Indians For Guns

Vikram pointed me to this interesting news item of a neat little 4x4 that Boeing has developed for the US Military.

http://www.bbc.com/autos/story/20140422 ... s-for-duty

Under the bonnet is 3 litre V6 diesel, four wheel drive AND four wheel steering. The latter giving it a turning circle of just 24 feet! I just love the looks, posting it here as I thought others may find it interesting too.

Cheers!
Abhijeet

Super stuff... When are our fronds getting one?

I like the looks of this thing, too! What is interesting to me is its small size, a welcome reversal from most commercial American-made vehicles.

Out West, so many of the back country trails were originally made for Jeeps, and, reasonably enough, are called just that: jeep trails. They fit the narrow track that Jeeps were made with. As Jeep (under Willys) introduced the Pickup, Jeepster, and Utility Wagon, they widened the track to make these vehicles practical for different markets. Later, under Kaiser, Jeeps were made larger and wider, including the new Jeep Pickups, Wagoneers, and new Jeepsters. Finally (and most dismally), in the 70s, people took to driving CJ-series Jeeps about on the highway like a normal car. The Nader/Claybrook types hopped on these Jeeps as being unsafe, because they would tip over at highways speeds. Well, duh! Of course, a narrow tracked, high clearance vehicle would be more prone to tipping over at 60 mph than a typical American road leviathan!

Trouble was, the wider Jeeps that resulted, going on to the present day vehicles (which share a name and 4 wheels only with the original Jeep) will not navigate many of those narrow Jeep trails.

This vehicle would do the job, however, and in a more modern format.

...Go Devil L-head engine…

Ha! I read this with amusement! My MB had the later F head dropped in, and they offered a lot more power than that flathead did. The flatheads I drove were REALLY underpowered! It certainly didn't "go like the devil," unless maybe they had a deviled egg in mind.

LOL @ Devilled egg in mind!

The F head would be the "Hurricane" engine? The one used in the CJ3 Willys?
Cheers!
Abhijeet

This thing is only 5ft wide so taking corners too tightly is likely to be exciting.

mundaire wrote:LOL @ Devilled egg in mind!

The F head would be the "Hurricane" engine? The one used in the CJ3 Willys?
Cheers!
Abhijeet

Yes, the CJ3B. You can tell the difference because the 3 series is the last of the square looking Jeeps, and the 3B has a high hood. The 3A has a low hood, because its flathead didn't need so much room. (Mine had a hole cut in the hood and a crude hood scoop made of sheet metal, so the carburetor and air cleaner could poke through.)

You can tell the CJ3a from the CJ2, in that the CJ2 has a two piece windshield with a center divider. The CJ3A and CJ3B have a one piece windshield.

You can tell a CJ2 from the military Willys MB and Ford GPW by looking at the rear axle. The military jeeps had a full-floating rear axle with a big hub, the same size as the front hubs. (In fact, the brake drums and hubs are interchangeable from front to rear on the military jeeps.) The CJ2 has a semi floating rear axle with a flat axle surface where it bolts to the wheel, except for a little cap, under which is a big nut and keyway, that holds the hub to the axle shaft.

The military jeeps had the best rear end. If a rear axle breaks (and they do, because the heat treatment in jeeps is very poor -- they were throw away vehicles that didn't have a lot of quality in the materials), the full floating rear end of the military jeep will let you keep driving. The semi floating rear end of the CJ2 and above will allow the whole axle to come out of the housing, and then you get to walk home.

The CJ5 had the rounded hood, like the Korean War era jeeps.

Willys liked the F head design. They had a 6 cylinder for cars that was an F head. The pretty little Kaiser-Darrin roadster had this F head in it, because Kaiser didn't have any money for engine development. The bigger Kaiser cars and the Utility Wagon and Pickup got the 226 cu in Continental, which was not a very good engine, even for the industrial use it was mainly used for.

Tim, as you may know Mahindra assembled and later license produced the CJ3B in India for many decades. Till the late 60's or 70's they changed nothing, in fact they didn't even bother changing it from left hand drive to the correct (for our roads) right hand drive till that time! Unfortunately sometime in the '90's-early 2000's the company decided to scrap the entire tooling for those lovely little jeeps!