No combativeness. Theres a freightliner demo video on youtube that shows just how unstable the see is at full speed. Somehow i don't think that a vehicle that was difficult/dangerous/unstable to drive at its contractually rated top speed would have had such a long run with the military. Its lack of popularity, i feel, is its european style maintenance and operation that was disliked by americans used to american engineering/operational styles.
In any given time, considering the choices of gearing, the only time i could see anyone winding the snot out of a big diesel is if gearing has been maxed out. PTO operation at full convoy speed absolutely not but it seems as if the general rumor keeps floating around that the pto is not supposed to be engaged while the wheels are turning in any way shape or form.
Let me ask you, if there an RPM limit to a standard unimog with front pto shaft pto?
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Hi, I agree completely about safety issue of a loaded SEE at full speed. Perhaps the important issue here is 'where' the SEE is driven hard and fast. In the field with the military is a whole different situation than on highway with soccer moms darting in and out LOL.
Regarding the max engine rpm with PTO, it's the hi-cap hydraulic system that limits the speed (therefore the reason to turn it off). The rear/high capacity pump was designed for maximum flow at a 'work' rpm, like 1800. If run faster than that, fluid heating and cooling become issues. The front hydraulic system (run off the engine) is designed to handle full engine speed, so has no speed limit.
Of course the SEE does not have the 'normal' 540/1000 mechanical PTO and shafts. Unimog 406's with that normal PTO are not speed limited but why leave then in gear. Actually there are at least four PTO assemblies available on a standard 406, the 540/1000 off the side of the transmission, the high speed PTO off the bottom (on which the hydraulic pump runs), and two different high speed PTO's that can be run off the cascade box ahead of the transmission.
Lots of the Unimog fans drive their 406 or 416 Unimogs cross country. They will set the engine on the peg (2800 or even turned up to 3000) and drive for hours. Those OM-352 engines are remarkable, and the SEE transmission has evolved to the point it can handle high speeds, too. Think about doing that with, say, a Deuce and a half with a multi-fuel. Chances are good the engine will come apart in a few hundred miles. Oops, maybe I should not have said that
Bob