Help me pick my Mog

3

355spider

Member
Hey guys and gals, I would really like some expert advice on which mog to choose. My current expedition vehicle is a decked out FJ Cruiser with a lift, mud tires, bumper, winch, roof basket, trailer hitch basket, fridge, on board air, hi lo, tool box, scuba mod, dual batteries, jump seat in 3rd row, dogs. Of course this is camping style expedtions for short periods of time with my wife and 3 kids. It's been fun but with 3 kids and a 4th one planned(we're practicing) it's getting a bit cramped in the FJ. I was going to get a New land cruiser but I have been lurking here for some time admiring the mogs and the adventures that I have just decided to go for it and get me a mog. So now the real work and planning begins.
I guess what i'll do is give my requirements and let you guys point me in the right direction. I need a mog that will do 60, quietly(this is relative, I have an FJ with mud tires) and comfortably. I don't really know the sizes of all the mogs so I may need help there. I'm thinking we will have a camper built that will have a double bed in the back that raises and lowers like I saw on another build with maybe a pop up top that raises with the bed so we can have two double beds in the rear. Our kids are very young so they like to sleep together still. Maybe we will have the kitchen table make out to a bed also so it can sleep all of us. What size camper do you guys suggest? I guess that will help determine the size/model of the Mog we will need. I would love to have a double/king cab like the Doka but they are so rare I doubt I will find one and seeing as how it will shorten the camper size I don't think it will work. We are used to pretty small spaces. We routinely hang out on our 30ft Sea Ray cabin cruiser which is very small on the inside. We even have a couple of friends that come along with the 5 of us. Of course I would like on that can go as many places as possible and I do understand the tradeoffs between size and manueverablility.
My last concern is driving long distances in something harsh. I don't like it much at all. People say you can make an older one quiet with sound deadening. Can you really? Anyone done it successfully. I assume you can put modern air seats in it and fast axles to cruise at 60. I am thinking I will need a U500 but I could be wrong. I'd hate to buy an older one and find out otherwise though. I can afford a used 500 if I have to. I would like CTIS, and an automatic. Of course i'd like to spend as little as possible to do the job. Ok enough rambling. Thanks in advance for any help you guys can give.
 
dzzz

dzzz

™
It's very unlikely with 3 kids you'll end up with a mog camper.
The choice in the U.S. is a U500 or 25+ year old mogs.
Doka mogs don't have enough room behind the cab for a family camper. U500 Dokas are not one integrated cab, but rather two spaces with a window opening between.

http://www.unimog.net/sales/u500doka/
 
3

355spider

Member
A separate space I could put my kids in, with a window I could close! Sounds like heaven. Could I lengthen the frame on a doka? A standard u500 would work wouldn't it. The kids can always ride in the camper. I figure kids ride the bus everyday without seatbelts so really what's the difference.
 
Chas Stricker

Chas Stricker

Adventurer
Howdy Spider,
I'd look back at some of the topics of "what's the best Unimog?" and read what folks say. Lots of possibilities. I'd say short camper modern on a SBU Doka cab. We all have opinions of what works best. Charlie has a Unicat camper on a U500 single cab. He's on the list and is a fountain of knowledge. Look and read ....... a bunch, before buying and building.
Good luck,
Chas
 
G

grizzlyj

Tea pot tester
Like this family

http://www.opensens.com/

There is, I think, only one Mog suitable tyre that is speed rated past 55mph. The standard 55mph ones are about £1000 each new in the UK (905 plus vat in Costco for instance), although unused second hand ones come up sometimes. Wether the faster ones do too though?

You have to work around the above site a bit, and its in French, but their philosophy was live outside, sleep inside so a standard DOKA on a 2150L38 chassis, and the small camper that produced, was OK. The bed on a U4000 3.8 wheelbase DOKA is 3.1m long, and would be just under 2.3 wide, I think a U500 would be similar? So a 1.4m wide double bed leaves 1.7m plus whatever overhang you feel you can add without compromising the reason for having a Mog, for kitchen, shower, sitting space, 5 peoples stuff, spares, one or two spare tyres, fluids and three more beds!

Will your travels take you places that the kids can't play outside because of the weather? If you stretched it will you limit where it will fit, and you can go?

Any Man truck chassis will give you more camper space per vehicle foot because it doesn't have a bonnet (hood).

Unicats and Action Mobiles websites show what interior space is available with many different layouts with different chassis types, giving you an idea of what you could end up with. Family sized campers seem to more often be bigger Man trucks.

This is a link is for a big Mog, but only has a 3 seat cab, and can only squeeze three seats into the camper layout, even with a popping roof!

http://www.unicat.net/en/info/GEX47HD-UnimogU2450L38.html

http://www.unicat.net/en/index2-Programm.html for layouts

http://www.actionmobil.at/page5/page5.html layouts also


If I needed to comfortably accomodate 5 people for a year plus trip I'd go for a Man, on the basis that a Mog is very nice, but you pay so much for the last tenth of off road ability which you immediately lose again with a big camper and a long chassis and overhang. And a Man can have soooooo many more horsepower :)

(Despite the fact that I love my U1700 camper for the wife and me :) )

Jason
 
C

charlieaarons

Explorer
grizzlyj said:
There is, I think, only one Mog suitable tyre that is speed rated past 55mph. The standard 55mph ones are about £1000 each new in the UK (905 plus vat in Costco for instance), although unused second hand ones come up sometimes. Wether the faster ones do too though?
Click to expand...

http://www.xm381.com/xm381/TMs_files/Michelin SAA.pdf

The author of this document told me (at Eurosatory 2010 in Paris) that the only difference between the 55 and 70mph versions of the 395/85R20 XZL was the writing on the sidewalls.

Charlie
 
dzzz

dzzz

™
I guess some of the fast axle SBUs can go 60mph, but that may be near redline on flat ground. And as we've discussed elsewhere that's going to take maybe ~200hp plus.
I don't get the impression that people cruising at 55-60mph worry about 55 mph rated tires, especially if way under the weight rating. Much more risk is probably taken by running fast at low air pressure.
As far as camper size, a big SBU doka like the 2450 "dinohunter" had a camper that was about 8 feet long, I believe. That's why couples have mog campers, and families have RV's and trailers.
A double cab Tundra or F250 pulling a high clearance trailer can go more places than something like Ecoroamer. A some point designing to cram everyone into a single 4x4 vehicle has no benefit.
 
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