Need help on this!

[bwhite829]

Hey all, i've been lurking here and there for a year and had a few threads regarding the "How to fund an expedition lifestyle", so here's a quick bio:

My name is Brian and i'm in Northwest Florida. I am dating a wonderful woman and will be proposing in two weeks. Right now I work at a credit union, but am trying to get accepted to nursing school where i will start doing travel nursing ASAP. Me and my soon to be fiancé and wife are going to be doing the travel nursing/expedition lifestyle for a few yrs before we start a family. I was looking into sportsmobiles and earthroamers, then was wondering what options there are. Unimogs look sweet, but i found much more M35A2 or Deuce and a Half's online, which also makes me think the parts are more available...and they also seem to be cheaper. One thing that I'm worried about is the top speed. I read in a forum earlier today that a guy got significant speed increase(70mph max, 55-60 cruising speed) just by upgrading to a more modern tire. I was wondering if that plus an engine swap is okay, or if an engine swap is even doable? I have no interest in the multifuel capability, but understand that the engines in these things will run forever. I have no experience with engines, other than reparing my old 4cyl honda accord, but have alot of friends who know substantial things about cars even a friend who went to school for diesel repair, and I know that if I got one of these things, they'd be all over helping me out with it. Also, if I were to do a swap, would the gas mileage get better or worse?

Second worry: camper part. I have only found a couple detailed builds online about adding a camper. I was wondering what all is involved w/ that, and how much work/money would be involved in this. Again I don't have any experience, but have a friend who's an electrician and I'm a quick learner w/ a mechanical mind, so it shouldn't be hard at all for me to learn.

Finally: I will be towing a vehicle, probably a jeep scrambler that I will also be building from scratch. My understanding about the deuce's engine is that the high torque makes it GREAT for towing. I was wondering if with the standard engine, would cross-country and transcontinental trips(I've got friends in Quebec, and will probably make several trips up to Quebec to see them, as well as trips in mexico for some deep sea fishing) be feasible? The second vehicle would basically be a DD when I'm on assignments in the travel nursing deal, as well as give me a peace of mind in expeditions to have 2 vehicles in emergencies as well as serve as a "scout" as I've heard it called. I will also probably be taking friends(up to 3-5) extra for a total of about 4-6 people on some of the trips, so the extra vehicle would come in handy there as well.

It'll be a year or so before I get started. Both me and the woman want to get our debt down to 0 and get some money stashed away for emergencies before we start living the dream.


As I said, I have NO experience, so I'm looking forward to the experience of building/modding a vehicle like this, and building a jeep from scratch just as much as the trips that they will serve me on. It seems like building my own out of an old deuce and a half would be ALOT cheaper than an earthroamer(smallest one being $110k base) and sportsmobile(cheapest I've seen for a decent one being around $45k), and I've seen a thread of a guy doing it all with a $15k budget. It'd also be ALOT more fun and you can have the bragging rights of saying YOU did it.

Anybody have any input about anything, from nursing or travel nursing, to vehicle choice, or anything else that I've talked about, please let me know! From what I've seen you guys know what you are talking about and I look forward to learning from the pros!
:victory::victory::victory::victory::wings::wings::wings::wings:

 

[bwhite829]

Oh, and what does it mean to BOB one? I've seen it everywhere, but don't have a clue what it means.

 

[mikeprince]

One thing that I'm worried about is the top speed.
...
Also, if I were to do a swap, would the gas mileage get better or worse?

If you're worried about top speed and mileage then neither the more cost effective/older Unimogs nor the Deuce is a good fit.

A passenger van based rig is not very cool, but would probably be safer, more comfortable, get better mileage, have great parts availability, and good resale.

I have a 404 Unimog and the best description I heard was that it's a fast tractor: accepting that definition I am happy with it and constrain myself to slowly cruising around town. I could not imagine a road trip with that thing.

For road trips I have an 80 series Landcruiser to carry my wife, 2 kids, and 2 grandparents in leather wrapper, air-conditioned, ABS/airbag safe comfort. An older Unimog (or Deuce) is just a completely different class of vehicle.

Sorry to try to spin you in another direction, but I'd like you to be happy with whatever you end up with

 

[Chas Stricker]

Howdy Brian,
I'd have to agree with Mike about finding another rig. I love mine for my family of 4-5, but, when we go camping I'm dragging my trailer. Once there my mog is the offroad toy....unless I take the quad too. I travel at 60mph and much slower in the mountains. I've done longer trips from here to Canada and such. billcaid.com has various trips on his site with his Unimog and a Alaskan Camper. Also Ben, who is on this site, has a write up about his travels in the same style......and yes that is stylin'.
Chas

 

[Hafwit]

Oh, and what does it mean to BOB one? I've seen it everywhere, but don't have a clue what it means.

I believe that is generally a term used when an axle from a 6 wheel/3 axle vehicle is removed to make it a beefy 4 wheel/2 axle vehicle.

Cheers,
Greg

 

[bwhite829]

Howdy Brian,
I'd have to agree with Mike about finding another rig. I love mine for my family of 4-5, but, when we go camping I'm dragging my trailer. Once there my mog is the offroad toy....unless I take the quad too. I travel at 60mph and much slower in the mountains. I've done longer trips from here to Canada and such. billcaid.com has various trips on his site with his Unimog and a Alaskan Camper. Also Ben, who is on this site, has a write up about his travels in the same style......and yes that is stylin'.
Chas

My only thing is i talked to the woman and showed her the sportsmobiles. she's not big on the idea of extended trips w/ those. at least w/ the deuce you can build a shell and fix it how you want it. i've got some ideas that i've been working on today. Do you mean you take the mog as the highway vehicle, or you drive the mog? i have no problem w/ driving slower, it'd give me a chance to take in the sights and just relax. i personally love road trips and believe that getting there is half the fun. What about those on the road too? is it good ettiquette to drive that slow on an interstate or do you guys take the backroads and less popular highways? Like i said the bigger ride would be better since alot of our trips will be w/ friends, AND we will be starting a family very soon, and I can see me modifying a deuce to be more spacious for 3-4 rather than a sportsmobile or roamer?

i still was wondering about the parts availability and prices of a mog vs a deuce....like i said, i can't find too many on ebay...and there are loads of the m35's on ebay.

 

[Chas Stricker]

My Unimog is my tow vehicle. I drag my travel trailer with it. My family of 4 is in the Unimog while we travel. Once at a camping location we set up the trailer and use the Unimog for local and off road travels. I do get passed, but, at 60mph with the travel trailer I'm not impeading traffic....mostly. When we camp in California we're only supposed to be going 55 mph with the travel trailer max. "Mog Speed" is the best speed for travel and sight seeing.
Chas

 

[bwhite829]

that was my main concern. i'm really set on either/or over the sportsmobile, earthroamer or other options after weighing the positives and negatives of each, as is the woman, after seeing a picture of the deuce. i haven't shown her a mog yet. i'm still considering/thinking about ways to improve the top speed by a little bit, a boost of 10-15 mph to bump cruising speed up to 55-60 would suffice. thank you for your advice about the sportsmobile or other options. i'll take head to what you said. on top of all that, the fact that i could say that I built the camper out of a truck that proudly served our country *insert witty and sentimental patriotic jargon here * would be awesome bragging rights(I'm a man, so bragging rights will weigh heavily on my decision )"

 

[rhodos]

Just to throw in my 2 (Euro)cent, if you dont nead/use the superb offroad capability of a Mog it is the wrong vehicle for your plans (except you want a "cool" rig). We own a 417 Unimog which we modified a lot to convert him to a reasonable long distance camper and did lot of trips from east Europe, Africa and a 9 month trip from Canada down to Central America and back (www.eifelbaer.de.vu there are infos on the 417 too), but beside the on road sections we did a lot of offroading and going to very remote places where we needed the offroad capability of a Mog.

For a while we owned an old 404 Unimog camper and we did some vacation with him in the US southwest but we sold it because a 404 is not something you like to do long distance travels with. A modern SBU Doka Mog would make good and comfortable camper but than we talk of $$$$$$ - so unless you need the "go anywhere" option my advice would be either a big 4x4 van (maybee with a bit of lift etc.) or something like a F350 double cab with a removable camper box (these boxes could be build by yourself from sandwich panels and trimmed to your needs) - behind both types of vehicles you could tow a little Suzuki.

hth, Werner

 

[bwhite829]

We are both very interested in the offroad options. I pearsonally have read of white rim and the other stuff out west and have heard of the arizona trail(i think is what it is) that is very remote. I will be wanting to go out as deep as I can fairly often(at least 25-30% of the use will be offroad), about 25-30% onroad, and the remaineder would be liveaboard.

 

[Allroader]

Hi There,
Have not been here for a couple days and now many new Post.
We where in the simular situation as you. We really liked the Look of the Mog & 4x4 Vans. We pretty muched kicked the Van very quick, since we want to live aboard for a couple years with 2 Adults, 2 Kids & a Dog. Was just a little to small, for us. So we started speaking to many Owners of Mogs and Trucks we learned many new things.
The 2 main questions we had where:
Traveling Speed and Offroad worthy (was the question for the Truck).
Well the Mog is Offroad worthy, no question about that. The Truck, we viewed many Pics, Videos & interviewed Owners. After seeing all sorts of Truck running in the Dessert up & down the Dunes nexted to Mogs, our choice was made. For the record the Mogs are of course even more offroad worthy, just do you really need it? The other thing against the Mogs was, a lot of Bells and whistle's (which are nice) but some will affect or even ground the Mog if they stop working. Which could cause for a huge problem depending where you are.
On the other Hand, in the USA you can order a new Mog, but not a MB Truck. If you are looking to Import a used Mog/Truck from Europe, their are many diffrent choices that fall into the 25+ Year's

Traveling Speeds, well Mog or Truck coming from the militäry are pretty much slow. Mostly top speed around 80-90 km. Ones from the privat market are mostly a little better and of course the ones (like Fire Dept.) have the fast Axels, but extremly rare to find. :Wow1:
Buying new, then you of couse don't have that problem. Just order the Quick ones.
To give you a Idea. Our Truck has the quick Axels, 366A Engine, a 5 Speed and large tires (385/65 22,5), that gives us a Top Speed of 117km. there are still some upgrades that we can perform. Tweak the engine safly 80-100HP (Intercooler, tweak the Pump, ...) or change the Trans to a 6 Speed (or 6 Split) with a longer last gear (that alone would give us a 10% Boost in Topend).
So we could get him flying past the 130, 135, ...+ km :Wow1:
Of course you can get a Mog to do the same. Just the Question is what do you really want. We where looking to do a honest 90km and being able to do 115km Topend. Since we have reached that from the Start, we'll have to see how he does when everything is onboard. But I think it will be more like, if something offers itself for a good Price we'll be going to upgrade.

The choice is really is a personal choice what you want. Just have seen a 4x4 Freightliner for sale (in Germany), which might be easier to get in the US. The main thing is to go out and travel. At least that is the way it is for us. So we are doing our rough buildt in about 6-7 weeks and then going to travel. Of course some changes will come over time.

Now we wish you all a Happy Easter

Mike

 

[bwhite829]

i don't know how km converts to mph, but 55-65 would be a good cruising speed for me in the truck.

 

[desertrover]

Mogs are great trucks, as are the duece and a half's. However, they are what they are. The duece has been phased out in active military use for heavier, faster, more powerful trucks. Likewise, the more economical mogs have been replaced in military duty by much more expensive modern mogs as well as other heavy trucks. I own a 404 Unimog, which is a wonderful off road truck that will easily carry a ton and a half over terrain that will stop most modified vehicles. What it is not, is a highway machine. A mog might have a cruising speed of 50-55, but that is only on the flattest of roads without a headwind. Also, the engine will be around 4000 rpm. Conversation without yelling is impossible at speed in my softtop. A 404 is also capable of detecting a very slight grade not immediately obvious to the eye. It will then reward you by slowing down until you are forced to downshift. If the road is steep enough, the speed is reduced to a crawl, and you may find yourself doing 15mph with the engine still screaming in the 4k range. In my opinion, trying to make an old mog faster is just asking for headaches and a drained wallet. Moggers just learn to take it slow and enjoy the scenery!
-CJ

 

[Allroader]

Here some figures:

80kmh = 49.7mph

90kmh = 55.92mph

110kmh = 68.35mph

117kmh = 72.7mph


1mph = 1,61kmh



My statement regarding the Mogs was based on the 1300, 1500, 1550, 1850, .... Series. Not the Older 404, 416 ones.

Mike

 

[bwhite829]

Update: considering there's a couple things i want(smooth ride since i'll be w/ the fam and friends alot, extended cab options, road worthy vehicle, etc.) i think i've decided on a longbed(flatbed if i can find one at a good price) f350 or f450. i think that'll give me sufficient towing capacity for a jeep or maybe 8x10 or 8x12 cargo trailer. What I want to do is get a overcab camper, use the extra space where the bed walls would be as storage or a custom water or fuel tank, and underneath the overcab compartment use the free space to mount a generator and compressor(i've heard of somebody doing this and calling it a small "garage" for their bikes)


Edit: I see some campers have built in generators. I think the best route might just be a f350 or f450 and just drop in a good camper w/ a built in generator? Parts shouldn't be a problem w/ those compared to either of the other 2 choices, and the towing capacity of those is good, so I'm guessing a full sized 4x4 pickup with comparable tires would be a better choice than a mog or deuce. I might get a bobbed deuce just for fun too though