Jeep Hurricane (How Stuff Works)

How Stuff Workks ^

[ProtectOurFreedom]

If you're into off-roading -- and we mean really into it -- then Daimler-Chrysler recently unveiled the vehicle of your dreams. It's a Jeep with more horsepower, more climbing ability and more steering options than any car ever made. With two HEMI engines and the ability to turn itself completely around in place, the Jeep Hurricane concept car is truly one of a kind.

The Jeep Hurricane is meant to be an extreme vehicle. It's certainly not intended for the average driver. According to Trevor Creed, Senior Vice President of Chrysler Group Design, "Jeep Hurricane is simply the most maneuverable, most capable and most powerful 4x4 ever built."

While there are no plans to turn the Hurricane into a production model, Daimler-Chrysler CEO Dieter Zetsche explained the impetus behind the Hurricane at the 2005 North American International Auto Show in Detroit:

This vehicle is the ultimate proof of Jeep's absolute dominance off-road ... Watching Hurricane in action, it's hard not to imagine all the potential applications -- for the military, for extreme off-roading and more. The fact is, we will do whatever it takes to ensure that there's only one SUV at the top of the mountain.

With more than 14 inches of ground clearance and 20 inches of suspension travel, the Hurricane is in a class of its own when it comes to off-road capability.

The Jeep Hurricane features a 5.7-liter HEMI engine in the front, generating 335 horsepower and 370 lb-ft of torque. In the rear of the Hurricane is another 5.7-liter HEMI, generating the same amount of horsepower and torque. That's a total of 670 horsepower and 740 lb-ft of torque.

[alloysteel]

Here they are still trying to build a SERIOUS off-road vehicle with mechanical shafts driving from the power unit to the wheels. How about:

Using a power unit that drives a hydraulic pump, and have a hydrostatic motor on EACH wheel, with no mechanical linkage at all between the power unit and wheels? The hydrostatic motor would be mounted above the centerline of the wheel, driving a reduction gear that was keyed to the wheel hub, and the entire unit rides up and down with the deflection of the suspension?

Changing the power unit to a regenerative steam piston engine, fueled by propane or other petroleum fraction of high volitility (even natural gas?), with a condensation and recapture sealed system for the use of steam to water cycle.

With some attention to design, like using relatively large-diameter wheels, the center of gravity may be kept down below the tops of the wheel diameters, making the vehicle practically impossible to overturn. With the high clearances possible by moving drive components above the hub of the wheel, and with a long vertical travel on each of the wheel suspension systems, it would be possible to crawl across rocks that are now impractical for most designs.

We haven't even STARTED to design for the 21st Century, people.

[USNBandit]

LOL. My mom had a 68 plymouth fury which she took to the shop because it was running rough. It too was running with three cylinders not firing.

[Lazamataz]

I need every car in the world.

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Yeah, but would the chicks dig it? : )

[Hank Rearden]

OK, that's cool, but where do you store your stuff?

Just your skateboard, dooood, 'cause it's eXtreme and Rad.

Don't forget to wear your idiotic hat backwards, dooood.

[WestVirginiaRebel]

"it too was running with three cylinders not firing"

So it was the Howard Dean model?

[alloysteel]

SOME chicks will go for it, if they are the kind that show up for and compete in rock crawler treks. Like up the Rubicon in the Sierras.

What the heck, the design may even work for swamp buggies in Florida. You cross the Everglades the hard way - straight.

[TexasTransplant]

I had a Gremlin with that same turning radius, although the rear tires had to be smoking before you made the turn, the only other way was to slam on the brakes in a panic stop and it would pirouette and slide perfectly straight backwards.

[Riley]

The steering mech also needs a tranny to shift from goofy to normal.

LOL!

"Hang on a minute- I have to stop and shift to 'goofy mode' so we can spin in place for a while."

Wonder what happens when you floor it like that?

[Doctor Raoul]

The new 5.7 liter Hemi V-8 is a much more fuel efficient engine than you think. In most applications, the engine utilizes MDS (multi-displacement system) that shuts off 4 of 8 cylinders when cruising to conserve fuel.

I had am '82 Plymouth Horizen that shut off 2 out of 4 cylinders all the time.

[Fiddlstix]

BTTT

[alloysteel]

What would happen if you floor it when it is in zero-turn mode?

Two big old honking pieces of cast iron, each with internal rotational inertial masses of its own, and the dynamics of conservation of energy, being forced into an ever-changing vector - those rotating masses being turned out of the original plane will force some of the components to right angles.

I would predict rapid self-disassembly and a new winner of the Darwin Award.

[zeugma]

As a side benefit, I would think that having dual engines would enable you to have no single point of failure as far as power is concerned. I wonder if it will run with only one engine in operation. For military applications were reliability is an important consideration, this would be useful.

I've often thought that having dual power sources would be useful for such things. The "hybrid" concept almost takes you there as well, but the engines in them seem to be underpowered as they are used more for electrical power generation than for driving. Of course, having multiple power sources means you need multiple ways to transfer power. This increases complexity and the number of moving parts required, which lowers the MTBF.

The car pictured sure looks cool, but I would bet care and feeding would be a bitch.

[Normal4me]

That and you'd see your lunch plastered all over the windshield. :-0

[FreedomHammer]

"The steering mech also needs a tranny to shift from goofy to normal."

LOL! So this guy walks into a bar and asks, "How many trannys does it take to shift a goofy Jeep into normal?"

[FreedomHammer]

"That and you'd see your lunch plastered all over the windshield. :-0"

Kind of like my soda just plastered all over my monitor when I imagined someone attempting it. :D LOL!

"... and a new winner of the Darwin Award."

With 670 horsepower, 740 lb-ft of torque and a zero turning radius, I can only imagine so; especially if you put this guy behind the wheel:

http://www.442.com/multimedia/redneck.mov

http://www.442.com/multimedia/redneck.mov.sit

[Mike Darancette]

These vehicles will soon be seen picking the kids up from school and being used for drive by shootings.

[alloysteel]

These vehicles will soon be seen picking the kids up from school and being used for drive by shootings.

While combining both tasks in the same trip....

[Fast1]

From a German owned company!

[big'ol_freeper]

JEEP Ping