Working on the AFV Club kit. It is the base for their 500 /4500 -A/S series of kits. There is only one gear shift in the cab. Did they miss the one for the transfer case or where the trucks all time 4X4?

Looks like there are two levers (+ the parking brake) for the 4500A :



H.P.

Hi! As seen in Frenchy's pic (the Bussing-NAG 500A - which was automotively the same as the 4500A truck), there is the gear-shift lever (tall straight rod w knob), the tall hand-brake lever w lock-button and operating rod, and the shorter lever (bent rod w red knob) for shifting the transfer-case 4x2 - 4x4.

The use of red knobs for transfer-case shifters was pretty standard in German mil vehicles -

These same handles/levers also show up on some stock B-N 4500A chassis pics.

These images and others are readily found by Google "Bussing-NAG 4500A" and search among the images.

For more detail, you might also note the foot starter button down by the pedals... Another common German wheeled-veh feature (while many veh's had an ignition key, as seen in Frenchy's pic, this usually only turned the ignition circuit on - but did not trip the starter solenoid. That was operated by a foot button. This feature continues in many mil veh's to this day.)

Bob

Thanks , guys. I'll have to fabricate the transfer case shifter. Interesting about the starter button. I'd seen it in the B-N and a couple other German trucks. Hadn't really thought about it. US cars back in the 60s -70s had something similar , but it was for the High/Low beams for the head lights.

Good to know since I'm having one of AVFs Büssings lying around here waiting to be started soon...

One other question occurs to me when watching the picture: What was the little switch/lever at the steering wheel for? I noticed it also on other vehicles like the Einheits-PKW-family for instance (although there placed on the dashboard)...

May be manual advance lever for the ignition? These also appeared on some German vehicles in the cetre of the steering wheel.

I guess it's also called "Spark Advance Lever" :



Another option is a throttle lever...
H.P.

My stepfather told me about when his motorbike, with a largish engine, once nearly kicked him off the bike. He had forgotten to set the spark advance lever to low/start so when he kicked the starter pedal the pedal kicked back rather forcefully ...

Handcranked engines are easier/safer to start with the spark lever in the low/start position. Could break your arm otherwise ...
/ Robin

My vote for that rather solid-looking lever mounted on the steering-wheel column is that it is either a hand-throttle (a common feature on older mil trucks - VERY useful for cross-country trucks when you get yourself caught in a terrain situation where you are trying to work the clutch, the brakes, AND the throttle all at once... I have this sort of rig on my old Pinzgauer 710m and it saved me from drowning when I had to back up out of a steep river-bed before "swimming over depth". ) - or it may be the lever used to open the heater-duct/vent behind the dash... (that also exists in the Pinz...)

Remember that the B-N 4500 / 500 series trucks were diesels - and they probably didn't have any "spark-advance" as found on gasoline engines of the bad old days - more likely, it had static glow-plugs and a pre-heater. So that lever may have had some start-up function? Someone who knows about older diesel set-ups might know what was involved. NOT like modern hi-perf diesels in modern trucks and cars, I am sure!

Bob