quickdraw81
New member
Hey Everyone-
One of those lurkers here finally peeking his head out. I could use the group's knowledge on a project I'm about to undertake with a mog. Years ago, on one of my very first long-distance overlanding trips, I met this retired couple with a single-cab unimog setup for expedition and fell in love. I know there are other, capable options in North America but the unimog has buried itself into my mind now. Go figure... Same thing happened with the 80-series and she's been the object of my affection for years now... the kids have nicknamed her the 'goat'.
We've outgrown the 80 for longer trips with the crew I'm trying to haul- me (6'4"), my girlfriend, and my two kids (11 and 13 and growing too fast). Oh, and there's a pack of dogs too. It's an unbelievable rig, super durable and go anywhere (which is a big factor for me). I've rebuilt everything at this point, upgraded the camping setup, and built her to last. I do plan to hang onto her for two-person, shorter trips which frees up the mog to be a real distance platform for my crew or the occasional visitor. Worth noting, I've built an s30 Datsun from scratch and done most of the mechanical work on the 80 (so reasonably handy) but I'm limited with electronics and engine repair. And with the mog, frankly, I'm a little burnt out on something like a full-build and don't have the time right now to do it myself anyway.
I've spent the last couple years poking around mogs and this past month really digging in, educating myself and making a plan. The goal is to have a vehicle for both medium and long-term travel plans. Initially, I suspect we'll do some week-or-two trips like we do with the goat. I still work and will for the next 6-8 years but I can work remotely and I'm thinking sneaking off for the summers while the kids are on break (with some starlink approach) would be the next evolution. Then after retirement and the kids being off on their own want to really, really just take off... make the arctic circle run, south america, etc... which would most often be two of us and dogs.
So, I want a doka (I think) unimog. Generally, pretty focused on a quality build with few home-like luxuries but I'm not wild about spending 500K-1M for a unicat-style rig. Trying to stay under 300K or less but focused on getting an excellent base truck/camper in place while adding/tweaking the easier bolt-ons later and as we learn. Happy to do some grunt work on making some things happen to offset cost if there are ways to... I travel to Europe a couple times a year and sourcing something from there myself is a possibility. It seems finding a used setup would probably be the most cost effective (open to any unlisted options) but looking back through vehicles sold here and elsewhere it'll be hard to find something like what I would like... methinks. Also, probably worth sharing that I have an irrational cool-factor need. Hence the unimog.
So, here's my current wishlist:
Truck Target:
My (pretty early) intent would be to convert the rear of the doka cab for dual use... seats for driving, beds for sleeping. This will take some pressure off of trying to get a huge box with multiple beds. Seems you can get a well-built, empty camper box from Total Composites, Boxmanufaktur and others for 15K-35Kish. Fully built out... well, it seems that as high as you want to go. This is one of the areas I'm most confused. I'm sure there are many reasons why they get so expensive but I just toured a seemingly very high-quality OEV HBE that is priced at 65K for an 6.5-8 foot box. It no doubt does not have some of the things you'd want for a full expedition rig (e.g. full shower) but I don't understand how you go from that to, as best I can find, 200K for 3 more feet in something like an entry level Bliss box.
I know Bliss has gone up almost 2x in the last 3-5 years... is there just a hole in the market for quality 100K boxes with the price evolution there? Or are there good reasons for the additional cost?
Pretty early on digging in here but a few other early questions:
I've found lots of sources here in the states and abroad for sourcing a vehicle - Expedition Import (Scott's great!), Atkinson Vos (Paul's great!), Couch Off-road (rather pricey relative to others...still digging in) and many other marketplace sites (mobile.de, etc.)
I haven't had as much luck with the expedition boxes. Or at least finding the high bang for buck scenario I mentioned. Any ideas here would be much appreciated.
Anywho... looking forward to the long journeys ahead!
-Tanner
One of those lurkers here finally peeking his head out. I could use the group's knowledge on a project I'm about to undertake with a mog. Years ago, on one of my very first long-distance overlanding trips, I met this retired couple with a single-cab unimog setup for expedition and fell in love. I know there are other, capable options in North America but the unimog has buried itself into my mind now. Go figure... Same thing happened with the 80-series and she's been the object of my affection for years now... the kids have nicknamed her the 'goat'.
We've outgrown the 80 for longer trips with the crew I'm trying to haul- me (6'4"), my girlfriend, and my two kids (11 and 13 and growing too fast). Oh, and there's a pack of dogs too. It's an unbelievable rig, super durable and go anywhere (which is a big factor for me). I've rebuilt everything at this point, upgraded the camping setup, and built her to last. I do plan to hang onto her for two-person, shorter trips which frees up the mog to be a real distance platform for my crew or the occasional visitor. Worth noting, I've built an s30 Datsun from scratch and done most of the mechanical work on the 80 (so reasonably handy) but I'm limited with electronics and engine repair. And with the mog, frankly, I'm a little burnt out on something like a full-build and don't have the time right now to do it myself anyway.
I've spent the last couple years poking around mogs and this past month really digging in, educating myself and making a plan. The goal is to have a vehicle for both medium and long-term travel plans. Initially, I suspect we'll do some week-or-two trips like we do with the goat. I still work and will for the next 6-8 years but I can work remotely and I'm thinking sneaking off for the summers while the kids are on break (with some starlink approach) would be the next evolution. Then after retirement and the kids being off on their own want to really, really just take off... make the arctic circle run, south america, etc... which would most often be two of us and dogs.
So, I want a doka (I think) unimog. Generally, pretty focused on a quality build with few home-like luxuries but I'm not wild about spending 500K-1M for a unicat-style rig. Trying to stay under 300K or less but focused on getting an excellent base truck/camper in place while adding/tweaking the easier bolt-ons later and as we learn. Happy to do some grunt work on making some things happen to offset cost if there are ways to... I travel to Europe a couple times a year and sourcing something from there myself is a possibility. It seems finding a used setup would probably be the most cost effective (open to any unlisted options) but looking back through vehicles sold here and elsewhere it'll be hard to find something like what I would like... methinks. Also, probably worth sharing that I have an irrational cool-factor need. Hence the unimog.
So, here's my current wishlist:
Truck Target:
- Unimog SBU in a long chassis (1550L,1700L, 2150L, 2450L, LF8, etc. ). The 1300Ls are the most abundant but do not seem to be large enough.
- 25 years or older but ideally a mid-90s truck
- If importing, it needs to be a camper/crane/fire truck/etc to get the 2.5% and not 25% treatment
- 3700 - 3850MM wheelbase
- OM366LA or OM366A
- CTIS... (my least favorite thing camping is airing up and down... well, mostly up)
- AC... yes, please.
- Sound deadening galore!
- There are a number of other things that seem secondary right now (winches, tree cage/roofrack, dual fuel tanks, etc)
Any exceptions to the 25-year rule? i.e. substantially similar u500 since freightliner sold themNothing that's compelling or worth itAre there any drivetrain things I should know or be targeting (transmission, axle setup, etc)?UG/100- Overdrive / fast axles? / Fast hubs / superfast axles... Very confused on the different options. What's the best most-cost effective way to get to a decent highway speed?
Do I need a working group transmission? Sounds very cool but unnecessaryer..... very cool and very necessaryEngine brake- I'm in Colorado and do plenty of mountain driving. My gut is this is necessary (had brakes fail once, no bueno) but is that true?Seems standard? and a mustRight power target? Climbing mountains both off-road and at freeway speeds will be common.250 minimum?- What's the right balance between small, nimble and big enough for my needs? i.e. Do I go with a low-roof option and a lift-top camper? Track width of the vehicle... anything to consider there?
- What's an ideal height for getting into all or most of the places I'm likely to travel? e.g. Going to the Sun in Glacier NP has an 11' height limit.
I cannot find the cab length on a standard vs. doka SBU cab. Anyone have those handy?2.1 and 3.2M- Do I want the tall cab height? Does it make that much of a difference? worth the height trade-off?
My (pretty early) intent would be to convert the rear of the doka cab for dual use... seats for driving, beds for sleeping. This will take some pressure off of trying to get a huge box with multiple beds. Seems you can get a well-built, empty camper box from Total Composites, Boxmanufaktur and others for 15K-35Kish. Fully built out... well, it seems that as high as you want to go. This is one of the areas I'm most confused. I'm sure there are many reasons why they get so expensive but I just toured a seemingly very high-quality OEV HBE that is priced at 65K for an 6.5-8 foot box. It no doubt does not have some of the things you'd want for a full expedition rig (e.g. full shower) but I don't understand how you go from that to, as best I can find, 200K for 3 more feet in something like an entry level Bliss box.
I know Bliss has gone up almost 2x in the last 3-5 years... is there just a hole in the market for quality 100K boxes with the price evolution there? Or are there good reasons for the additional cost?
Pretty early on digging in here but a few other early questions:
- Is it worth the brain damage to buy an empty expedition box and build it myself (acknowledging my very limited electronic skill-set)?
- Cab-to-camper passthrough. How big can these get?
- Can people ride in the box while driving?
- Can people ride in a lift-top box while driving?
- What's the largest expedition box I can get on a doka cab? Which truck maximizes this?
- How do people wash clothes?
I've found lots of sources here in the states and abroad for sourcing a vehicle - Expedition Import (Scott's great!), Atkinson Vos (Paul's great!), Couch Off-road (rather pricey relative to others...still digging in) and many other marketplace sites (mobile.de, etc.)
I haven't had as much luck with the expedition boxes. Or at least finding the high bang for buck scenario I mentioned. Any ideas here would be much appreciated.
Anywho... looking forward to the long journeys ahead!
-Tanner
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