1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276 
Rubber suspension for Roadliner is main Daimler interest
Page 127
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
THE amount of interest that there is now in rear-engined passenger vehicles will be well illustrated at the Commercial Motor Show on the stand of Daimler Transport Vehicles Ltd. Every vehicle on the company's stand will have this engine layout. And all the Daimlers on bodybuilders' stands will also be rear-engined in spite of the fact that Daimler continues to offer front-engined buses. Daimler itself plans to show three Roadliners, two with bodies and two Fleetlines, one of which will have a double-decker body.
Both of Daimler's rear-engined designs will have new features for the show. The Roadliner is available now with rubber suspension as well as full air suspension and the Fleetline is offered in an extended wheelbase which allows for 33ft-long bodies.
The rubber suspension used by Daimler on the Roadliner is the Metalastik togglelink type and it has been developed in cooperation with Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Co. (Midland Red) who has had experience of this type of suspension over a very long period, and Potteries Motor Traction Ltd.
An important feature of the suspension design is its simplicity. The axles are both sprung and partly located by rubber-bushed links—two on each side of both axles. Each link incorporates a strut which is adjusted for length to set the pre-load on the rubber bushes and thus set the frame height. The rear axle relies solely on the toggle links for transverse location and they are mounted at an angle to the chassis centre line to obtain as wide a base as possible to reduce roll. But at the front the rear links are parallel to the chassis centre line and the forward units are at only a slight angle and here transverse location of the axle is provided by a Panhard rod. To ensure positive fore-and-aft location both axles are linked to the chassis frame by radius arms on both sides.
Although the Earls Court show will be the first time that a Roadliner with rubber suspension has been on exhibition, 85 chassis with this feature have already been ordered. Bodied Roadliners at the show will have air suspension but the third type of suspension available on the model—leaf springs—will not be seen there.
There have been few changes to the Roadliner design since the model was introduced two years ago and what has been done has been largely confined to detailed modifications to engine speeds and the fuel-injection system for fuel economy. But there has been a change in the radiator position for the show and instead of being mounted at the extreme front of the chassis it is now mounted at the rear on the right-hand side of the engine. This makes for a compact layout and the fan can be belt-driven from the engine or electrically-driven (with automatic thermostatic control) as desired. For these alternatives the fan is located behind the radiator or in front of it respectively and where conditions demand it both methods can be incorporated.
As an alternative to the conventional engine cooling system the Roadliner be obtained with the Clayton Dewan Compas system which combines this fu tion with saloon heating. With this systi heat-exchanger units are mounted on e; side of the vehicle and these have fans wh are hydraulically powered from an engi driven pump. The motors are reversible ; their direction and speed is controlled b temperature-sensitive valve—when the tenor temperature gets above a cert point, air is drawn from inside the veh and discharged through the heat exchang(
The Compas system will be incorporai in a Roadliner to be on the Daimler sta this being an example of 44-seater, p; standee buses being supplied to Edmotu and Calgary in Canada. These particu chassis are fitted with the fully-ra (192 b.h.p.) Cummins V6 engine and transmission is by a fully-automatic AU M.T.41 unit comprising a single-stage thr element torque converter, lock-up clu. and planetary gear train providing f; forward speeds and reverse. This tra mission incorporates a built-in hydras retarder which gives up to 15 per c braking.
The Fleetline will be making its fou appearance at the Earls Court show examples exhibited will include detai improvements in respect of better acce ibility to electrical equipment—cont box and junction boxes and so on—as th are repositioned forward of the eng bulkhead. But the more important char for this model is that an 18ft. 6in. wh base version can now be obtained wh 33ft. long bodywork is required. A RI bodied example will be on the stand a while 86 seats are possible the future opei tors of the show model have not specifi the maximum number. As with the standa 16ft. 3in. wheelbase Fleetline which will at the show in chassis form, the extend version has a transverse mounted Gardt 6LX engine and Daimatic transmissi with right-angle drive unit to the two-sta reduction dropped-centre rear axle. 1 new version of the Fleetline is suitable single-deck bodywork as well as dout deckers and an example will be seen in 1 coachbuilders' section.