Can the fg handle gvwr off road?

[buck moberly]

Hi

I am a sculptor and I collect my materials, both wood and stone from remote locations as well as commercial dealers. I have been using a diesel dodge w250 and a locked fj62. I do not like trailers, especially off road. I want to increase the size of the stones I can bring home from one ton to three.

Will a fg handle a full load off road? On roads a stock fj62 could just handle? I want to be able load up to three tons on the bed using a 1600 lb crane.

I have my eye on a local 2005 g140

I have also looked at unimogs and bobbed m35a2's both of them suck in the city or on the highway. I have to use the truck for deliveries and earands. Or have two trucks.

 

[DzlToy]

Maybe I am missing something, but an FJ62 will not handle anywhere near three tons of anything in the cargo box. That is either 6000 pounds or 6600 pounds depending on whether you are using short tons or metric tons. It would pull a 6000 pound trailer on mild off road, but this would not be my choice at all and you said you dont like trailers anyway.

Further, a 1600 pound (capacity?) crane will not lift or move a 6000 pound stone. Since you say "stones I can bring home from one to three ton" and you are a sculptor, I assume you need large stones from which to make carvings, statues, etc.

You might pull 6000 pounds with an FJ62 on road, but I would not try that off road unless its a nice even graded dirt road. Further a trailer that can handle a 6000 pound stone is going to be pretty beefy and now you have exceeded what the FJ is really rated for and meant to do.

No experience with an FG at GVW off road, but the rear ends are pretty light, only a few thousand pounds in chassis cab form over the rear axle. So a beefy flat bed installed should leave you about 6-7k for cargo.

What type of off roading are you doing with this rig? Going out into the woods to recover large stones? Down dirt roads, bush whacking in difficult terrain?

A deuce can be had very cheap, but with NDTs and open diffs, they flat suck off road and will get stuck on a grassy slope in no time. They will haul the 6000 pounds no problem though.

How far are you driving? You could use a deuce for short trips and maximise off roading ability for much less than you would dump into an FG?

As an example if you bought a running deuce for 7k from someone like this: http://www.100dollarman.com/trucks.html, you would be miles ahead of the game. Put in a rear locker, make sure the truck is up to snuff and you are set.

If you have to drive five hours in it, a deuce is going to suck much worse than an FG, thats a no brainer.

I love land cruisers but I think that is the wrong truck for this application completely, maybe use it for errands or smaller loads in the back or on a small trailer or scouting missions, etc.

 

[4671 Hybrid]

From the way I read it, he probably hauls 1000-2000 lb stones now and wants to increase his capacity so he can cut down on back and forth trips. The 1600 lb crane won't be lifting a 6000 lb stone, it'll be used to load a number of stones until he reaches his 6,000 lb capacity.

It'd be helpful if we knew the kind of terrain you're going to encouter off-road and how much on-road driving you have to do to get to the site.

 

[buck moberly]

I was not clear enough in my question. A crane that can lift 3 tons will be mounted on the truck. The crane weights 1600 lb. I will often will be bring home one rock or wood burl or log that weighs 2-3 tons. I am adding a robotic carving system to the tools I use and will be able to work much quicker hence the move to a larger scale.

I find most of the stone I use in abandoned quarries. The road are usually OK getting to the quarry but often the last 100 feet to the stone I want can be difficult. I live in southern california and most of the places go looking for and buying material are in the southwest deserts and mountains of the USA. It's that 100 feet or so of rock crawling with a fully loaded truck I'm worried about.

The fuso fg is what I am considering for a one truck solution and a older unimog or m35a2 would be combined with a 2wd medium duty flatbed.

I use the FJ62 with a winch and a little trailer to collect 1000 lb stones and the Dodge w250 4x4 with a bed mounted one ton crane.

 

[buck moberly]

I tested drove the local fg140 today and then went on a afternoon ride around in my fj62 . I think I made a mistake in looking at the fuso as anything more than a gravel or muddy road truck. I can't imagine the fuso making it up the trails were I did not have to even get into 4wd in my fully locked LC. On to the unimog's I guess.

 

[Deleted member 9101]

I think I'd get an older duce and a half.. it might be slow, noisy, ugly and ride like crap.. but it will take your crane, rocks, and every thing else you can throw at it.

 

[4671 Hybrid]

Thanks for explaining it more, that cleared it up for me. I'm partially in agreement with the Deuce and a half although I think I'd take along a trailer for good measure. That way, you could put the stones in there and avoid a tippy CG while you're climbing out and then transfer them to the bed of the deuce.

Instead of the deuce though, and if you're looking at making long trips and time/speed is a concern, you could always get a cheap medium duty truck and 30' gooseneck. Put the W250 on the goose and unload it when you get to the "last 100 yards". Going this route, you could bring back 15K lbs of materials + the W250, and turn better gas mileage than you would have with the deuce.

Cost wise, an old Uhaul truck with the bed removed makes a great hauler and you're looking at $1500-2000. A solid gooseneck will run another $3K, and you'll be good to go for less than the price of the deuce. For deliveries and errands, continue to use the W250 and you won't have the pain of the big deuce.

Oops, I just looked on Craigslist for gooseneck examples and you guys are EXPENSIVE! Instead of going that route, you could get the same Uhaul truck, put a stakebody bed on it, and have enough payload for 13-15K lbs of cargo (I think they have 18K lb rear axles). For carrying the W250 that'll retrieve the stones, just get an 18' car trailer and away you go.

 

[bptp7270]

I tested drove the local fg140 today and then went on a afternoon ride around in my fj62 . I think I made a mistake in looking at the fuso as anything more than a gravel or muddy road truck. I can't imagine the fuso making it up the trails were I did not have to even get into 4wd in my fully locked LC. On to the unimog's I guess.

Hi Buck, Not sure what you guys call off road, but speaking from my own experience, I have an FG dual cab and I have taken it up and down some tracks in my state and have never found it wanting. Although hampered a little because of its physical size and the 3300mm wheelbase, it will go most places my old FJ62 wagon will go and do it carrying a couple of ton in the tray. I have had two of these trucks after replacing a Defender dual cab lwb and although not as capable as those long travel coils, it will carry a heap more in the tray. Freinds are still astounded (and a little scared) if they come for a ride in the front seat. Things that would improve it off road would be more flex in the springs and more agressive tyres. Just my experience anayway.
Good luck in your choice.

ps: What is a duce? Not a playing card I'm guessing.

 

[bptp7270]

That's the main reason they traded Jamal Crawford because he shot too much and jacked up way too many shots.

Sorry, dont get it ?

 

[broken1]

It's spam, note the links in the sig block...

 

[DzlToy]

Deuce = Deuce and a half = 2.5 ton US Military truck from WW2 through Vietnam and still in limited use today.

M35 is a common variant, Top Loading Rockwell axles with 6x6 configuration. Lots of rock crawlers and mudders want the axles because they are pretty strong and can be built to be unbreakable in all but the most insane circumstances.

Many of the engines are multi-fuel models and will literally run on almost anything flammable. They can be had from $500 to $25,000 dep on condition, restoration, etc.

 

[dhackney]

We've got a 2007 FG. With that generation of the FG chassis, the stock axle capacities are 5,730 lbs / 9,480 (F/R). The cab & chassis weigh 5,842 (stock). That leaves you with 8,208 payload capacity.

The chassis is capable of carrying more than that, but the frame is only 4.5mm. You'll eventually have frame issues if you are overweight all the time. If you take it easy when you're fully loaded you'll probably be OK for what you're doing.

You can get replacement rear frame rails that are more than 2x stronger for <$2k if you interested in doing that type of modification. It would be a pretty straightforward job on a bare chassis.

For your use, ground clearance will be your biggest challenge with the stock wheels and tires. If you search here you will find multiple examples of mounting larger diameter wheels & tires on the FG chassis. That will give you some extra height, but it will not get you 24" of ground clearance under the transfer case.

The FG is actually very capable off-road, even with an open front axle. It will do a lot more than you'd expect for what is designed as a construction site delivery / field service type vehicle.

There are some guys in Australia who are testing a locker front diff for it, if you choose to pursue the FG and want/need that capability.

Based on my experience, the truck would do everything you need except you'll need to address ground clearance for that last 100' of rock crawling.

If it was for a use other than sculpture/display, I'd suggest dragging out the material with a winch, but that would scar up the material.

 

[whatcharterboat]

dhackney

We've got a 2007 FG. With that generation of the FG chassis, the stock axle capacities are 5,730 lbs / 9,480 (F/R). The cab & chassis weigh 5,842 (stock). That leaves you with 8,208 payload capacity.

The chassis is capable of carrying more than that, but the frame is only 4.5mm. You'll eventually have frame issues if you are overweight all the time. If you take it easy when you're fully loaded you'll probably be OK for what you're doing.

You can get replacement rear frame rails that are more than 2x stronger for <$2k if you interested in doing that type of modification. It would be a pretty straightforward job on a bare chassis.

For your use, ground clearance will be your biggest challenge with the stock wheels and tires. If you search here you will find multiple examples of mounting larger diameter wheels & tires on the FG chassis. That will give you some extra height, but it will not get you 24" of ground clearance under the transfer case.

The FG is actually very capable off-road, even with an open front axle. It will do a lot more than you'd expect for what is designed as a construction site delivery / field service type vehicle.

There are some guys in Australia who are testing a locker front diff for it, if you choose to pursue the FG and want/need that capability.

Based on my experience, the truck would do everything you need except you'll need to address ground clearance for that last 100' of rock crawling.

If it was for a use other than sculpture/display, I'd suggest dragging out the material with a winch, but that would scar up the material.

Hey Doug,

Long time...........hope you and Steph are doing OK. You betta come down to do Cape York sometime, heh?

My opinion only.........the FG is fine at full GVM. I know alot of people that haven't driven them struggle with the idea but they definitely work with 3 ton on the back and even more in some cases. I once carted 4 ton of building materials , mainly gyprock sheet and framing timber up to the lighthouse at Double Island and had to go through some embarrassingly deep soft sand and lots of it and then there was the steep climb over the headland to finish.......no problem. Well it never got bogged but it was basically sitting on the bump stops the whole way......just think how many Landcruisers would it have taken to cart that load? A lot of conventional 4wd's were going down in the soft stuff that day but possibly due to driver inexperience. BTW this was only an old non-turbo FG637 too.


Another time we took a FG 649 motorhome that was loaded 500kg over max GVM up a really steep and loose climb....how steep and loose? well a friends Hilux (Tacoma) with 35" tyres and a 4" lift couldn't get up behind us. He just spun. We were right down to low first but again no problem. If it had of stopped us too I think using the brakes heading down backwards may have been a bit exciting but again it didn't come to that. If it's loose a heavy load is a plus. Sure mud is a different story.

Most FG buses here in Oz run at full GVM......they do rainforest and desert tours, work loose, muddy, rocky mine sites, etc. again no problem. Oh and there are literally hundreds of FG firetrucks here.....they are all well above max GVM when they fill the water tank. They keep buying them for offroad work so.......

Single wheels make a huge difference.........plenty of other tricks too but wheels are the single best mod............BTW our own front diff lock seems to have taken forever but we should be finished testing by the end of August.

 

[dhackney]

Long time...........hope you and Steph are doing OK. You betta come down to do Cape York sometime, heh?

John, We're doing great. Thanks for asking. Been heads-down working on other things since we got back to the states. Will be focusing on different things shortly, which may include coming your way.

We were right down to low first but again no problem.

That is a strong aspect of the FG chassis. 1st gear, low range, 4x4 is 64.2:1.

If it had of stopped us too I think using the brakes heading down backwards may have been a bit exciting but again it didn't come to that.

Another important aspect of the FG, but this time a not-so-strong point. The brakes suck. On the road you just use the engine brake exclusively, wet brakes just to hold in place, etc. The brakes are not strong in reverse...

our own front diff lock has seems to have taken forever but should be finished testing by the end of August.

That's big news. Look forward to seeing that get to general availability.

 

[dhackney]

Here's what an FG looks like with a knuckle boom:

Listing is here: http://www.truckpaper.com/listingsdetail/detail.aspx?OHID=2957787&



Description: Jabco Knuckle Boom Model V9063S

I couldn't find that model on the Jabco web site, so I don't know the capacity.

The "3S" denotes that it has 3 hydraulic extension sections (extensions like a stick/boom crane).

The truck has 22k miles and they are asking $48k. You could probably sell the service body with its welder, etc. and put a dump box behind the boom.

For those who are not hunting rocks, you could use the boom to lift your big GS1150/1200 on and off the truck and sleep in a tent or pull a trailer.