68-UNIPOWER

25th September 1964, Page 188

25th September 1964

Page 188

Page 188, 25th September 1964 — 68-UNIPOWER

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Universal Power Drives Ltd.

Aintree Road, Perivale, Middlesex'

THERE are four exhibits on this stand, two of them the I long-established four-wheel tractor-unit models made by Universal Power Drives, the other two the alternative bogie and suspension layouts offered for chassis conversions from fourto six-wheel vehicles.

The two tractive units are the Forester and the Hannibal. Both are designed for the extraction and haulage of timber or for industrial use and have the same mechanical specification except that the Forester has a Gardner 4LW engine and the Hannibal has a 5LW. Gross train weight rating

is common, being 24 tons, and in each case the engine drives through a 14-in.-diameter clutch to a five-speed gearbox then to an auxiliary gearbox. This gives high and low ratios and also splits the drive to the front and rear axles. A heavy duty winch is also driven from the auxiliary gearbox.

A recent development in Unipower third-axle conversions is that factory approval has recently been obtained for them from B.M.C. when applied to certain models. The conversion has been approved by Commer for some time and the two types of bogie available are featured at the Show. These are exhibited as applied to the Commer 8-tonner, the exhibits consisting of rear frame sections as modified by Universal Power Drives with the bogies mounted. The latest of these is the Eaton two-speed, double-drive bogie with Hendrickson two-spring steel sugpension. Design features of the conversion include internal reinforcement of the main side-members with angle pressings extending from forward of the front-spring rear brackets to the end of the frame and channel-section crossmembers with boxed ends.

The other bogie has the same Eaton two-speed doubledrive axles; but the suspension is a Unipower design with four leaf springs connected through balance beams. The exhibit also shows the design applied to the Commer 8-top chassis.