Re Rhodes Ridley

Ahh ... Just read the engines came from tho landing craft .... With a Grant gearbox

Thanks, Guys.

Would love to see either photo's or some sort of schematic layout of the engine/driveline. What intrigued me was reading many years ago where the Seppo's used to run inline G.M's as a "handed pair" where one ran in the opposite rotation to its mate, but running through an individual single driveline. This would have been during WW2 and I thought they were a PT boat application. Most probably WERE from the landing crafts. I vaguely remember reading somewhere when I was but a pup, (may have been Popular Mechanics), that some guy in North America or maybe Canada had bought a pair of these 'handed pair' engines for a song after the Korean conflict and was going to build up a similar concept for removing forestry timber. Don't know if it ever came to fruition, because timber skidders would have been starting to appear about that time. The idea itself has been around for some time, Euclid made twin power (G.M.again) bulldozers, remember seeing the odd one about over here, how they drove through a driveline and how successful, I do not know.Cheers,Dave

Davo
Gudday M8

Best eye can do on short notice


This is a 3/4 front view of the GM 6046 engine. The power from each engine was sent
through its drive shaft and gear to a common driven gear which in turn drove the
propellor shaft. The individual engines were designated model 671LA24M (right-side engine)
and 671LC24M (left-side engine). The engine weight as installed was 4855lb (2202kg).







The legend for this cross-sectional view is as follows: 1. Oil cooler adapter. 2. Oil cooler.
3. Blower housing. 4. Blower rotors. 5. Air cleaner. 6. Secondary fuel filter.
7. Camshaft. 8. Rocker arm. 9. Injector. 10. Injector control rack tube lever.
11. Water outlet manifold. 12. Exhaust manifold. 13. Balancer shaft. 14. Valve rocker cover.
15. Push rod. 16. Section of piston and connecting rod. 17. Air box. 18. Solenoid air inlet control.
19. Air inlet housing. 20. Connecting rod bearing shell. 21. Crankshaft. 22. Main bearing shell.
23. Lubricating oil pump assembly. 24. Lubricating oil pump driven gear. 25. Air heater.
26. Air heater fuel pipe. 27. Clutch shift levers.

Happy Screeeem n

LOL

cya

My pictures of the Rhodes Ridley at the NHMA Rally at Fairbridge Village, Pinjarra WA in 2011(a long way from Townsville but worth the trip) Ian

Her you go Dave..
Scanned from an article on the Rhodes Ridley truck in issue 1 of Classic Truck Magazine.

Brilliant!
Thanks Swishy and Hayseed! What an ingenious concept!

I had one thing wrong though, I thought that ONE of the engines ran in the opposite rotation, but Judging from Hayseeds photos and Swishy's text, they were BOTH Left/hand rotation. That 10 speed Saginaw transmission must have taken some nutting out as far as the input side was concerned. Just looking at the output spline though, from my eye it looks a bit small to be handling such big h/p at the time, but obviously must have been adequate to drive a tank! Thanks again.

Just one point, and I'm not nitpicking, just trying to confirm something. In the photo with the restored Ridley on display, it states on the placards on the radiator grille, "5 speed full synchro General Grant tank, made by Mack."
In the text on the following photo, (with engine on the ground), it states " 10 speed Saginaw transmission" from a US military instillation.

I'm only guessing here, but I would have thought with a GCM of 230 tons, even given that the diff reduction was 12:1 planetary drive, some of the roads this jigger would have had to travel on it still would have needed a few more gears than the 5 speed synchro??

Hi Dave 64
I thought some one would of answered you question by now 'I know nothing' I just took the picture
Ian

RE
Gudday M8

me guess n for a miss print
I can C no reason th@ the 2 side by side b run n different rotations az in one left n one right

a 6-71 has a normall output of 245hp where a V6-71 recommended max of 238hp

as far az move n 230ton me thinks it could run out of traction B 4 runnin out of gear n unless they found sum bitumen in the outback

But
EyeDoSt&2BCorrected

cya

Ok
eye'm bad

spose they couda had a chain drive from each engine to the output shaft

cya