6 wheel Patrol 6x4

I would suggest that the lazy axle would be a hinderance off road. It would potentially take valuable load & traction away from the driven rear wheels when it was most critical to have it. E.g. Driving up a steep track and over an errosion bank, as the rear of the vehicle rolled over the bank, the lazy axle would have most of the weight of the vehicle while the rear driven axle would be flailing around in the depression.

just my thoughts...

Hi JT
The Lazy Axle, the one without the drive is a big problem off road or even in snow or mud. I used to drive coaches and we had an air dump on the Lazy Axle so that we could get traction from the drive axle. If the Lazy can have airbags with an air dump then that will help. if you can afford it get tandem drive to the rear, then it is awesome.
Regards Ray

I drove the Airforces 80 series lazy axle in Sudney a couple of times. I needed 4 wheel drive to get up king st in the rain..... They are not very good.
In semi trailers we avoid them like the plague. nothing more embrassing getting stuck trying to go over gutter.

shadow

I agree with Shadow, you're laways one step away from embarassment with a lazy axle. I drive a 6 x 4 F150 quite regularly too and it likes to get stuck real easy.

We have four 6 wheel 4x4s at Billy Tea Bush Safaris the company I contract to during our tourist season. And they are great trucks capable and easy to drive within their limitations. We used them for our Cape York Tours loaded with 13 pax plus luggage and towing 2 ton trailers for 5 years. They are in retirement now just doing our Cape Tribulation 340k klm return run every day. They are all 96\97 models and each has done around 650k klms. They have proven to be good reliable vehicles and would make ideal fitouts for touring campers. Be aware of their limitations in serious 4wd conditions and the weight distribution to the drive and lazy axles, we run ours at 60%\40% and they will stand you in good stead with the extra carrying capacity.
Cheers Rob

This is something I've just started looking into. I've no experience with the final product, but it occured to me in sand & similar enviroments a 6 wheel would be better as the vehicle weight is spread over 50% more wheel surface area, can anyone let me know if this is the case or not?

With air suspension (as mentioned above) and the ability to dump air from the lazy axle and move the load to the driven axle, this would seem to alleviate a lot of offroad problems?

Thanks,

Aaron.

I have a mate with a 6x4 GU 4.2 patrol. When empty the rear axle has less load so it can spin the rear wheels more easily when in 2wd in most conditions. This is only a problem until you get used to it and engage 4wd to reverse up a slope etc.

They are really good with a load and heavy towing (4.5T I think) both of which he well and truely uses it for. We have been seriously off road with no more trouble than a 4x4 except that he tends to carry more load!! It certainly is more capable than my car with a trailer and a similar load when in the rough and also much better at speed on the dirt than towing.

He is off to the Simpson in a week so I am sure I will hear the results of the 6x4 experience out there shortly.

JamieMac

I should have mentioned in my previous post that this is in reference to a load sharing arrangement with 60 percent to the drive wheels. The truck is from the mob in Dalby, sWheeler I think its called

JamieMac

I should have mentioned in my previous post that this is in reference to a load sharing arrangement with 60 percent to the drive wheels. The truck is from the mob in Dalby, 6Wheeler I think its called

JamieMac