Hydraulic 4 wheel drive...

[RustedRanger]

I was watching "Swamp Loggers" last night and the guy was looking into getting his service truck fitted with a hydraulic 4 wheel drive system. It must be something new cause the guy went to a Vegas convention to check it out and also got to do a test drive. The rep told him it sends 55 horsepower to each front wheel and it can be fitted to new or used trucks,this was a larger truck but the system didn't take up much room at all,pretty much all you could see was the hydraulic lines to the ends of the axles. It did use a computer to turn it on and off but seems really simple and seems like it could be used on lighter duty trucks. Has anyone else seen this system?

 

[baddis]

I am guessing it works like the system they use in some farm equipment. Each wheel uses a hydraulic motor to turn the wheel instead of an axle. Something like this is what I am talking about.

 

[-Nathan-]

its going to be limited to a slow speed, so unless you do all of your wheeling at 5 mph, forget about it. The energy lost in a hydraulic system is why you dont see it used more often in wheeling rigs.

 

[59bisquik]

There was a rock buggy in 4Wheel and Offroad or Fourwheeler last year that was completely hydraulic drive. Pretty crazy looking rog, but again, dedicated rock rig, not highway ready.

 

[RangerSVT]

This has been talked about a couple times, once myself. You are limited to about 25 mph max, depending on how fast you turn the hydro motors at the wheels...skid-steers (bobcats) operate this way, as well as Zero-turn mowers....
SVT

 

[RustedRanger]

I knew about machines having hydraulic driven wheels but I hadn't heard of it for a truck. On the show the rep didn't mention a top speed but I would guess it makes a difference on what how tall the tires are also. It seems like you could build a truck with some killer ground clearance though for extreme terrain.

 

[Jspafford]

I watched the same show and was somewhat intrigued by it as well. Looked like it got them 'unstuck' and I guess that is the purpose, but it is definatly not like a mechanical system. I could clearly see the rear tires spinning wildly while the fronts were barely turning.

 

[BLOODBANE]

Years ago(back in the 80's) there was a guy up in Alaska, he owned a excavation company, had a truck with hydraulics that was sorta monster-ish. I had a magazine with an article on it(don't remember the name of it though). It would do wheelies using the hydraulics(front or rear). Thats the first I remember seeing of this.