'Travelling "Expletive".
Hi, Stock.
Ye olde Aveling Barford 6x6x6 grader, sometimes called 'Travelling "Expletive", the "expletive" meaning 'of dubious parentage'.
Ackshully, they weren't a real bad machine. That 6-wheel drive was pretty hard to stop and the 6-wheel steering made them fairly manoeverable as well.
While the controls were not the most user-friendly on the market, they were also not the worst. The machines themselves were pretty robust and could handle a good load on the blade. AND, they were all hydraulic at a time when Cat was sticking very firmly to its dog-clutch gear controls.
All the machines that I saw had either Leyland or GM diesels and the two that I operated had plenty of grunt. Those two also had torque converters in the drive train before a foot-operated clutch and manual transmission. One of these was a 20-ton machine with a GM 6V71 at 250 hp. This particular jigger had thumb-operated micro switches on the blade lift control levers to operate the steering without having to take a hand off the lift control levers - very handy around pegs and other obstacles.
If you look closely, you can see the drive shafts for the front axle laying on top of the main frame and you can also see one drive shaft bearing mount under the main frame. The transfer gear drop box for the front wheel drive can be seen under the cab surrounded by an angle iron protective frame.
This machine also has traction weights front and rear, something that I haven't seen a lot of. I don't know if they were fitted standard and they had been removed from most of the machines that I saw or if they were an optional extra.
Austin-Western and Clark were two other manufacturers who made 6x6x6 graders that looked a whole lot like these A-B machines. A-B also made 4x4x4 graders which were quite popular in their day.
BTW, I can't remember ever seeing one of these jiggers with a steering wheel. All the ones that I saw had a T-handle that operated hydraulic rams to steer the front wheels and what would be the lean wheel control in a Cat grader was the rear wheel steering control. The rear tandems on the 6x6x6's steered by turning on a turntable arrangement.
Thanks for sharing.