well and wo undoubtedly have been bei if the van had been loaded. ordinary roads there was noticeable difference, exc that one could really push CF into bends and it held well.
During my visit to US( was also able to try a 4x4 bus conversion which company carries out. This the Fergusson Formula s tern of four-wheel drive, at extra cost of around £3, above list prive. It's well wc it, though, as the CF k going even on the hill wlbeat its stablemate.
It too, was unladen, there was some wheel-s1 Nevertheless it was abIE negotiate all the conditions tried it on. One feature I IN cularly liked was the lac' steering feed-back. In fac was just like a normal CF, N none of the wind sometimes associated v four-wheel drive. This pz cular CF was equipped automatic transmission feature I heartily approvi on 4x4s.
USG seems to specialisi carrying out diverse cow sions and projects. I shown some TM Bedford ti tive units which had b lightened for a brewery 305kg (6cwt) to an unla weight of 5.5 tonnes (5 Bcwt). The lightness I achieved by fitting alumin panels where possible, an a bumper and an alloy fuel tz USG is based at Vaux House, London Road, Po mouth, and is a Vauxh Bedford main dealer.