This Truck Towed 100-Ton Trailers and Had 20 Forward Gears — And Its V12 Ran on Anything

Comments · 50

• ME

  @MechanicalMyths · 1 month ago · pinned

  It&apos;s the Tatra 813 Kolos — 8×8, 17.6-litre air-cooled V12, 1967 to 1982. Twenty gears is five speeds × two reduction ranges × two again, with the lowest sets purely for moving a hundred tons at walking pace.<br>Would you rather have a truck that&apos;s efficient, or one that runs on whatever&apos;s in the can? 👇

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• AN

  @andrewlongfield3102 · 1 month ago

  So you have a number of things about the Tatra 813 confused. Yes they are air cooled, but they are also oil cooled. They run a huge oil cooler behind the center grille, and that huge fan is designed to draw air through the oil cooler, and they use a huge amount of oil in the engine to draw the heat out to be dispersed through the cooler. Not having a water jacket allows them to operate in both high and low temperatures that would destroy any other vehicle. The operating range is from -60 centigrade to +60 centigrade, and I believe this is the only vehicle ever built with that operating range. It will not freeze, and it will not boil. While it is multi fuel, it&apos;s not advised to mix fuels. There is an adjusting screw on the injection pump that needs to be turned to set the pump for each fuel. You could run a mix, but it won&apos;t be efficient. Also they are not a 5 speed with two reduction ranges. They are a 10 speed with a high and low ratio transfer case. The gear stick only has 5 physical positions to shift into, but the lever that looks like a splitter, and is air operated, actually shifts a full gear, not a half gear. It&apos;s actually one of the cleverest set ups I&apos;ve seen on a truck. When you shift the gear stick, the gear ratio increase is shorter, because it allows for the loss of road speed while shifting. When the gear selection lever is flipped, the gear ratio increase is larger because the air shift is faster, and the truck loses much less road speed before it has drive again. So think, first to second, air lever shift, big ration jump, second to third, move the gear stick, short ratio jump, third to fourth, flick the air shift lever, big ratio jump, fourth to fifth, move the gear stick, small ratio jump, etc. It&apos;s clever, it minimizes loss of road speed through the gears, and it&apos;s the only truck I&apos;ve ever seen with this set up. They are rated to tow 100 tonne, and carry 30 tonne onroad, or 15 tonne offroad, and this was often in the form of concrete blocks loaded in the back to give extra traction, as unloaded swing axles don&apos;t keep the wheels square on the ground. The total gross train mass allowed was 132 tonnes, although I&apos;m sure they would pull more, and they have a 100 tonne pto wheel winch mounted flat in the centre of the chassis. You can run through the gears while winching . At 100 tonne loading they use 100 litres per 100km. How do I know this, I was the first person to import a Tatra 813 into Australia. I drove mine from Melbourne to Sydney for an offroad show, along the coast road and averaged 35l/ 100km, in an unloaded condition. That&apos;s roughly 25% better than you will get from a V8 diesel Land Cruiser towing a big van, and with a custom motorhome on the back, you would probably have more living space. They are easy to drive once you get the hang of the gears, and have air assist on both the clutch (a huge triple plate dry unit), and the gear shift, so it&apos;s pretty easy to shift the gear stick when driving. Sitting with the engine off, you probably don&apos;t have the strength to put it into gear. It&apos;s easy to place accurately on the road, even though it&apos;s right on the width limit, and the driving position is good, as is visibility. Something you didn&apos;t mention is that they run an onboard tyre inflation system, operated by a lever under the dash, and valves that can be opened to control how much air goes to which tyre, complete with a pressure gauge. You can supply enough air to a tyre to drive with a 2 inch gash through the sidewall (shrapnel, I guess). These are unique trucks.

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• JR

  @jrgroberts · 1 month ago

  I really admire Tatra.

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• VÍ

  @VítězslavNovák-u3x · 1 month ago

  Thank you for this nice video. T-813 is my favourite truck. And it&apos;s sound - the roaring V12 with the whistling cooling fan together is simply divine.

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• JE

  @jestubbs69 · 1 month ago

  Must be apocalypse ready: &nbsp;Runs on hot liquified 🐕 💩…

  7

• EX

  @ExoticAdventure_Films · 9 days ago

  <b>End of the world and Tatras still kicking</b> Awesome …..👏🏻👏🏻

• IN

  @IndustrialHeritage24HHH · 1 month ago

  <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pArnHiRprUc&amp;t=121">2:01</a> in the 9ties i&apos;ve seen these Tatras, from the east german army, in perfect condition, low mileage, for 5000 DM- 2500 euros.but i was too sensible

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• KO

  @koenvangeleuken6544 · 1 month ago

  in the 9ties i&apos;ve seen these Tatras, from the east german army, in perfect condition, low mileage, for 5000 DM- 2500 euros......but i was too sensible.....😢

  7

• JU

  @Jupjupjupjupjupjup · 1 month ago

  Diesel and kerosine are basically the same. Most diesel engines run just fine on both, especially the older ones. So simply get rid of petrol is the solution most army&apos;s used for this problem.

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• VI

  @vitastastny2280 · 1 month ago

  Hello from Czech republic... Home of Tatra 🇨🇿

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• PE

  @petrstuntbiker885 · 1 month ago

  Tatra 💪🔝🏆✅🇨🇿❤️ thanks for video 👏

  2

• RO

  @rocco5045 · 1 month ago

  Dude, every diesel engine manufacturer had Multi fuel engine at some point.<br>🤣🤣🤣🤣