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It's pretty much common knowledge that the locked connection between the
two rear axles of the 2 1/2 and 5 ton Mil trucks cause a lot of skidding
between the axles when underway. This of course can impact fuel
efficiency of these trucks.
Has anyone experimented with fuel efficiency increases obtained by
removing the inter axle drive shaft? With gas prices hitting new highs,
I'm thinking about yanking the interaxle shaft on my M51 dump. I get
3-4 MPG on a good day with the wind at my back with the 602 ci gas
engine and 10 tons of dirt on board. I need to start hauling more dirt
and the thought of 50 cents per mile gas costs is not too exciting.
Having a locked connection between the two axles for off-road use is
perfectly logical, however for on the road use, it really doesn't make
much sense.
Has anyone (or the government) ever thought about installing an
engageable coupling in the middle of the interaxle drive shaft, such
that the connection could be made or disconnected without removing the
driveshaft?
Thanks,
Dave
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue Apr 04 2000 - 21:57:12 PDT