Cab over

As a front arm ( more rarely: front seater ) trucks and buses are called that do not have the engine on a porch in front of the driver's seat. The engine is at the front handlebar under the cab (COE = English "Cab Over Engine" cab over engine ) or is there as an increase in the form of an engine tunnel. Vehicles with a stem for the engine are called normal handlebars, bonneted or Hauber.

History

The first omnibus and the first truck in the world were each forward control with rear - or under- floor engine. The feature of the front control arm, however, was lost with the time when the engine was moved to the cooler in front of the driver's seat; so the Langhauber arose. In this design on the front is the engine, followed by the cab and the cargo area and the passenger compartment. The advantage of this design is the easy accessibility of the engine for maintenance and repair. The disadvantages of Langhauber consist on the one hand in a fairly low clarity of the vehicle for the driver and the other in the fact that the stem with the engine, the overall length of the vehicle significantly increases or reduces the available cargo area.

After the legal regulations that restricted the permissible total length, were more restrictive, the commercial vehicle manufacturers have had to worry about designs optimized to improve the ratio of the useful for the charge length to the total length. A step in this direction was the construction of short -nose trucks, where the engine is a piece slid into the cab.

For better utilization of the vehicle length more suitable was a return to the front handlebars, in which the cab is above or forward of the engine. Enforced finally has this design. Following the Second World War, mainly in Germany in the 1960s The disadvantage of this design initially consisted of significantly poorer accessibility of the engine, which could be serviced and repaired by numerous flaps and openings. In many vehicles for the expansion of the engine had to be dismantled the front axle or the whole cab.

This problem was solved by the construction of tiltable cabs. The first front steering wheel with tilting cab already appeared in the 1930s in the United States. Contrast, European manufacturers were quite hesitant because safety issues have been feared. In particular, it was feared that the cab could break off during emergency braking or an accident and hit forward. In 1955, the German manufacturer Magirus-Deutz a Cabover prototype off with tilting cab at the Frankfurt IAA. This came from the public, however great skepticism and did not go into production. The first European truck with tilting cab, which was mass-produced, was the type L4751 Raske Tiptop of Volvo from 1962. Was the first German manufacturer Krupp took in 1965 the serial production of COE trucks with tilting cab on, in the same year followed by MAN, Henschel and Faun. The other hand, Mercedes -Benz held a particularly long fast to non-tilting cab-over cabs. Because of their many distributed over the entire cab service doors this truck drivers and mechanics were quickly given the nickname " Advent Calendar ". Until 1984 Cabover models were produced with fixed cabin of Mercedes -Benz.

Some Cabover Trucks received so-called underfloor engines, which were located behind the cab below the cargo area. However, this design could not prevail. The best-known manufacturers of such vehicles, the company was bussing. For buses, the motor is usually either in the center of the vehicle ( underfloor engine ) or the stern ( rear engine ) was laid.

Comparison Hauber - Cabover

Apart from the increased space requirements as well as a larger turning circle provide Hauber have advantages:

• Due to the longer wheelbase, they can ride more comfortable.
• The cab can sit about half a meter deep, which makes it easier to get started.
• The treads sit on the rear end of the doors, this also facilitates the entry.
• A hood is folded away easily or even to dismantle as a driver's car, the service points for the driver are, however, also the front driver behind a front flap.
• The isolation of the cab against noise, vibration and exhaust heat from the engine is theoretically easier to implement. Practically achieve U.S. Hauber under full load or use engine braking by 70 db ( A) in the interior, European front handlebar by 65 db (A).
• A body with bonnet can be better optimized with respect to the air resistance, which in modern streamlined nose trucks from U.S. production leads to a significantly improved Cd value, which is practically used for similar fuel consumption at higher speeds, theoretically could, however, lead to significant fuel savings.

Due to increased competition won in the 1970s, the benefits of the front link in the usable cargo space length to weight: With a maximum vehicle length of 12.5 meters 80 cm hood mean almost 7% less usable cargo area. Also in view of the many European ferry operators and the settlement on vehicle length Cabover had an advantage here.

The front handlebars have therefore Hauber in Germany and Europe almost completely replaced with medium to heavy trucks during the 1970s, with buses already in the 1960s.

In the civilian road to long and especially short-nose could last the longest in the field of construction vehicles and indeed until the 1980s before they had there as well make the front drivers area. Similarly long did the process of replacing with fire engines.

A final area in which today still find Langhauber in Europe, military vehicles (eg, Renault and Mercedes -Benz): here is For maximum ground clearance of the frame already greatly increased, so a standard cab-over during transport on normal flat car the railways were too high. Cabover for the military, which should fit on normal flat cars are therefore equipped with the engine not under, but behind the cab. Become military Langhauber demand in third world markets by civilian users, they can provide significant price advantages over small series of special vehicles.

Kurzhauber are still used in light trucks and vans usual (eg Mercedes -Benz Vario, Iveco Daily, Ford Transit). In the small van segment Kurzhauber have even pushed back the front driver on the European markets again.

Abroad Hauber are partly much more widespread than in Germany, for example, in the U.S. or Australia, where the road surfaces are generally calculated much more generous. In the U.S. vehicle fleet in 1980 consisted mainly of COE, for which the same reasons were decisive as in Europe. As part of the deregulation under Ronald Reagan, the length restriction was lifted for trucks, only the box length was limited. This led to a drastic shift towards long- nose trucks (mostly under the Freightliner, Volvo, Peterbilt, Kenworth, Mack and Western Star ). Cabover be there as C.O.E. ( for Cab over engine) or abbreviated Cabover. While they dominated the picture of rest areas on U.S. highways in 1980, they are now very rare.

Moderate Langhauber about 1950 (Mercedes- Benz)

Severe Langhauber of about 1960 ( Magirus- Deutz )

Kurzhauber from late 50s to late 60s (MAN)

Rounded front driver from about 1960 with a fixed cab ( Magirus- Deutz )

Cubic Cabover with fixed cabin of Mercedes -Benz ( 1960 )

Cabover with tilting cab of Krupp ( 1960 )

Modern large van with short hood ( Mercedes -Benz Vario)

Modern Langhauber military truck from Mercedes- Benz ( Zetros )

Sisu KB-112/117 was the first European production truck with a hydraulically tilting cabin.