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Post by the light works on Jul 27, 2016 14:29:43 GMT
we were talking about the footwell design in the Transit Connect. I was wondering if it was a low seat giving the perception of a sloped footwell, but nope. View Attachmentthere's a sharp slope down directly in front of the seat, and then it drops a good two or three inches from there to the area under the pedals. 1, why are your pedals in the passenger side.... 2, yeah, that looks a bit awkward. I understand that the seat may be put on a higher platform than the pedals, but why the slope, when a few bends would have made it a flat area where the feet would sit when not on the pedals. As in my own car, the seat is sat on a "cross member" of the body and the pedal area footwell is lower than the seat, but, importantly, its bloody FLAT down there, and doesnt slope in an uncomfortable way. In truth, the part behind the pedals, starts to slope UPWARDS to join the firewall?... In most vans and light trucks I have driven, the footwell is flat as it can be. I cant see a reason for that sort of shape. the only reasoning that comes to my mind is to improve ground clearance between the wheels, but the bodywork hangs down past that on the outside. the only other thing that I can think of is that it was designed to be a delivery vehicle, and they don't really have any expectation of extended motorway driving, and the engineer never sat in it long enough in the design phase to have a need to reposition his feet to keep his (donkey) from falling asleep.
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Post by GTCGreg on Jul 27, 2016 16:09:40 GMT
...and the engineer never sat in it long enough in the design phase to have a need to reposition his feet to keep his (donkey) from falling asleep. I think driving with your (donkey) asleep should be considered driving while impaired.
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Post by silverdragon on Jul 28, 2016 6:14:39 GMT
I may have to try driving one before I can fully pass judgement, but I cant see any reason for that poor design.
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Post by the light works on Jul 28, 2016 13:52:04 GMT
I may have to try driving one before I can fully pass judgement, but I cant see any reason for that poor design. probably easier to stamp out than proper footwells.
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Post by silverdragon on Jul 31, 2016 8:40:33 GMT
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Post by silverdragon on Jul 31, 2016 8:42:33 GMT
I think they may need a bigger truck?...
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Post by silverdragon on Jul 31, 2016 8:47:40 GMT
bigger toys?....
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Post by GTCGreg on Jul 31, 2016 13:34:27 GMT
Would have liked to see what the Land Rover could have done if they had real tires on it.
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Post by the light works on Jul 31, 2016 13:50:48 GMT
Attachment Deletedto compare, when we were trying to get that unstuck, we tried using a HMMWV as an anchor point for a mechanical advantage, and I was pulling it around the beach like a tonka toy, with a 3/4 ton dodge.
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Post by silverdragon on Aug 1, 2016 6:35:32 GMT
Would have liked to see what the Land Rover could have done if they had real tires on it. Define "real" tyres?. Just for interest. The usual tyres supplied with range-rover are "soft-road", usually good grip on tarmac, and "reasonable" on grass verges outside schools, which is the closest most of them get to off road anyway, unless the owner has a gravel drive, they spend 99.9% of their time on tarmac. I think you may have to pay a lot to get better rubber for a car-park tug of war?. If your suggesting maybe a drag car type "black-snot" soft rubber compound warmed up and getting race track grip, yeah, that would have made a difference... But even then, both vehicles on the same rubber type, and I think its going to be a close draw.?. Could go either way. however, the previous two video's where they uses a LANDrover, get that on good rubber, its towing the house down, and if it cant tow the vehicle pulling it back, it will just rip up the tarmac under that vehicle and tow the whole bloody road.... Landrovers have a low centre of gravity to start with, they are low-slung low geared good ground clearance built for power and know how to deliver it, a bit like a Brit Bulldog, short legs but they aint half got some grip... Thats why they got used a lot for Mountain Rescue vehicles, they could go almost anywhere, take the knocks, and somehow come out looking "weathered" which gives them character?. They surprised me that they didnt need much upgrades right out of the shop to manage many things that cost thousands in suspension lift kits and power upgrades to do on other off road vehicles. Would love to see one go up against a Toyota Land-Cruiser, or even a modified Hilux?... get them on the right tyres as well, and then get them on off road tyres and do it in a field. I am suspecting though your going to need a bigger CHAIN to do a tug test with?.. maybe the anchor chain off a Patrol boat.. or something slightly bigger....
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Post by silverdragon on Aug 1, 2016 6:43:30 GMT
I have a five-foot iron spike thats great for driving in to soft ground to use as an anchor point... tie that to the front of the anchor vehicle and just winch it out?.
But there is a question, slow grunt and feed the power, or "snatch"?... Some people swear by the get some speed up and snatch to start a tow, others take the strain and feed the power in on a crawler gear to start it off. I am in favour of the latter. I have had to tow bushes out from my front garden, I got the works vehicle and a strong chain, almost too easy in crawler. Straight pull, one slow tug, and they just eased out on the first attempt?. Yet the neighbour did the same to their bushes and spent a good part of an hour bouncing a transit van back and forth not getting anywhere on their own bushes?.
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Post by the light works on Aug 1, 2016 14:04:26 GMT
I have a five-foot iron spike thats great for driving in to soft ground to use as an anchor point... tie that to the front of the anchor vehicle and just winch it out?. But there is a question, slow grunt and feed the power, or "snatch"?... Some people swear by the get some speed up and snatch to start a tow, others take the strain and feed the power in on a crawler gear to start it off. I am in favour of the latter. I have had to tow bushes out from my front garden, I got the works vehicle and a strong chain, almost too easy in crawler. Straight pull, one slow tug, and they just eased out on the first attempt?. Yet the neighbour did the same to their bushes and spent a good part of an hour bouncing a transit van back and forth not getting anywhere on their own bushes?. well, they started by shearing the cables off both winches, by spooling them out too far. (it takes 5 wraps on the winch drum to hold the cable secure) then we tried a single purchase pull, which didn't work. tried snatching it out with the HMMWV and a soft strap, which blew out the strap. then we tried the double purchase, which was dragging the HMMWV like a tonka toy. we finally got the thing out by chaining it to a crawler from a local construction site, and even thin they broke the chain on the first try. had to chain it to the blade and lift the front to get it out. talking about pulling bushes - I had some giant flax to pull out at my church, and was using a 3/8" chain. wrapped it, hooked it, and blew out the chain in "stump puller gear" so now I carry a 5/8" chain. I could pull a semi with that - though it makes some pretty ominous noises. (same size chain we use on my dad's backhoe (jcb) for pulling stuff, and yes, he had to pull a delivery truck out of the mud because the driver couldn't follow simple instructions. ("the outside of the corner is sound, the inside is soft") a lot of those tug of war competitions have as much to do with driver capability as they do with some magic property of the vehicle.
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Post by silverdragon on Aug 2, 2016 6:24:51 GMT
I have a one-inch chain that was "retired" from chaining down on a heavy load trailer, its bloody heavy, its kept in a bucket, because thats the only way I have found to keep it anywhere without it getting in the way. It gets a regular dose of WD40 spray to stop it rusting up... I always start with the heaviest gauge strap or chain I have, because I have experienced that it saves time that way, and work backwards?.. if I aint sure, throw in another chain?.. I have "C" clips that bolt in on tow hooks. I have seen Bumpers blown, I have seen bull-bars ripped off, I never ever trust anything that isnt a genuine tow point, and never EVER go for the axle, because I have seen them ripped apart as well?. It takes time and planning... get that right, and the actual job makes it look like you spent too much time planning it?.. well, no you didnt, because if you get it right first time, it saves time?..
The tug of war, yeah, it depends a lot on the driver. I have always said that once the tyres are warm, if they are spinning, they have lost grip, so just slowly put in the power in crawler and walk away, gently, and let the other guy waste his rubber making noxious clouds if he wants...
But I also know that the small powerful grunt of a Landy takes a lot to get over. If its a "Bowler" edition, they are the people that improve the land rovers in ways you wont believe for racing purposes, but otherwise, the bog-standard Landy takes a LOT of beating... its small, maybe, but thats its power, its small and heavy on all four points of contact, and makes the most of all available grip. Thats what it was designed to do. The point is, that 50 yrs since its invention, they have improved it in all the ways possible already "straight out the box", thats what you are paying for, you aint paying for "posh", your paying for "push", and Pull at the same time.... If you want a go-anywhere vehicle, thats where I would start, Landrover, Range rover, Land cruiser, and Hilux. Because thats what they were designed to do. Get a grip and pull on it... wherever that grip may be... And if you have traction control on one, it will work out for you which wheel has the better grip and balance it out for you as well.
to improve the grip?. Load the thing up... there is nothing like a dozen bags of sand in the back over the centre of gravity to help push the thing down.
In the above video's, I suggest the pickup trucks throw half a ton of sand in the back and try again, the difference will be amazing to those who watch?...
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Post by the light works on Aug 2, 2016 14:55:43 GMT
I have a one-inch chain that was "retired" from chaining down on a heavy load trailer, its bloody heavy, its kept in a bucket, because thats the only way I have found to keep it anywhere without it getting in the way. It gets a regular dose of WD40 spray to stop it rusting up... I always start with the heaviest gauge strap or chain I have, because I have experienced that it saves time that way, and work backwards?.. if I aint sure, throw in another chain?.. I have "C" clips that bolt in on tow hooks. I have seen Bumpers blown, I have seen bull-bars ripped off, I never ever trust anything that isnt a genuine tow point, and never EVER go for the axle, because I have seen them ripped apart as well?. It takes time and planning... get that right, and the actual job makes it look like you spent too much time planning it?.. well, no you didnt, because if you get it right first time, it saves time?.. The tug of war, yeah, it depends a lot on the driver. I have always said that once the tyres are warm, if they are spinning, they have lost grip, so just slowly put in the power in crawler and walk away, gently, and let the other guy waste his rubber making noxious clouds if he wants... But I also know that the small powerful grunt of a Landy takes a lot to get over. If its a "Bowler" edition, they are the people that improve the land rovers in ways you wont believe for racing purposes, but otherwise, the bog-standard Landy takes a LOT of beating... its small, maybe, but thats its power, its small and heavy on all four points of contact, and makes the most of all available grip. Thats what it was designed to do. The point is, that 50 yrs since its invention, they have improved it in all the ways possible already "straight out the box", thats what you are paying for, you aint paying for "posh", your paying for "push", and Pull at the same time.... If you want a go-anywhere vehicle, thats where I would start, Landrover, Range rover, Land cruiser, and Hilux. Because thats what they were designed to do. Get a grip and pull on it... wherever that grip may be... And if you have traction control on one, it will work out for you which wheel has the better grip and balance it out for you as well. to improve the grip?. Load the thing up... there is nothing like a dozen bags of sand in the back over the centre of gravity to help push the thing down. In the above video's, I suggest the pickup trucks throw half a ton of sand in the back and try again, the difference will be amazing to those who watch?... you realize, of course, that your landy weighs half what my daily driver weighs. advantage to driving a work truck. but you are correct that if those pickups are running 2WD, they are at a very severe handicap, unless they have some load in the bed. Mrs TLW's pickup is listed at about the same weight as the Landy. and they tend to be heavier in the nose than the tail.
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Post by GTCGreg on Aug 2, 2016 15:19:16 GMT
In the above video's, I suggest the pickup trucks throw half a ton of sand in the back and try again, the difference will be amazing to those who watch?... I agree. As long as the vehicles are on a hard surface, weight is the answer to more traction. If on soft sand or dirt, weight may not help, as you are also trying to pull that extra weight out of the hole you are sinking into.
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Post by silverdragon on Aug 3, 2016 9:09:13 GMT
And your daily driver is "How big", and on what size tyres?. Just as a point of reference, if the tyres are twice the size with twice the footprint, on the same weight vehicle, they have of course half the grip in lb/psi on the tarmac. Half the weight on smaller tyres gets more grip, again, and doesnt "spread the load" as much as the bigger heavier truck on "balloon" tyres?.
Suspension, independent or beam axle on good shocks and adjusted correctly, can of course add a good extra amount of grip. But the landy was designed with all that in mind.
The landy was designed to be at 45% on the side of a mountain.... American trucks, no so?. If we were talking about American JEEPS, different again, as they were designed for field work, wherever that field may be.
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Post by the light works on Aug 3, 2016 14:20:12 GMT
And your daily driver is "How big", and on what size tyres?. Just as a point of reference, if the tyres are twice the size with twice the footprint, on the same weight vehicle, they have of course half the grip in lb/psi on the tarmac. Half the weight on smaller tyres gets more grip, again, and doesnt "spread the load" as much as the bigger heavier truck on "balloon" tyres?. Suspension, independent or beam axle on good shocks and adjusted correctly, can of course add a good extra amount of grip. But the landy was designed with all that in mind. The landy was designed to be at 45% on the side of a mountain.... American trucks, no so?. If we were talking about American JEEPS, different again, as they were designed for field work, wherever that field may be. the grip per square inch of the tire face makes little difference, when it becomes shear strength. at that point a smaller contact area = less material to shear off. even so, if I have half the grip per square inch that you do, but twice the square inches, that comes out even. I believe the tires I run on it, now, are 10 or 12 ply, inflated to 80 PSI, because anything less ends up looking like this after a year.
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Post by silverdragon on Aug 4, 2016 5:56:23 GMT
When I used to drive Transits, I can still remember they had to be 55lb/psi.... either we have a lot more weight in our lb's, or your running a lot more weight in your daily driver than a fully loaded light transit van?... (Max 3.5ton loaded weight)
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Post by the light works on Aug 4, 2016 14:02:54 GMT
When I used to drive Transits, I can still remember they had to be 55lb/psi.... either we have a lot more weight in our lb's, or your running a lot more weight in your daily driver than a fully loaded light transit van?... (Max 3.5ton loaded weight) my empty weight is 5 tons. I think my highest weight across the scales has been 8, with trailer.
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Post by silverdragon on Aug 5, 2016 5:17:08 GMT
When I used to drive Transits, I can still remember they had to be 55lb/psi.... either we have a lot more weight in our lb's, or your running a lot more weight in your daily driver than a fully loaded light transit van?... (Max 3.5ton loaded weight) my empty weight is 5 tons. I think my highest weight across the scales has been 8, with trailer. Are you discussing a Work truck or a daily driver?.. because 5 tons unladen 8 laden is "7.5ton" weight, or the old class 3 weight, Light goods weight of over what the hell your allowed with a normal car licence in UK now. Its into what we now class as LGV, Light Goods Vehicle. Its also what could be pulled by a small landrover as a trailer anyway, but a tug-of-war between the two, either laden or unladen, would be interesting, because all the weight advantage is to the 5ton unladen that you got there.
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