View single post by Herb Kephart
 Posted: 8 Dec 2009 10:58 pm
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Herb Kephart



Joined: 19 Jul 2007
Location: Glen Mills, Pennsylvania USA
Posts: 5870
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 So Bill, what exactly is the drive arrangement now? Did a traction motor get put on the forward axle? Possible, but it would require changing the axle, as to accommodate the motor requires not only a machined area for the gear, but a keyway for the same, and also two machined journals for bronze bearings to hang the traction motor from. Not sure what the McKeen axle configuration is, but there isn't enough metal in a "normal" axle to do this. This would be assuming that the drive was diesel-electric.

If it is now diesel-mechanical, the mechanical McKeen drive had to be replaced with something else- something with a decent clutch, forward AND reverse capabilities, and a number of speeds- if anything over yard speeds would ever be contemplated. Diesels have a very limited operational range- probably 1800-2300 rpm for a Cat of the size that would physically fit into the car, so with mechanical drive a number of various ratios would be needed. This is why over the road trucks had 13 speed transmissions, before Allison automatics became common.

Do you have any info on this?


Herb  :old dude:



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