[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Bob Carriere

Somewhat familiar with the 4x4 Ford system used on Canadian Mil. Pat.

Bob, more than "somewhat familiar", it was downright copied - see link:

Originally Posted by Hanno Spoelstra

Here's what Sid Swallow had to say on the subject (source: 'Canada's Wartime Prototypes' by Rolland Jerry, published in Vintage Canada, vol.5/2 of March/April 1978). From what I read, initially Ford assumed responsibility of designing the cab and sheetmetal, GM handled the chassis layout, while the four-wheel-drive layout was adopted from Marmon-Herrington. Ford and GM both handled detail engineering to make sure each manufacturer's components would suit the overall design.

And read my webpage here: http://www.mapleleafup.nl/marmonherrington/

Marmon-Herrington's expertise on all-wheel drive vehicles was also called upon when the Canadian automotive industry geared up for war production: "Immediately after the war was declared, the Ford Motor Company of Canada were charged with the responsibility of developing a 4x4 truck for army use. Obviously, they had very little experience in this field [...] Consequently they went to the Marmon-Herrington Company, Indianapolis, who in peace time supplied conversion material to convert Standard Ford 4x2 trucks into 4x4 models for various commercial peace time usage. [...] these joints were unsuitable [...] [the weight of the more or less cab over engine design and heavy army wheels/tires put too much load on the front axle joints.] To solve this problem, "Bendix-Weiss and Rzeppa joints were chosen by General Motors and Ford respectively [...] [They later realized that the "Tracta" type was better but they were already tooled up with the above types, so left it as it was.] (The Design Record, Vol. 4, p. 27).