H-drive

An H-drive drivetrain is a system used for heavy off-road vehicles with 6×6 or 8×8 drive to supply power to each wheel station.

Vehicles of the Warsaw Pact, such as the Tatra 813 and MAZ-535 series, were instead based on narrow backbone chassis with a central propeller shaft.

This suspension, best known through the Scammell Pioneer of 1927, uses a single central axle, or driveshaft, that in turn drives two walking beams (balanceur, in Dutch) one on each side.

Although at a different scale to their military vehicles, these also used the unusual principle (outside DAF) of a side-by-side divided drive.

[4] An advantage of the H-drive was the low overall body height as the hull could sit between the suspension units, rather than above axles.

This was demonstrated by the Canadian Lynx Scout Car, a derivative of the Daimler Dingo but using conventional Ford axles, which was a foot higher overall (70 in, 1.8 m vs 59 in, 1.5 m).

The initial requirement was developed by the Department of Tank Design (DTD) immediately post-war and the six-wheel, all-driven configuration with all-round independent suspension chosen on the basis of experience with the best of WWII vehicles from four to eight wheels.

[7] The Saladin was designed as a 10-ton vehicle built on a welded steel punt chassis, forming an armoured monocoque hull.

[9] By 1950, events of the Malayan Emergency had overtaken the British Army and with an urgent need for their first armoured personnel carrier, protected against guerilla ambush, the FV603 Saracen took priority over the Saladin.

[10] Saracen used an almost identical chassis and drivetrain to Saladin, although the engine was relocated from the rear to the front of the vehicle.

The varying track radii mean that when the vehicle drives in a curve on firm tarmac each wheel travels a different distance.