Why do so many Americans hate European trucks?

I have driven a Tatra offroad...................amasing.

 

yep, I agree. Really cool off road vehicle.

Other good off road truck was old KRAZ 256. Frame was so rigid, that no subframe for tipper was neccessary. some enthusiasts now rebuild old KRAZ trucks and fit bigger modern engines (hood is really long) with 18 st transmissions and use for contruction work ore like tow/rescue trucks.

I used to drive 256 with N14 eninge and 18 st tranny. Unfortuntly it is slow truck, becouse they usen not tandem axle (8 ton per axle), but two rear axles from 4x2 truck (12 ton per axle) and so there were two drive shafts for rear axles and one for front axle, T-case is drive shaft with UJs is powered too, so too many UJs and that's why vibration at over 55 mph speed.

 

here is Scania R580LA8x4/4HNB from Bender i was talking in last posts, it is about max she can do, 155ton 342k lbs ,

Man 41.540bls with 131ton 289k lbs

 

I know this is not a euro v American but I thought I might put this up as peterbilt's are as rare a dodo poo in Australia and I had a rare opportunity to get a photo of these two side by side.

This is a 359 I think perterbilt sitting beside and Australian Kenworth C509. Shows the big difference in size and how much higher the Aus trucks are to fit the big radiators.

 

try this....

 

Short translation:
This 1983 Volvo F12 was stolen, and the Oslo port authorities retrieved the truck after it had been on the bottom of the harbour for 10 months. A dealer let the truck dry a bit for one day, turned the ignition key, and the truck started.

 

Started on first try and even drove.
And a picture in color https://www.facebook.com/VolvoTruck...93328.428554310520455/494307080611844/?type=1

No really that amazing after all. It's not the sea that kills engines. It's if it isn't started directly after it's back on land so the corrosion can start and destroy everything
Ex. a friend got 2 Volvo D6 marine engines that been under Atlantic sea water for 6 months, full of electronics, compressor + turbo. Drained them from water and new oil. They started perfectly and works fine still today.

 

I just noticed another difference between European and NA trucks. More powerful European truck always have wheel hub reduction, and I can't remember ever seeing that on NA trucks. Am I right, and why is it that NA trucks don't have it?

 

I had F10 Rigid truck + trailer (like a california truck and trailer). good truck, we sold it becouse of emission level and it had one drive axle.

 

hm

as weight limits are lower in NA than here they have learn to save weights on all kind of ways ( often we look very suspicious on those solutions)

but they also have some kind of resistance to hub reduction axles , even on trucks which should use them, dont have them

also their conditions must be easier

rt46-160 are about same strength as our strongest hypoid single diffs , and our lightest hypoid double diffs, which are about half of capacity of real diffs on hard surface

on job we do, we would kill those very soon, even hub reduction breaks sometimes , we overload, this means truck sinks in mud even more,we use 8x4 where we sometimes need 8x6.....
high rolling resistance is enemy of diffs, it is not problem to carry high weights as long as you have hard surface, you can do that with single reduction diff, ,

but it becomes problem when you have mud and high strain on diff when one side lose traction , than hub reduction comes in its own, today most hub reduction diffs have about 4:1 hub ratio ( guide) and most of them are close to 1:1 inside of diff, that release strain from diff, also can make it more compact for better ground clearance , while most of reduction happens in hubs , but only half per each not all in one place , release strain from halfshafts too

in hub there are 3-5 small gears, volvo have option of 3 or 4 , scania have 4 , mercedes have even 5 , there is lot of contact surface between halfshaft small gears and outgear that means long operating life, better traction .....


guy who works with us have renault kerax with bevel type reduction very interesting to see, middle of diff is about half way from hypoid to hub reduction size

but what fascinates me even more is why people in NA use front driven axles without hub reduction, i have seen them even on huge oil trucks , this kind of design kills joins

in company where my brother drives they have mercedes SK trucks from 1996 with small hub reduction axle rear and hypoid front driven axle but those are smaller trucks they dont pull trailers (my brother drives 2006 iveco trakker 4x4 he pull and also lowloaders), this kind of front driven axle was used only up to 270hp and some models were build up to 1999