Off-road vehicle 1

Off-road vehicle

Mercedes-Benz Unimog in the Dunes of ErgChebbi in Morocco. Note the high ground

clearance due to Portal gear axles

An off-road vehicle is considered to be any type of vehicle which iscapable of driving on and off paved or gravel surface. It is generallycharacterized by having large tires with deep, open treads, a flexiblesuspension, or even caterpillar tracks.[citation needed] Other vehicles thatdo not travel public streets or highways are generally termedoff-highway vehicles, including tractors, forklifts, cranes, backhoes,bulldozers, and golf carts.[citation needed]

Off-road vehicles have an enthusiastic following because of their manyuses and versatility. Several types of motorsports involve racingoff-road vehicles. The three largest "4-wheel vehicle" off-road types ofcompetitions are Rally, Desert Racing, and Rockcrawling.[citation

needed] The three largest types of All Terrain Vehicle (ATV) /Motorcycle competitions are Motocross, Enduro, and also DesertRacing like Dakar Rallye and Baja 1000.[citation needed] The most common use of these vehicles is for sight seeing inareas distant from pavement. The use of higher clearance and higher traction vehicles enables access on trails andforest roads that have rough and low traction surfaces.

History

Nicholas II' Packard Twin-6 with Kégresse track

One of the first modified off-road vehicles was the Kégresse track, aconversion undertaken first by Adolphe Kégresse, who designed theoriginal while working for Czar Nicholas II of Russia between 1906and 1916.[1] The system uses an unusual caterpillar track which has aflexible belt rather than interlocking metal segments. It can be fitted toa conventional car or truck to turn it into a half-track suitable for useover rough or soft ground.

After the Russian Revolution of 1917, Kégresse returned to his nativeFrance where the system was used on Citroën cars between 1921 and1937 for off-road and military vehicles. The Citroën company

sponsored several overland expeditions with their vehicles crossing North Africa and Central Asia.

A huge wheeled vehicle designed from 1937 to 1939 under the direction of Thomas Poulter called Antarctic SnowCruiser was intended to facilitate transport in the Antarctica. While having several innovative features, it generallyfailed to operate as hoped under the difficult conditions, and was eventually abandoned in Antarctica.

Off-road vehicle 2

A cutaway drawing of the Antarctic Snow Cruiser.

After World War II, a huge surplus oflight off-road vehicles like the Jeepand heavier lorries were available onthe market.[citation needed] The Jeeps inparticular were popular with buyerswho used them as utility vehicles. Thiswas also the start of off-roading as ahobby. The wartime Jeeps soon woreout, though, and the Jeep companystarted to produce civilian derivatives,closely followed by similar vehiclesfrom British Land Rover and JapaneseToyota, Datsun/Nissan, Suzuki, andMitsubishi. These were all alike: small,compact, four-wheel-drive vehicleswith at most a small hardtop to protectthe occupants from theelements.[citation needed]

From the 1960s and onward, more comfortable vehicles were produced.[citation needed] For several years they werepopular with rural buyers due to their off-road and load-lugging capabilities.[citation needed] The U.S. Jeep Wagoneerand the Ford Bronco, the British Range Rover, and the station wagon-bodied Japanese Toyota Land Cruiser, NissanPatrol and Suzuki Lj's series were all essentially just station wagon bodies on light truck frames withfour-wheel-drive drivetrains. Later, during the 1990s, manufacturers started to add even more luxuries to bring thoseoff-road vehicles on par with regular cars. This eventually evolved into what we call the SUV today. It also evolvedinto the newer Crossover vehicle, where utility and off-road capability was sacrificed for better on-road handling andluxury.

Technical

Swedish Hägglunds Bv206 with wide rubbertracks

To be able to drive off the pavement, off-road vehicles need severalcharacteristics: They need to have a low ground pressure, so as not tosink into soft ground, they need ground clearance to not get hung up onobstacles, and they need to keep their wheels or tracks on the groundso as not to lose traction. Wheeled vehicles accomplish this by havinga suitable balance of large or additional tires combined with tall andflexible suspension. Tracked vehicles accomplish this by having widetracks and a flexible suspension on the road wheels.

Off-road vehicle 3

Russian GAZ-34039

The choice of wheels versus tracks are one of cost and suitability. Atracked drive-train is more expensive to produce and maintain.Wheeled drivetrains are cheaper and give a higher top speed. Thetracked drive-train has greater off-road capability.Most off-road vehicles are fitted with especially low gearing. Thisallows the operator to make the most of the engine's available powerwhile moving slowly through challenging terrain. An internalcombustion engine coupled to a normal gearbox often has an outputspeed too high. The vehicle often has one of two things, either a verylow ("granny") first gear (like the all wheel drive VolkswagenTransporter versions) or an additional gearbox in line with the first, called a reduction drive. Some vehicles, like theBv206 in the picture on the right, also have torque converters to further reduce the gearing.[citation needed]

Many wheeled off-road vehicles have four-wheel drive to keep traction on slippery surfaces. Vehicles designed foruse both on and off road may be designed to be switched between two-wheel drive and four-wheel drive so that thevehicle uses fewer driven wheels when driven on the road.Copper-alloy heat exchangers such as CuproBraze are particularly suited for off-road vehicles that must operate forlong periods of time under harsh conditions without premature failures. The technology is being used by RussianOEMs such as Kamaz and Ural Automotive Plant, UAZ and GAZ (Russia), MAZ (Belarus), The Finnish RadiatorManufacturing Company (FinnRadiator),[2] Nakamura Jico Co., Ltd. (Japan), Young Touchstone North America,Siemens AG Transportation Systems, and Bombardier Transportation.

Criticism of off-road vehicles

SafetySUV's are built with higher ground clearance for off-road use and thus have a higher center of gravity, thereforeincreasing the risk of rollover. When an SUV turns, the vehicle's mass resists the turn and carries the weight forward,thus allowing the traction from the tires to create a lateral centripetal force as the vehicle continues through the turn.The conflict between the top weight of the SUV's desire to go straight while the friction of the tires on the road causethe bottom of the vehicle to move away and out from under the vehicle during a turn.Pickups and SUVs are more likely to be in rollover accidents than passenger cars. According to a study conducted inthe United States, pickups have twice the fatality rate of cars and SUVs have nearly triple the fatality rate in rolloveraccidents. Of vehicles in the United States, light trucks (including SUVs) represent 36 percent of all registeredvehicles. They are involved in about half of the fatal two-vehicle crashes with passenger cars, and 80 percent of thesefatalities are to occupants of the passenger cars.

EnvironmentIn the United States, the number of ORV users since 1972 has climbed sevenfold—from five million to 36 million in2000. Government policies that protect wilderness but also allow recreational ORV use have been the subject ofsome debate within the United States and other countries.All trail and off-trail activities impact natural vegetation and wildlife, which can lead to erosion, invasive species, habitat loss, and ultimately species loss[3][4] decreasing an ecosystem's ability to maintain homeostasis. ORV's cause greater stress to the environment than foot traffic alone, and ORV operators who attempt to test their vehicles against natural obstacles can do significantly more damage then those who follow legal trails. Illegal use of off-road vehicles has been identified as a serious land management problem ranked with dumping garbage and other forms of vandalism. Many user organizations, such as Tread Lightly! and the Sierra Club, publish and encourage appropriate

Off-road vehicle 4

trail ethics.ORVs have also been criticized for producing more pollution in areas that might normally have none. In addition tonoise pollution that can cause hearing impairment and stress in wildlife,[5] according to the U.S. Forest Service,old-style two-stroke engines (no longer a component of new off-road vehicles, although some are still in use) "emitabout 20 to 33 percent of the consumed fuel through the exhaust" and "discharge from two-stroke snowmobileengines can lead to indirect pollutant deposition into the top layer of snow and subsequently into the associatedsurface and ground water."[6][7] In 2002, the United States Environmental Protection Agency adopted emissionsstandards for all-terrain vehicles that "when fully implemented in 2012...are expected to prevent the release of morethan two million tons of air pollution each year--the equivalent of removing the pollution from more than 32 millioncars every year."

Off Road Vehicle Erosion

Negative environmentaleffects caused by a motorcycleto a portion of the Los Padres

National Forest.

Negative environmental effects that occurred when off-road vehicledrivers deliberately left the posted trail. Anza-Borrego Desert State

Park.

Common off-road vehicles

Jeep CJ in action

CommonWikipedia:WikiProject Countering systemic bias commercial off-roadvehicles include four-wheel-drive pickup trucks like the Ford F-Series, ChevroletC/K, Dodge Ram, and Toyota Tacoma.Wikipedia:Manual of Style (dates andnumbers) A number of military vehicles have also seen civilian use, includingthe Jeep CJ and the AM General Hummer. Some, like the early Land Rovers,were adapted to military use from civilian specifications. Specialised commonlyavailableWikipedia:WikiProject Countering systemic bias off-road vehiclesinclude ATVs (All Terrain Vehicles), dirt bikes, dune buggies, rock crawlers,and sandrails.

Off-road vehicle 5

A typical ATV. The ergonomicsare very similar to motorcycles,

with a saddle and handlebar.

Heavily modified ChevroletBlazer typical of the UnitedStates hobbyist off-roading

scene

Jeep Rubicon Rock Crawling. Sandrail at Silver Lake SandDunes.

A 4WD Bus in Fraser Island,Australia

Commercial, military and less common off-road vehiclesEuropean militaries and utilities have used Land Rover Defenders, Haflingers, Pinzgauers, Volvo L3314, andMercedes-Benz Unimogs for all-terrain transportation. The Portuguese UMM Alter is less common.The military market for off-road vehicles used to be large, but, since the fall of the Iron Curtain in the 1990s, it hasdried up to some extent. The U.S. Jeep, developed during World War II, coined the word many people use for anytype of light off-road vehicle. In the U.S., the Jeep's successor from the 1980s on was the AM General HMMWV.The Eastern Bloc used the GAZ-69 and UAZ-469 in similar roles.

Unimog at IDEF'07 Arms Fair Two Polish Honkers in Iraq UMM Alter Volvo L3314N

Off-road vehicle 6

Mahindra and MahindraClassic used by the Indian

Army

Soldiers from the101st AirborneDivision test

prototypeOff-RoadVehicles.

Off-road bus in Iceland

References[1] MiG-registeret (http:/ / www. home. no/ migreg/ norsk/ kiriletz. html)[2] FinnRadiator; http:/ / www. finnradiator. com[3] Mojave lizard may rate protection - The U.S. will study whether the Mojave fringe-toed lizard, which scientists say is being damaged by

off-road vehicles in its habitat, merits federal protection (http:/ / www. latimes. com/ news/ science/ environment/la-na-lizard12jan12,1,6234267. story?coll=la-news-environment& ctrack=1& cset=true)

[4] Officials seek to protect desert reptile - Mojave fringe-toed lizard at risk from people in off-road vehicles (http:/ / www. lvrj. com/ news/13702907. html)

[5] The Impacts of Off-Road Vehicle Noise on Wildlife (http:/ / www. wildlandscpr. org/ node/ 258)[6] United States Forest Service - Environment and Effects (http:/ / www. fs. fed. us/ r10/ chugach/ forest_plan/ FEIS_VOLUME_1/

chapter3_p1feis. pdf)[7] Addressing the Ecological Effects of Off-Road Vehicles (http:/ / wilderness. org/ content/ addressing-ecological-effects-road-vehicles)

Article Sources and Contributors 7

Article Sources and ContributorsOff-road vehicle  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=564590488  Contributors: Abc root, Alan Liefting, AlanSiegrist, Alexander-Scott, Allen3, AndrewH, Athene cunicularia,Barang, Ben Ben, Bergsten, Bobblehead, Brianhe, C.C.Peterson, CZmarlin, Caim, Caldina, CanisRufus, Cfrydj, Chmee2, Chris the speller, ChrisCork, Cruiser-Aust, DBigXray, DabMachine,Dana60Cummins, DeLarge, Deb, Dennis Bratland, Dismas, Dyanega, Edward, Eleassar777, Enviromet, Excirial, Fasach Nua, Firsfron, Fissukes, Foxmuldr, GeorgeLouis, Glook, Graumicchie,Ground Zero, Hammbeen, Harald Hansen, HummerGuy, I already forgot, Interiot, Itinerant1, JJ Harrison, JaGa, Jeepday, Jellyfish dave, Jeremy Bolwell, KKramer, KNHaw, Karaboom, Kjkolb,Kulikovsky, LilHelpa, Lynngueeny, MWAK, MarsRover, Matthead, Mauls, Mellisa Anthony Jones, Michaelsbll, Moink, Morio, Mr. Bridger, Mtxchevy, NeptuneTwo, Neutrality, Nick UA,Night Gyr, Oleg-ch, Olegwiki, Pascal666, Pengyanan, Peter Porai-Koshits, Photnart, PriusTruth, Rama, Reaper Eternal, Riki, Rjwilmsi, Rnbc, Royalbroil, Rpyle731, Sassf, SchreiberBike, Serte,Shadowjams, ShakespeareFan00, ShulaCuse, SiobhanHansa, Squiddy, Steinberger, SteveBaker, Stewartx5, Sumit Dutta, Suricata, Teutonic Tamer, The Rambling Man, Tillman, Una Smith,Unixxx, Wafry, Welcomematt22, Wikigi, Woohookitty, 106 ,ماني anonymous edits

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