Chrysler desigi deliver the go4
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AT BEST an urban delivery van has a good turning circle, a square box-shaped cargo area with few intrusions, easy access to the driver's seat, good all-round vision and large, wide-opening rear doors.
While designers are constantly striving to build these qualities into their vehicles, one manufacturer has been making just such a van for nearly 20 years. The company is Chrysler and the van the Dodge Walk-Thru (née Commer Walk-Thru).
The Walk-Thru has found its 'way into many varied fleets; it's used by laundrymen, for parcels delivery and even as a mobile shop. It's a highly popular vehicle, so we decided to update our experience with :the model and run it on a full 'road test around out light vans' test circuit. We chose the light vans route as is a natural for the type of work the Walk-Thru usually does.
Low axle ratio • The vehicle lent to us by Chrysler was the KC40 Walk-Thru panel van fitted with a Perkins 4.203 diesel engine. A fairly low axle ratio of 4.875 to 1 was used to take advantage of the urban sections of test circuit.
Owing to a problem with the load, we were unable to run the van round the test route half laden_ Nevertheless, during the laden runs it produced a respectable 15.1-litre / 100km 18.7 mpg) at an average speed of 35.4km/h 22mph).
Bearing in mind its gross weight of 4.9 tons and engine capacity of 3,330cc 203cuin), this is a good figure. In addition, sections of the test route were congested with traffic, particularly around the Target roundabout at the A40 where there are road works in progress at the monent.
Our test vehicle had a wheelbase of 3.1m 10.25ft) with a body capacity of 9.91cum ;350cuft). Nearly all this volume is usable for payload, as the wheel arches are very small and are rectangular in shape.
A handy step built into the rear bumper allows the driver to enter the rear of the vehicle with ease.
However, my one complaint • regarding access to the rear was
the doors. Although they give a wide opening across the back and are nice and high, they cannot be secured at 90but must be opened up to lie flat against the body sides where they are clipped. This could present problems during delivery to restricted areas where the very size of the doors would at once become a hindrance.
Useful internal strengthening bars, running longitudinally from the back of the van to the sliding door covers, provide somewhere to tie down movable loads.
Driver's view
0 From the driver's point of view Chrysler has done all it can to simplify entry and departure to the cab. He can literally "walk thru" from one side of his vehicle to another without meeting any obstacles behind the seats.
All controls, with the exception of the floor-mounted gear lever positioned between the seats, are fitted fairly high and well away from the floor.
I particularly approved of the steering column positioning for the handbrake lever ---easy to reach but well out of the way for access. Sliding front doors help to complete the ease of exit and entry. Once in the driving seat, which is nice and high in the Walk-Thru, forward vision is excellent.
A split-vee windscreen gives good all-round straight-ahead vision, while angled quarter windows with small kerb W■ndows beneath them assist the driver when drawing in to his drop-off point.
Instrumentation on our test Dodge consisted of a tachograph, vacuum guage for the servo) and a fuel guage, all laid out on a dash panel offset to the right of the steering column.
The controls for washers and wipers, lights and heater were also fitted there, but a separate dip-switch and indicator stalk were mounted on each side of the column. I found some areas of the tachograph were obscured from view by the covers
surrounding these switches.
Foot pedals, not of the pendant type, are well spaced on the Dodge. They aren't fitted with rubber pads but have grooves cut into them to prevent slipping. The omission of rubbers is probably sensible for a vehicle which may not cover that many miles but will be used mainly on stop/start journeys. A four-speed synchromesh gearbox is fitted to the Dodge and the lever is comfortably situated and comes to hand easily. The engine stop control is bracketed onto the gear lever.
Noise level • Driving the Vtialk-Thru is very simple indeed. The Perkins diesel pulled well and chugged along quite happily through town. The noise Level in the cab was low even though the pipe for the fuel flow meter {fitted only to our test vehicle, of course) didn't allow the internal engine cover to be closed properly.
There was Mlle drumming from the rear compartment of the van -a common and driver-tiring fault associated with most large panel vans. However, the transmission was quite noisy, especially the rear 'axle.
Vacuum-assisted hydraulic brakes are fitted to the Dodge and these gave good performance both on the road and during our full-pressure test stops. A slight pulling at the rear could be detected but the road surface was wet at the time. Confirmation that it was the rear brakes at fault came when testing the handbrake, as this produced a similar effect. Overall, though, both the hand and foot brakes were more than up to their tasks.
Engine access a To get at the Perkins power unit, a front bonnet cover can be lifted or the small interior engine cover unclipped The latter allows fuel filters to be changed and the oil level topped up, while with the front covers up all regular service items are reached.
Two 6V batteries are employed and these are located right at the front, one on each side of the van. The only problem I would think here could be damage to them in a fairly minor accident as they are directly behind the headlamp bodies.
For engine removal the whole front panel can be unbolted to allow the power unit to pass out through the f ront.
Summary
• As a box on wheels which is -able to accommodate a large
volume of goods, the Walk-. Thru does the job very well. It has a fairly basic appearance, but then it's very much a working vehicle.
Good visibility, ease of entry and a high seating position make it a driver's vehicle and nearly 20 years of production have proved that the original concept still holds good • Stephen Gray