Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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F~RM TRACTOR HAVIN~, A:LTERNATIVE
COMPON~NT LAYOUTS
BACKGROUND OF T~IE INVENTION
This invention features a motor vehicle, a farm tractor
in particular, whereby said motor vehicle is characterized
by a front and a rear axle with optional two-wheel or four-
- wheel drive, and a chassis with chassis frame, and a drive
engine with cooling system arranged thereupon.
With motor vehicles, e.g. farm tractors, which can be
operated by providing both two-wheel drive and four-wheel
drive, it is rather difficult to achieve an optimum dead
load for both driving systems. This ls mainly due to the
fact that with a four-wheel drive the front axle has to be
loaded considerably higher in order to prevent or minimize
any slipping of the driven front wheels, particularly when
the vehicle is operated on farm land.
So far it was general practice to fit the front of the
farm tractor with a considerable number of counter (ballast)
weights which in turn necessitated the fitting of special
frame or receiving elements to the front of the farm tractor.
Naturally, such techniques proved to be troublesome,
complicated, and time-consuming.
In one aspect, the invention comprehends a tractor
vehicle which includes an integral transmission and rear
axle carrier accommodating a rear axle housed together in a
single integrated rear frame component. A pair of driven rear
wheels carried outboard of the rear frame component support
the rear of the tractor vehicle, and a chassis frame having
a front portion and a rear portion extends forwardly from the
rear frame component. The chassis frame is comprised of a
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pair of spaced apart longitudinal frame members each fixedly
attached to the rear frame component, and the chassis frame
includes a first and a second equipment mounting means. A
pair of steerable front wheels are supported on a front
axle, and a front axle carrier at the front portion of the
chassis frame suPports the front portion of the tractor
vehicle. A tractor vehicle operating component set includes
an engine with a belt driven fan, a radiator and an air
cleaner, the tractor vehicle operating component set being
supported on one of the first or the second of the pair of
equipment mounting means. A chassis cowling is supported on
the chassis frame, the cowling being an enclosure for the
tractor vehicle operating component set. The tractor vehicle
operating component set, when supported on the first equipment
mounting means, has the enaine at a rear portion of the chassis
frame, the air cleaner at a forward portion of the chassis
frame, and the radiator between the engine and the air cleaner,
and, the tractor vehicle oerating comPonent set, when
supported on the second equipment mounting means, has the
engine at a forward portion of the chassis frame, the air
cleaner at a rear portion of the chassis frame, and the radiator
between the engine and the air cleaner.
More particularly, this invention is based on the objective
of providing a motor vehicle (a farm tractor in particular) of
the initially mentioned kind, i.e. of frame-type or semiframe-
type design, on which as much as possible identical units are
used and a satisfactory load distribution balance is guaranteed
even with application of different drive systems. According
to the invention this problem is solved by arranging the drive
engine between the front and the rear axle in case of a two-
wheel drive being used, and bv arranging it above or in front of
the front axle in cases where the vehicle is laid out for four-
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wheel drive. By applying the means described in this invention
the conception of a tractor is obtained on which with unchanged
basic design the different requirements originating from the
dead loads specific to two-wheel and four-wheel drives can be
taken into account in rather a simple manner, i.e. by moving
the engine from its normal position between front and rear axle
to a location above or in front of the front axle. This way
the load conditions (dead load) experienced on the driven front
axle are improved considerably without having to increase the
gross vehicle weight by too many counterweights.
In principle, the drive engine can also be arranged in
front of or above the front axle in the very same position it
was arranged in between front and rear axle. With both arrange-
ments the cooling system can be arranged either in front of or
behind the drive engine.
However, it proved to be most effective to arrange the
cooling system at that side of the drive engine which faces
the front axle in cases where the drive engine is mounted be-
tween the front and the rear axle, whereas in cases where the
drive engine is mounted in front of or above the front axle,
the cooling system is better arranged at that side of the drive
engine facing the rear axle. This way it is possible to use
absolutely identical chassis designs with both modes of
arranging the drive engine. Thus the manufacture of the chassis
is simplified considerably and so are the storage problems since
mainly uniform elements are being used.
To make allowance for the varying distance between the
drive engine and the transmission of the vehicle in cases where
the drive engine is mounted in a different position, an art-
iculated drive shaft of varying length connects the respective -
engine with the respective transmission.
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Since the frame or semiframe forming the chassis, and
particularly the cowling section of the drive engine are ab- -
solutely identical on both the two-wheel drive and the four-
wheel drive, the~cowling sections can be given the same noise
reduction treatment, i.e. they can be fitted with identical
sound-proofing elements. An important factor is the fact that
in both positions the drive engine can be supported on the chassis
- ~ frame by means of elastic elements.
Two embodiments according to the invention are shown in
the drawing and are explained in detail in the following.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES
FIGURE 1 shows a diagrammatic representation of a farm
tractor designed for two-wheel drive, and
FIGURE 2 shows a correspondingly designed farm tractor
laid out for four-wheel drive.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The farm tractor shown in Figure 1 has a chassis frame 1
on which a drive engine 2 is arranged. The drive engine is
equipped with a flywheel 3 which, via short drive shaft 4 and
a flexible clutch 5, is in drive connection with a trans-
mission 6 not shown in detail. The transmission is an integral
part of a rear frame component that also includes a rear axle
carrier and a rear axle. On top of said transmission a power-
lift housing 7 is arranged on top of which a driver's seat 8
is mounted. In the vicinity of the powerlift housing 7 the
rear wheels 9 (left side wheel removed for clarity) are mounted,
~upported on the rear axle 11 of the rear frame component.
Figure 1 shows only one of the fenders 12 laterally mounted
on the rear axle 11.
Above the front section of the transmission 6 and the
clutch located therein, an instrument support 13, together
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with a steering wheel 14, is arranged. Starting at the
instrument support 13 a cowling 15, which is an engine compart-
ment enclosure, extends above the chassis frame 1. An air-
filter 16 i5 located underneath the front top section of said
cowling 15. Furthermore, underneath the cowliny 15 a radiator
17 is arranged which, together with a fan 18, represents the
cooling equipment required for the subject motor vehicle. Via
a belt dri.ve 19 the dri~e engine 2 drives the fan 18. The engine,
with,'the ~elt driyen fan, the radiator and the air cleaner may '
be con8idered cumulatively as th.e tractor vehicle operating
component set. At the front end of the chassis frame 1 a front
- axle carri.er 21 is mounted on which the front axle 22, provided
to support the front wheels 23, (left front wheel removed for
clarity~. is arranged. :
Th.e ch.assis frame 1 has a front portion and also a rear
portion. that is fixedly attached to the rear frame member.
It is co~prised of a pair of spaced apart forwardly extending
longitudinal frame members. The chassis frame is capable of
supporting the tractor vehicle operating component set in
eith,er the ~irst~ or two wheel drive position shown in
Figure 1, o,r th.e second, or four wheel drive position shown in ~:
Figure 2. A first and a second equip~ent mounting means for
accomm,odating the operating co~ponent set in eith,er the first
or second equipment confi~uration layout is provided.
~ Figuxe 1 shows, the drive engine 2 is arranged in
the'chassis frame 1 between the front axle 22 and the rear axle
11. Resulting from said arrangement a weight distribution
balance is achieYed which, via the rear wh.eels, renders possible
the transfer of adequate motive'power onto the ground 24.
On th,e whole the farm tractor shown in Flgure 2 is ident-
ical with.'that shown in Figure 1 and in this figure identical
reference characters identify identical components as in Fig. 1.
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There is, however, an initial difference to be found in the
fact that both the front wheels 23 and the rear wheels 9 are
driven, so that additional motive power can be transferred
onto the ground 24. Due to the additional driving of the
front wheels 23 the front axle carrier 21' is of slightly
different design. Furthermore, by means of a second drive
shaft 25 the front axle 22' is connected to a distributor gear
or transfer case 26, which, in turn, is connected to and
driven by the transmission 6.
To achieve on four-wheel-drive farm tractors an optimum
load distribution balance, particularly a sufficient transfer
of motive power from the front wheels 23 onto the ground 24,
the drive engine 2 is arranged in front of or more precisely
above the front axle 22. This arrangement produces a high load
acting on the front axle and thus a satisfactory transfer of
motive power is achieved from the front wheels 23 onto the ground
24. To keep the chassis,consisting of the chassis frame 1 -
and the engine cowling 15 including the instrument support
13, identical with that used in the design according to Figure 1,
the engine has been turned by 180, i.e. the fan 18 and the
radiator 17 are now located at that side of the drive engine
2 facing the rear axle 11. The oil pan has been reversed and
the fan driving axle lengthened. The same applies to the air-
filter 16 which is now located between the radiator 17 and the
instrument support 13. To bridge the somewhat large spacing
between the belt-drive 19 of the drive engine 2 and the trans-
mission 6, the short drive shaft 4 has been replaced with an
elongated drive shaft 4', the ends of which have been fitted
with flexible clutches 5' and 27.
Despite the differing arrangements of the drive engine 2
and the other components of the operating component set, good
load distribution balance as well as excellent!cooling per-
formance is attained. Also the noise emission developed with
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both modes of design or drive is minimized. The drive engine 2
is supported on the chassis frame 1 by means of elastic elements
not shown in detail.
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