Six-wheel drive (6WD or 6×6) is an

all-wheel drive An all-wheel drive vehicle (AWD vehicle) is one with a powertrain capable of providing power to all its wheels, whether full-time or on-demand. The most common forms of all-wheel drive are: ;1x1 : All unicycles Reflecting one axle with one w ...

drivetrain A drivetrain (also frequently spelled as drive train or sometimes drive-train) is the group of components that deliver mechanical power from the prime mover to the driven components. In automotive engineering, the drivetrain is the components o ...

configuration of three axles with at least two wheels on each axle capable of being driven simultaneously by the vehicle's engine. Unlike

four-wheel drive Four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 ("four by four") or 4WD, refers to a two-axled vehicle drivetrain capable of providing torque to all of its wheels simultaneously. It may be full-time or on-demand, and is typically linked via a transfer case ...

drivetrains, the configuration is largely confined to heavy-duty off-road and military vehicles, such as

all-terrain vehicles An all-terrain vehicle (ATV), also known as a light utility vehicle (LUV), a quad bike, or simply a quad, as defined by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI); is a vehicle that travels on low-pressure tires, with a seat that is stra ...

armored vehicles Armour (British English) or armor (American English; see spelling differences) is a covering used to protect an object, individual, or vehicle from physical injury or damage, especially direct contact weapons or projectiles during combat, or f ...

, and prime movers. Amfibiebil m-1965 101 B

When such a vehicle only has six wheels by definition all are driven. When it has ten – with two pairs of ganged "dual" wheels on each rear axle as on a

GMC CCKW GMC may refer to: Government India * Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation, in Gujarat * Gobichettipalayam Municipal Corporation, in Tamil Nadu * Guntur Municipal Corporation, in Andhra Pradesh * Guwahati Municipal Corporation, in Assam * Gwalior ...

– all are also driven but the 6×6 designation remains. For most military applications where traction/mobility are considered more important than payload capability, single wheels on each axle (often referred to as super singles) are the norm.

Heavy hauler A heavy hauler is a very large transporter for moving oversize loads too large for road travel without an escort and special permit. A heavy hauler typically consists of a Ballast Tractor and hydraulic modular trailer. Some trailers may have ...

and

ballast tractor A ballast tractor is a specially weighted tractor unit of a heavy hauler combination. It is designed to utilize a drawbar to pull or push heavy or exceptionally large trailer loads which are loaded in a hydraulic modular trailer. When feasible ...

6×6s have had a long history as prime movers both in the military (as tank transports and

artillery tractor An artillery tractor, also referred to as a gun tractor, is a specialized heavy-duty form of tractor unit used to tow artillery pieces of varying weights and calibres. It may be 6x6, wheeled, continuous track, tracked, or half-tracked. Trac ...

s), and commercially in logging and heavy equipment hauling both on- and

off-road Off-roading is the activity of driving or riding in a vehicle on unpaved surfaces such as sand, gravel, riverbeds, mud, snow, rocks, and other natural terrain. Types of off-roading range in intensity, from leisure drives with unmodified vehicl ...

. Most six-wheel drive vehicles have a forward axle and two at the rear (with only the front pair steering), or three evenly spaced in varying steering configurations. Depending on the vehicle's role, the number of wheels varies between six (in three pairs) and ten (with two in the front and two dual axles with four wheels apiece in the rear). Drive may be limited to the rear two axles for on-road use.

Examples

Military * British Alvis FV600 series:

Saladin Yusuf ibn Ayyub ibn Shadi () ( – 4 March 1193), commonly known by the epithet Saladin,, ; ku, سه‌لاحه‌دین, ; was the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. Hailing from an ethnic Kurdish family, he was the first of both Egypt and ...

Saracen upright 1.5, Late 15th-century German woodcut depicting Saracens Saracen ( ) was a term used in the early centuries, both in Greek and Latin writings, to refer to the people who lived in and near what was designated by the Romans as Arabia Pe ...

Salamander Salamanders are a group of amphibians typically characterized by their lizard-like appearance, with slender bodies, blunt snouts, short limbs projecting at right angles to the body, and the presence of a tail in both larvae and adults. All ten ...

and Stalwart * Finland Sisu SA-240 & SA-241 * French Renault TRM 10000 * French

ACMAT ACMAT (''Ateliers de Construction Mécanique de L'Atlantique'', also known as ALM-ACMAT) ( en, Atlantic Mechanical Engineering Workshops) is a French manufacturer of cross-country and tactical military vehicles since 1958. Known for their reliabi ...

VLRA * German Mercedes-Benz G300 CDI G-Class 6x6 * German MAN/RMMV SX44 * German MAN LX and FX * German RMMV HX58, HX61 & HX42M * Austrian

Pinzgauer High Mobility All-Terrain Vehicle The Pinzgauer is a family of high-mobility all-terrain 4WD (4×4) and 6WD (6×6) military utility vehicles. The vehicle was originally developed in the late 1960s and manufactured by Steyr-Daimler-Puch of Graz, Austria, and was named after ...

* Italian

Astra Veicoli Industriali Astra Veicoli Industriali S.p.A. (Anonima Sarda TRAsporti) is an Italian company that produces trucks, heavy transport vehicles and military vehicles. Astra was privately founded in 1946 in Cagliari, and since 1986 has been part of Iveco. In 195 ...

tactical range SM66.40 * Poland Star 266 * Serbian

FAP 2026 FAP 2026 is a general purpose off-road lorry made by Serbian vehicle manufacturer Fabrika automobila Priboj (FAP). The six-wheel drive lorry is designed for transport of personnel, weapons and material up to 6 tons of total weight, as for tract ...

* U.S. M25 tank transporter * U.S.

Mack NO Mack may refer to: People *Mack (given name) *Mack (surname) *Reinhold Mack, German record producer and sound engineer, often credited as simply "Mack" *Richard Machowicz (1965–2017), host of ''FutureWeapons'' and ''Deadliest Warrior'', known as ...

heavy cargo truck * U.S. CCKW ton medium cargo truck * U.S.

M35 M35, M.35 or M-35 may refer to: Military * M35 series 2½-ton 6×6 cargo truck, a US Army truck * , a Royal Navy mine countermeasures vessel launched in 1982 * ADGZ or ''M35 Mittlere Panzerwagen'', a 1930s Austrian Army heavy armored car * Cannone ...

ton medium cargo truck * U.S. M561 Gama Goat * U.S. M939 heavy cargo truck * U.S. MTVR all-terrain cargo truck * U.S. FMTV MTV * U.S. M123/123A, M125/125A prime mover/heavy cargo truck * Indian

Ashok Leyland FAT 6×6 The Ashok Leyland FAT 6×6 is an all-terrain military truck developed and produced by Indian automobile manufacturer Ashok Leyland. Designed for towing heavy artillery guns, it will replace the aging fleet of Scania SBAT111S used by the Indian ...

cargo truck Military/commercial * Canada

Western Star Trucks Western Star Trucks Sales, Inc. is an American truck manufacturer headquartered in Portland, Oregon, and a subsidiary of Daimler Truck North America, which is in turn a wholly owned subsidiary of the Germany-based Daimler Truck. History In 196 ...

* Czech

Tatra T815 The Tatra 815 is a truck family, produced by Czech company Tatra. It uses the traditional tatra concept of rigid backbone tube and swinging half-axles giving independent suspension. The vehicles are available in 4x4, 6x6, 8x8, 10x8, 10x10, 12x ...

* German

Mercedes-Benz Actros The Mercedes-Benz Actros is a heavy-duty truck introduced by Mercedes-Benz at the 1996 Commercial Vehicle IAA in Hanover, Germany as the replacement for the SK. It is normally used for long-distance haulage, heavy duty distribution haulage a ...

* German

Mercedes-Benz Zetros The Mercedes-Benz Zetros is an off-road truck for extreme operations. It was first presented at the 2008 Eurosatory defence industry trade show in Paris. The Zetros is manufactured at the Mercedes-Benz plant in Wörth, Germany. The truck is desig ...

* Russian

Ural-4320 The Ural-4320 is a general purpose off-road 6×6 vehicle, produced at the Ural Automotive Plant in Miass, Russia for use in the Russian army. Introduced in 1976, it is still in production today. The wheel arrangement for the Ural-4320 was designe ...

* Russian

ZIL-131 The ZIL-131 is a general purpose 3.5 tonne 6x6 army truck designed in the Soviet Union by Zavod Imeni Likhacheva, ZIL. The basic model being a general cargo truck. Variants include a tractor-trailer truck, a dump truck, a fuel truck, and a 6x6 fo ...

* Ukrainian

KrAZ-255 The KrAZ-255 is a Ukrainian (formerly Soviet) three-axle off-road truck with six-wheel drive (6 × 6), intended for extreme operations. It was manufactured at the KrAZ plant beginning from 1967. The KrAZ-255 was developed directly from its p ...

* U.S.

Oshkosh M911 The Oshkosh M911 (factory designation F2365) is a heavy-load truck produced by the Oshkosh Corporation in the 1970s, used by the US Army. History In the second half of the 1970s, the US Army procured 1,000 of the heavy-haul truck – tog ...

(also produced as 8x6 with a liftable second axle) Commercial * Commercial 6×6 prime movers were made by Hayes Manufacturing and

Pacific Trucks Pacific Truck & Trailer Limited was a Vancouver, Canada based manufacturer of heavy trucks famed for their durability. Pacific built both highway and off-road trucks, particularly for the logging industry, heavy haulers, and fire trucks. In 19 ...

. which also produced heavy haul

s. The

Freightliner Business Class M2 The Freightliner Business Class M2 is a model range of medium-duty trucks produced by Freightliner. In production since June 2002, the M2 is the successor to the FL-Series introduced in the 1990s. In terms of size, the M2 is produced in Cla ...

is a commercial medium-duty truck sold in the United States and available in a 6×6 configuration. Conversions * Six-by-six conversions of four-wheel drive trucks are made, such as the

Australian Army The Australian Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The Army is commanded by the Chief of Army (Austral ...

Perentie The perentie (''Varanus giganteus'') is the largest monitor lizard or goanna native to Australia. It is one of the largest living lizards on earth, after the Komodo dragon, Asian water monitor, crocodile monitor, and intersecting by size with Ni ...

Land Rover Defender The Land Rover Defender (initially introduced as the Land Rover 110 / One Ten, and in 1984 joined by the Land Rover 90 / Ninety, plus the new, extra-length Land Rover 127 in 1985) is a series of British off-road cars and pickup trucks. They c ...

and "Landcruiser Sherman"), as are 6×4 versions (with only front and rear or front and middle axles driven). Recreational ATV/UTV *

Polaris Industries Polaris Inc. is an American automotive manufacturer of Polaris RZR, RZR, motorcycles, snowmobiles, all-terrain vehicles, and neighborhood electric vehicles headquartered in Medina, Minnesota, United States. Polaris was founded in Roseau, Minneso ...

has produced a number of six-wheel drive

ATVs ATV may refer to: Broadcasting * Amateur television *Analog television Television stations and companies * Ràdio i Televisió d'Andorra * ATV (Armenia) * ATV (Aruba), NBC affiliate * ATV (Australian TV station), Melbourne * ATV (Austria) * ATV ...

and UTVs for many years, based on a standard Magnum, Sportsman or Ranger with an extra axle and a cargo box over the rear wheels.

Concept cars

Concept car A concept car (also known as a concept vehicle, show vehicle or prototype) is a car made to showcase new styling and/or new technology. They are often exhibited at motor shows to gauge customer reaction to new and radical designs which may or ...

testbed A testbed (also spelled test bed) is a platform for conducting rigorous, transparent, and replicable testing of scientific theories, computational tools, and new technologies. The term is used across many disciplines to describe experimental rese ...

, and limited production commercial examples include: * Hennessey

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

VelociRaptor ''Velociraptor'' (; ) is a genus of small dromaeosaurid dinosaur that lived in Asia during the Late Cretaceous epoch, about 75 million to 71 million years ago. Two species are currently recognized, although others have been assigned in the pa ...

6×6, with a 30-inch extended frame and six driven wheels.
6x6 Six Wheel Drive Jeep.
Fully custom chassis, body and drive-line. Twin front axle *

Ford Seattle-ite XXI The Ford Seattle-ite XXI was a 3/8 scale concept car designed by Alex Tremulis and displayed on 20 April 1962 on the Ford stand at the Seattle World's Fair. Description The car contained novel ideas that have since become reality: interchangeable ...

(concept car) *

Tyrrell P34 The Tyrrell P34 (Project 34), commonly known as the "six-wheeler", was a Formula One (F1) race car designed by Derek Gardner (designer), Derek Gardner, Tyrrell Racing, Tyrrell's chief designer. The car used four specially manufactured 10-inch dia ...

Twin rear axle * Bogie-drive (Twin axle) 6x6 vehicles are built by 6x6 Australia Pty Ltd and have full load-sharing coil-spring rear suspension with full-time bogie-drive (Twin axle) drive in the rear, and an integrated "roll steer" function built into the suspension design. All 6x6 Australia Pty Ltd vehicles are ADR-compliant with IPA for both "heavy" and "light" vehicles. *

Dodge T-Rex The Dodge T-Rex is a Ram-based concept vehicle produced by Dodge in 1997 with three axles and six-wheel drive. It was powered by the 8.0-liter Magnum V10 engine, borrowed from the production 1990s era Ram 2500/3500 V-10. The heavy-duty Ram eng ...

Mercedes-Benz G63 AMG 6x6 The Mercedes-AMG G 63 6×6 or Mercedes-Benz G 63 AMG 6×6 is a SUT manufactured by Mercedes-Benz. An SUT derivative of the six wheel drive Mercedes Geländewagen developed for the Australian Army from 2007 (see Mercedes-Benz G-Class#Military op ...

4x4 plus two without load-share, meaning far less wheel articulation for off-road, needing five differential locks to operate

Gallery

File:M25 Tank Transporter Dragon Wagon pic1.JPG, 10-wheel

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

6×6 Pacific Car & Foundry Co.-built M26 armored tank transporter tractor unit File:Deuce and a half truck.gif, 10-wheel U.S. Army 6×6

M35 2½ ton cargo truck M35, M.35 or M-35 may refer to: Military * M35 series 2½-ton 6×6 cargo truck, a US Army truck * , a Royal Navy mine countermeasures vessel launched in 1982 * ADGZ or ''M35 Mittlere Panzerwagen'', a 1930s Austrian Army heavy armored car * Cannone ...

, with one front and two rear axles File:Valmet 1502 six wheels.jpg, Six-wheeled

Valmet Valmet Oyj is a Finnish company and a developer and supplier of technologies, automation systems and services for the pulp (paper), pulp, paper and energy industry, energy industries. Valmet has over 200 years of history as an industrial oper ...

1502 tractor, with a bogie axle at the rear File:Flickr - Official U.S. Navy Imagery - Marines on the move..jpg, 6-wheel U.S. Marines 6×6 MTVR, with one front and two rear axles File:Slovakia army 868.jpg, Unusual two forward and one rear axle configuration of the Czech

TATRAPAN The Tatrapan is a 6x6 special military vehicle produced by the Slovak defence industry company VYVOJ Martin Developed for various utilization by Slovak armed forces as well as export purposes. Design Tatrapan is an armoured off-road vehicl ...

File:KamAZ military tank transporter.jpg, A Russian KamAZ military tank transporter carrying an SU-85M File:Hayes Arbegui 2010.JPG, Hayes extra-heavy 6x6 (10-wheel) truck operated in Spain by Transportes Arbegui

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Six-Wheel Drive Car layouts Six-wheeled vehicles All-wheel-drive vehicles

Examples

Concept cars

Gallery

See also

Notes