Marmon-Herrington, a Marmon Highway Technologies/Berkshire Hathaway company that makes axles and transfer cases for commercial vehicles, recently introduced a new wheel-end option and a conversion that minimizes cab height increase.
The wheel-end option is compatible with 11.25-inch bolt circle wheels on the company’s MT22 double-reduction planetary front-drive steer axle. Marmon-Herrington says the option supports customer requests for commonality between the front and rear tires, and minimizes potential downtime, while maintaining the 5G high dynamic shock load capability that defines the axle.
The MT22 with 285-milimeter wheel end will come standard on all Marmon-Herrington AWD conversions, and will be offered as standard to all MT22 customers for all approved applications, the company said. It also will continue to manufacture and support the 385-milimeter bolt circle option for OE production and AWD customer.
“Our customers asked for it and we are excited to deliver the new 285-milimeter wheel end,” said Dan Souhan, sales and marketing director for Marmon-Herrington. “This product launch delivers the standard fit and wheel commonality our fleets need. This expands our product line offering to our OE customers and allows for in-house Marmon-Herrington AWD conversions to use the wheels that originally come with the truck.”
The company’s proprietary new AWD conversion minimizes cab height increase by utilizing newly designed Marmon-Herrington sub-frames, step-frames and front suspension configurations, reducing reduces cab height increase from 10 inches to only 5 inches.
The conversion is available for Class 7 and 8 trucks (14-22k front axle weight ratings) and is available across various truck models based on specific engine and transmissions configurations, Marmon-Herrington said.
The new sub-frame and step-frame designs were developed to achieve an overall decrease in cab height for supporting the latest generation of aerials with a Marmon-Herrington double reduction planetary front drive axle. The design allows the axle’s input torque to be distributed across the entire axle, as compared to single reduction axles. Torque splitting in the double reduction planetary axle allows for the use of a compact ring and pinion gearset, the company maintained, reducing the size of the center section and increasing ground clearance while also achieving “unparalleled” durability and lower cab height increases.
“We have combined several new strategies with our MT-Series planetary drive axles to achieve remarkable height reduction,” Souhan said. “Marmon-Herrington provides our customers with best-in-class rigid axle AWD power and durability, as well as industry-leading ground clearance and low cab height.
“We understand the importance of multiple performance characteristics when evaluating an AWD conversion and continually work to ensure Marmon-Herrington offers our customers the very best in every category.”