DESIGNING FOR MAINTENANCE.
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SO FAR as maintenance is, concerned, the more simple and accessible the design of a motor vehicle intended for commercial purposes, the greater is its success likely to be amongst users. Simplification in the design of a vehicle must, of course, not be carried to extremes, for it ckie,s not invariably spell efficiency. What is. desirable is the maximum simplicity which can be achieved without sacrificing efficiency. Maintenance engineers have often expressed to us the wish that certain manufacturers could be made to run fleets of their own vehicles, so that they could rectify those usually small, but none the less irritating and time-wasting, faults which only show themselves during continuous service.
In a way their • wishes have been fulfilled, as, although the. manufacturers may not run fleets of their own, yet many of them are now undertaking the overhauling of considerable numbers of yehicles of their. own and, in some cases, other makes. As regards accessibility, many of the manufacturers have learnt quite a number of useful points whilst performing these overhauls; in fact, we know of several cases in which alterations have been made in design in order to render important parts more readily accessible for inspeetion.and repair.
The next best thing to making a part equal to the task of standing up to its work for an unlimited period is so to design and position it in relation to other parts in its proximity that it. can be removed and repaired or repliced with theiminimum of trouble and delay. It does not always pay to fit a part which wilr last practically for ever ; so designed, it may. be too, expensive or too heavy, and it is often advisable to adopt the American system of cheap replacements.
We have all heard of glaring examples of faulty designing, such as chassis, in which, in order to remove the clutch, the gearbox has to be shifted back. Fortunately, it is seldom that one finds such faults oceurringa.nowacla.ys in a large way, but in -many chassis:there is an urgent need of re-designing in order to render certain of the details more accessible.