British Army Pinzgauer Low rear End

Dreadnought · Post by **Dreadnought** » Sun Oct 04, 2009 2:28 pm

Hi everybody, I posted earlier that all of the Brit Army Pinzgauers I have seen, seem to sit down at the rear, David Dunn suggested it was to do with the sophisticated air levelling dampers at the rear. He was sort of correct. Today I sold a Dog Guard to a Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME) mechanic (he was driving a VERY modifield Landrover Disco with something like a 6 inch lift) He works on these Pinzes at Tidworth Garrison and was delighted to look over mine and see the differences, (his remarks - Wow this is an old one!!!! - he was surprised that it has done less KMs than most he has worked on) But we discussed the stance of the newer ones, he told me it is easily explained....it is a fault and an incurable one. Apparently most of the Pinzes used by Brit Army tow a light gun (no problem) but the gunners tend to ignore any recommended weight limits and just overload their Pinzes with ammunition way beyond their capacity to recover, .once overloaded the air system cannot lift the back end past a certain point, hence they always look as if the backside is dragging. (I wouldn,t mind getting mine to just sit level, it must have damn good springs, its backside is always up in the air.)

David Dunn · Post by **David Dunn** » Sun Oct 04, 2009 3:49 pm

I don''t know where you came up with "sort of".... if you overload the capacity of any suspension, it will drag... The Swedish Pinzes were re-sprung front and rear to compensate for the heavy kit they carried, and the air suspension filled in the gap. Before I removed the top from my truck, I had almost 2000lbs of batteries in it and the compresser only kicked on once for about 15 seconds...There's a bunch of different coils and cup pins available to set your ride and load by. The Sweds also put a custom 19mm extension under the front pins for the weight of the hydraulic winch and mount

Also, the suspension is not all that complicated... a simple lever arm switch tells the compresser to add or release air from the rear air shocks.

Dreadnought · Post by **Dreadnought** » Mon Oct 05, 2009 2:18 am

Sorry if I didn,t quite put it how I meant it. It seems that these air dampers are the bane of the lives of the Army Mechanics, they are constantly asked to fix them and bring the ride height up level, but that would mean replacing parts, which they are not allowed to do except in extreme cases, (no doubt this has a lot to do with funds being tight due to all the money going to the Afghanistan campaign) It think what the Mechanic was trying to say was that he wished the parts were more robust or flexible in their operational parameters. Either way for military use at least, it seems the Mechanics are not impressed, (though he loves the Pinz overall - how could he not, the guy is a dedicated off roader, but probably sees a Pinz as impractical/expensive, I hope I opened his eyes, I showed him that my Pinz is capable of things that his Discovery can do, mine is standard, his Disco had a huge lift kit, demountable winch, large mudder type tyres, he could probably have spent that money on a Pinz instead)

David Dunn · Post by **David Dunn** » Mon Oct 05, 2009 5:29 pm

It's like everything else, they need to be spec'ed to the duty. But in this case, full kit AND a heavy towed piece exceeded the legal limits of the truck.
The 716K Swedish Pinzes were heavy from just "attached" kit, before any payload. Mine tipped the scales at a little over 6000 lbs, and stood as if empty. If springs weren't soooo expensive, I'd try to return it to as it left the factory....but it sports 2 winches, and I don't care to try to retrofit original springs and pins.... it still rides much better than any 710 or 712 I've had, or been in.

I hate to see how these mechanics deal with the new Supacat Jackals they're fielding in Afghanistan.. I imagine the suspension will give them nightmares..... visions of a "Battlefield Range Rover"

.
Some very cool videos of them on YouTube. This is the first of 5 on the Pathfinders, and first deployment of the Jackals.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQX8maabntQ

Dreadnought · Post by **Dreadnought** » Tue Oct 06, 2009 5:30 pm

Damn good vid, how many other ex forces are seeing some way better vehicles in use since they left the military and wish they could get their hands on them, especially in tactical situations.

David Dunn · Post by **David Dunn** » Tue Oct 06, 2009 5:57 pm

My tactical needs are South Central LA

I've already volenteered to take their first castoff. It would go great with my other Supacat! But at a cost of over $1m each , I don't see that happening

Whereas the ATMPs are bigger that they appear in pictures, the Jackals are quite a bit smaller... more in line with the size of a standard cab US pickup