In a message dated 2/28/01 10:12:26 PM Central Standard Time,
jemery@execpc.com writes:
<< >.. A sprague works somewhat like a ratchet
>mechanism that engages when the rear drive slippage exceeds about 8 to 10
>percent of the front drive RPM. So, the front wheels turn when being towed.
Yes, yes, but the question I have is, what is going to be damaged? Other
than looking kind of funny with the front wheels turning while off the
ground, what is actually going to be damaged by doing that, maybe I'm
missing something but I don't see what the problem is. Anyone have some
specifics here.
>>
Unfortunately, this is not a specific, but a speculation....I suppose the
idea of the manual pertaining to 6x6 trucks and 6x6 wreckers is that one may
be towing "cross country," that is, on uneven terrain and poor roads.
Now if the front wheels of the towed vehicle were spinning while being towed,
and accidentally contacted the road surface, I could see where the "shock"
load would break u-joints or more. Having seen movies of troop movements in
WWII where the GI's are walking one direction and vehicles moving the other,
even at low speed I bet a spinning 9x20 could pick up a GI by his web gear
and fling him a good distance.
Picking up on an aside in an earlier post, to my knowledge, an air shift
sprag can't be made to spin front wheels without being engaged, and to my
knowledge no 5 ton trucks have air shift front axles.
My further .02,
David Doyle
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Wed Apr 04 2001 - 08:10:45 PDT