Landrover Gun Tractor

The British army kept calling on their Land Rovers to haul heavier and heavier loads across country, which lead to inevitable mechanical failures. This 1960's prototype gun tractor was one possible solution that was considered by Solihull for a time. It has a full 3.0 litre 6-cylinder engine, not the 2.6 litre six offered in SIIA and SIII LWB's, 5.3:1 ENV diff's, similar to those in the SIIB forward controls, 9.00x16 tyres, and leaf springs over the axles.

The gun tractor strongly resembles an enlarged army light weight and, with a big wheel at each corner, has a certain rugged appeal. 4wd.sofcom.com/4WD.html

This Land Rover gun tractor was also used in experiment with powered trailers. The aim was to drive the trailer's wheels from the transfer-case power take off (PTO). Unfortunately a normal PTO turns at the speed of the primary-gearbox output shaft, not at the speed of the transfer-case output shafts because power is taken out before the transfer-case's high and low speed gears. The solution on this vehicle was to use two transfer-cases joined together at the rear propeller shaft housing. The first transfer-case functions as in any normal four wheel drive. The second transfer-case takes the drive (a) straight through to the back wheels and also (b) up and to the near-side to a PTO unit. This PTO unit used to drive through a propeller shaft over the rear axle to a powered trailer coupling in the rear chassis cross-member, as found in a few forward control 101's. The powered trailer coupling is now missing and such couplings are very rare. The FC 101 later solved the trailer-drive speed problem in quite a different way with the LT95 hot-shift transfer-case.

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