Fiat trucks

May have asked this question once before, but here goes anyway.
When Fiat were selling trucks in OZ, they came out with a V8 (which I think became the forerunner of the IVECO badged Internationals).
Was something a bit unusual (for a supposedly modern vehicle, but an old idea) in the driveline set up, where they had the air assisted clutch and pressure plate in one housing, then a short flexible coupling (or at least a dual universal joint) into a transmission. In other words, the gearbox was individual from the bellhousing. I can only ever remembering seeing one version of it, a subby for Express Freight had one in a bogie drive. It gave him a lot of grief and last I heard he had a bellhousing made, or adapted, and fitted a Roadranger. Don't know whatever happened to the truck.
Have an idea that when the Fiat/Iveco/international came out, had R/Rangers as standard equipment.
Somebody with a better memory than mine may be able to comment. Think this idea only applied to the bogie drives, single drives ran a ZF type conventional gearbox, but am willing to be corrected.
The individual transmission (separate from the clutch/pressure plate and housing) is an old idea used in some European cars, but that was the first time I had seen it on a large vehicle.
Had seen similar set up in off-highway/earthmoving applications, but obviously weight wouldn't have been an issue. Also easier to remove/replace.
Any thoughts?
Dave

Just on the separate gearbox aspect, the Leyland Royal Tiger bus we have has the gearbox separated from the fluid flywheel and has a short jackshaft to it. It then has an even shorter shaft to the diff.

More a favourable option for remote mounted semi automatic gearbox with a fluid flywheel mounted in the flywheel. Was popular late 40's to 70s on heavies.
There was a modification done to some early Aussie Volvo trucks having a torque convertor & clutch mounted driving a manual gearbox. Just to help move the loads better than those things from across the Pacific.

When I was working at Volvo Wacol back in the 70"s they built approx half a dozen long wheelbase N12's with the torque converter and clutch set up. The converter could be locked up by a switch on the dash. From memory they were going to Pt Kembla, all painted the same black and red.

Ray ... the first time Volvo did that was on a G88 Volvo in the early 70s .... a coal hauler from memory .... there was a big write up in Truck & Bus about the test

Dave as far as I know the V8 Fiats had a road ranger and a hendrickson back end standard from new maybe they did because of earlier models and dramas I have never had anything to do with them but Fiat made a point of advertising the American drive line when selling the V8 jiggers

Paul

Paul,
Like I said, that was the only one that I had ever seen, so possibly it was one that was set up as a test bed, been a few odd ideas tried out over here. Well, not odd, but as the above posts show, not totally unique to Fiat apparently.
That fluid clutch coupling driving into a manual gearbox idea also rang a bell. Reckon I may have read that also many years ago, Volvo G88 working in Brambles Pt Kembla carting slag from the furnaces?? But I wouldn't bet the house on it.
Dave

Dave, I drove Fiat trucks for some years here in NZ in the 1970s so I can maybe add a bit. There were two models sold here, both had the same cab and looked the same apart from the badging. This cab was available as a full-sized sleeper cab or a shorter day cab.

Fiat 684
This was a 4x2 with a 10 litre 200hp 6-cylinder engine and a 10-speed gearbox (5-speed plus splitter). This gearbox was bolted to the engine/clutch in the traditional way. It was often modified here to a 6x4 by fitting a Rockwell tandem drive and often had the Fiat gearbox replaced by a Roadranger.

Fiat 619/697
This was a 4x2 (619) or a 6x4 (697) with a 14 litre 260hp 6-cylinder engine and an 8-speed gearbox (4-speed plus splitter). The gearbox was mounted separately from the engine/clutch and connected by a short jack shaft.

I drove all versions of these trucks and for a couple of years also drove a NZ-built 8x4 version of the 697 called 697E (E for Eight). This had Rockwell front axles, a Rockwell tandem drive and a 9-speed Roadranger gearbox mounted separately from the engine/clutch in Fiat fashion. After a couple of years this was changed to a conventional set-up by moving the gearbox to its usual place, bolted on to the engine/clutch. The main reason for the change was that the gearchange linkage from the gear lever to the remote gearbox never worked very well.

I never had anything to do with the V8 model as the company I drove for (and still do, 40-odd years later) changed their fleet from Fiats to R-model Macks, but that is another story.

Vic

VicHung,
Thanks for the added info, I wasn't aware of there being a R/Ranger version of the 'divorced' type setup, but then again, makes sense. As well as the added problem of the remote linkage system. Also, the Express Freight subby's V8 bogie drive had the original Fiat gearbox, possibly the 4X2?? This was around the mid seventies, so maybe he just bought a later model factory R/Ranger after all.
Dave

The 17 litre V8 was the 170, early version had a fixed cab. The later tilt cab was the one that was to become IVECO and one survivor (now very rare due to rust) gets shown at the Clarendon Rally (Richmond, Sydney).