Six-wheel drive

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Six wheel drive, 6WD, and 6x6 are terms used to describe a six-wheeled vehicle with a drivetrain that allows all six wheels to receive power from the engine simultaneously. Unlike four wheel drive, the system is still largely confined to off-road vehicles, particularly heavy duty ones. Most six wheel drive vehicles have two wheels at the front and four at the rear and require the driver to manually switch between drive to the four rear wheels for on road and all-six for off-road.

Since about 1984, some interesting developments have occurred in this field and now one can buy a truly high performance six wheel drive vehicle by looking in Australia, and one may also be surprised to find an enormous range available to cover any type of use from heavyweight to lightweight and both on and off-road use.

[edit] 6WDs in pop culture

The 1993 film Super Mario Bros. featured a 6WD desert cruiser when Iggy and Spike were pursuing Mario and Luigi, when they were roaming around the desert.

[edit] 6WDs in the U.S.A.

Currently, USA 6x6, based out of Lawton, Oklahoma, is the only company in the United States converting stock vehicles into 6x6 vehicles.