Foden 2-stroke

[Nige]

I'd bet not many on the other side of the pond have ever heard of Foden, much less seen one of their own-brand 2-stroke engines in action.....

 

[repowerguy]

How did they compare to the Commer TS ? Were they as durable and did they have similar torque?
I’ve only seen videos of these motors, but I would like one for whatever may come along. They look pretty much EMP proof.

 

[crane operator]

Okay, first off he's sitting on the wrong side of the truck, and driving on the wrong side of the road......

Next, who was the genius that said "lets dump the exhaust at ground level, on the drivers side, right in front of the drivers door and window". Bet that's a joy on a cold morning sitting in traffic.

Love the dual steer, and it looks like it was set up to haul a pretty good load, and 2 stroke is still 2 stroke, nothing else sounds like it.

Last question- he's got a stick and a air shifter lever up on the right of the steering column (I was going to call it passenger side, but that's a different issue we already covered), but what's the little round knob/ lever he's fiddling with to the right of the air shift lever?

Thanks for posting Nige. Looks like they did a beautiful job restoring. That's a gorgeous windshield/ greenhouse front end.

 

[mitch504]

Yeah, I'd love to see the shifting instructions. I thought I could drive anything, but that video left me dazed and confused.

 

[RZucker]

Sounds a lot like the 8V71 in my old Buddy James. (The GMC 9500 I had in the 80's).

 

[kenh]

Shift pattern, Study carefully, there will be a test! LOL
https://truckanddriver.co.uk/big-lorry-blog/the-famous-foden-12-speed-gear/

 

[Cmark]

Not sure about the gear shifting but the switch to the right of the steering column is for the direction indicators. (turn signals) Standard 1960s truck and bus fitment from the prince-of-darkness.

 

[willie59]

The shifter is obviously a typical crash box stick, the thingy he's messing with on the right of the steering wheel appears to be an air shift Hi/Lo range for the gears of the crash box. Nice job by the driver swapping gears, he's spot on. And back to the point of Nige's post...love hearing a two stroke, I wish I had videos of the Detroit's I've pegged out in the past.

 

[Nige]

Yeah, I'd love to see the shifting instructions. I thought I could drive anything, but that video left me dazed and confused.

Shifting instructions are a doddle. It's basically a 4-speed on the stick with a U-D-O air-shifted splitter on the steering column, hence 12 speeds. What he's doing is splitting gears between direct drive and overdrive for each shift. You can't split gears using low range while on the move. The problem with the 2-stroke engine is that there is pretty much no torque below 1500RPM and with the engine topping out at 2200 it needed a box that enabled the driver to keep the engine in the power band all the time. It gallops along nicely for a 50-year-old truck.
Back in the day that truck would have been rated for a GVW of 30 tons (65000 pounds), so it would haul a fair bit of cargo set up as a flat deck like the one in the video.
Notice the lack of power steering. Foden used a ball-bearing supported king pin on the steer axles so their comment was the steering was so easy it didn't need power assistance..!
My association with Fodens goes back to the mid-60's when my father sold the family aggregate business to a larger company (Hoveringham Gravels) but he stayed on as manager so I still had the "kids playground" that I'd grown up with. With the sale came a load of new equipment including trucks for delivering the product to customers. Leyland Comets (2 axle), Albion Reivers (3 axle), and the pride of the fleet a bunch of 4-axle Fodens exactly like the one below with aluminium tipper bodies. The plates on that photo indicates it's a 1967 truck, so it probably came into our quarry at some time in its life.

How did they compare to the Commer TS ? Were they as durable and did they have similar torque?
I’ve only seen videos of these motors, but I would like one for whatever may come along. They look pretty much EMP proof.

The Foden was a conventional inline-6 in comparison to the Commer which was a 3 cylinder opposed-piston 2-stroke (that's a whole other story...). The TS was only 105BHP compared to the Foden's 175BHP, but the Foden achieved that from only 4.8 litres, although it was both supercharged & turbocharged (at least the last versions were).

 

[Nige]

As I said before the Commer TS3 was a different animal entirely .........
http://www.oldengine.org/members/diesel/rootes-listerts3/ts3.htm

 

[Tones]

Alot of them where sold in NZ back in the day. The little town where I lived as a kid there were 2 owned by two local carriers
Gees, you gotta love the makeup mirrors on the outside of the doors.

 

[Truck Shop]

Thanks for posting that Nige, that's a neat vehical. Love that art deco front and grille.

Truck Shop

 

[DMiller]

Moving the air shift control to a switch lever under the wheel had my head all screwed on backwards, then I saw the bloke shift with it, actually looked intriguing. Armstrong P/S I am well acquainted with and NO truck with Armstrong steers good unless rolling then they are not so bad.

 

[Nige]

Armstrong P/S I am well acquainted with and NO truck with Armstrong steers good unless rolling then they are not so bad.

Fodens were famous for their LACK of power steering ............ but having driven one a few times I'd say on balance they probably didn't need it.

Here's something else I came across while trawling YouTube. Interesting historical filim and funnily enough the location is less than 5 miles away from where I grew up.