Yet Another Ford Conversion,
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In the Eros Tonlode, we have yet another variant of the converted Ford. To be precise, the name is applied to the additional parts which require to be added to the Ford touring-car chassis in order to render it suitable for carrying a load of one ton net. One of its merits which appeals, at the present time, with more than ordinary force, is that it iS of British manufacture, being made by a firm of engineers in Ire/and. As the first portion of its trade name implies, it is being marketed by Morris, Russell and Co., Ltd.., of Curtain Road, E.C. The complete outfit costs £73 Ms., and it can be fitted with a minimum of trouble to second-hand or new Ford chassis.
The method of making the con
version is rather ingenious. The front wheels of the Ford are re-placed by the rear ones ; this allows of the 31 in. tires being utilized. In place of the standard rear hubs, a special pair of these is fitted carrying, attached thereto, spur pinions. These gear into wheels twice the size, bolted to the rear road wheels, which are a part of the complete outfit and which are prepared for solid tires. They run on Timken bearings on a solid bar axle of ample strength to carry the load for which the complete chassis is intended. It may be as well if we warn the uninitiated that in fitting this gear it is necessary, first of all, to turn the Ford axle upside down, otherwise, instead of having two speeds forward and reverse., the complete vehicle will be discovered to have two speeds rev-erse , and one forward. The existing Ford brakes and torque and radius rods are used. The driving thrust is transmitted from the new dead axle to the original Ford axle by means of
a pair of stampings. The additional frame is of rolled steel of channel section. The addition of the two to one gear, over and above the existing mechanism, is sufficient to admit of the engine pulling its load up all but the steepest
of hills on top gear. It is improbable that an incline will be found on ordinary roads which the machine will not climb on first speed. The control of the chassis is undisturbed by the conversion, and it is as easy to drive as the original.