1124 AF Double Cab

Neil

Observer
Toby

I think you should consider the Sound advice given by Geo.Lander and Joe917. Nearly every traveller I have met on the road has had huge issues with sourcing 20 Inch tyres. They simply dont exist in many countries.

I am aware of a traveller in a 1017 like mine that drove over 300 km from within Aregentina to a supplier in Chile who claimed he had two. Upon arrival they only had one and I could have bought three 22.5 tyres for the price of that one .

Getting them shipped out is relatively easy. Getting them out of customs would probably be an absolute nightmare. You could easily ( and this is common ) find that you have to leave the country because your visa has run out having paid huge amounts of money and the items still haven't cleared customs.

Items such as tyres will have to arrive with loads of paperwork showing that they comply with the local laws and customs .

My experience is that these departments wont try too hard to help you out. If there is a problem, maybe one form missing or incorrect , then they will simply put it in the too difficult box and deal with the next customer.

An example of how awkward and tough it can be would be , I shipped one credit card from the UK via DHL to a hotel in Ecuador. I paid £75 in the UK for a door to door service that guaranteed no extra charges and a no problem customs clearance. It arrived in Ecuador on day 4. On day 86 ( 4 days before my visa ran out ) after literally dozens of Phone calls and another $120 USD in extra charges I got it. Ecuador is a very civilised country . I cannot imagine the grief of trying to get a set of tyres through customs. I would imagine the charges would be far in excess of the cost of the tyres.

There is a lot said for buying the common sizes .

I fear you might be making you decision based on less that 0.5 % of your journey , when you need to air down. As Joe says you can air down 22.5 . I have successfully run mine at 1.5 bar. I doubt you can get much lower on the 20 inch rims, although I do accept that the tyre bede and rim on the 20 inch ones lend themselves better to airing down.

Buying 6 tyres and rims is a very expensive outlay, make sure you have considered all your options .

Good luck and can we have a few photos of you truck .

Cheers

Neil
 
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Toby3

Member
Doh! Back to being conflicted. Thanks for all the advice Neil, Geo.Lander and Joe917. Agree its quite a bit of money and reasonable lead time so trying to make the right decision. Still conflicted between the fact the commercial manufacturers, ie Unicat, Action mobil, Blocklet etc all seem to go with 20inch rims and wanting the offroading capability. Not fussed about looks, both options look fine. Recognise the point that a lot of the driving may be on road. Trade off between potentially being caught by availability versus limitations off road

Haven't had any new photos yet, truck is due to get chassis extension, overhaul, tanks, cab painted etc through March so hoping that will feel like its really progressing. Orders placed for all the Outbound windows and panels should be ordered soon. Working on design for fold down bunk bed and some other bits inside so its coming together
 

Joe917

Explorer
The reality of overland travel is unless you plan to cross miles of trackless desert 20" tires are not needed. If you are really worried push the width of the 22.5 tires to 395s (425s might even be approved for the 1117). Then look at tire treads for logging and construction.
 

mog

Kodiak Buckaroo
Still conflicted between the fact the commercial manufacturers, ie Unicat, Action mobil, Blocklet etc all seem to go with 20inch rims and wanting the offroading capability.

20" rims are certainly the 'cool' offroad rim size, as you can air down lower and get aggressive XZLs etc. And certainly, anyone spending big bucks with those manufacturers would expect 20" as that is somewhat the standard on BIG expo trucks. That being said, take a look at the VEHICLE GALLERY on the Selbstgebau Wohnmobil (Self-build Motorhome) website (selectable for English in the upper right corner). This is a collection of trucks that are 'homebuilt', mostly in Europe. You will see that quite a few use 22.5s.

You will also hear that people like the 2 piece construction of 20" rims so "they can change a wheel on the road, and don't need a shop or tire machine". Watch this guy's videos on his LMTV wheels
20" wheel disassembly and 20" wheel assembly and then watch this video 22.5 tire chanced while still on the truck . And that was with 'normal' tire irons, not 'fancy' ones like Ken Tool or any of the fork style Tire Tools. I will say that Super-Single 22.5 tires will probably require an Air Bead Seater/Blaster. They are certainly cheap enough (I got mine for <$50 on eBay), and I have it mounted as part of the air system on my truck so it acts as an additional 'normal' tank, but can be quick-disconnected if it needs to be used to seat a bead.

My friend from Germany who has an MB1124 runs 22.5 specifically for availability in Central and South America. I would also point out that while 'surplus' 20" XZLs etc can still be had for $175 for 100% tread, most of the surplus tires are getting to be 10+ years old, and older. And at one time when both the Iraqi and Afgan wars were in full swing, 20" tires were unavailable as the military had locked down the whole supply of them (why there are 1000s available as surplus). Hopefully ++ that will not be the case in the future, but is much more likely to happen with 'specialized' tire sizes, than with normal OTR tires. I can not speak for the 'Americas', but in Europe, 22.5 super singles are the go-to size for all the OTR trucks.

A lot also depends on your truck's weight. I had 20" XZLs (395/85-20) on my MB1017 and airing down did not make a huge difference as the truck was so light (relative to the tire capacity). Of course, a heavier truck would get better results. The 22.5" Ironman tires (385/65-22.5) on my Kodiak don't do anything when the pressure is lowered due to the 'lighter' truck and commercial sidewalls.
So yup, the 20" rims are the cool uber allrad rims, but don't discount the 22.5s, just because the big buck guys don't use them as much as the 20s.
As always YMMV
 
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Joe917

Explorer
SKMBT_C36013032209101_0001 - Copy.jpg
Our truck straight from the factory in 1994. Custom ordered single rear wheel axle with 20" rims and 2 spares.
The 20" rims were changed to 22.5's after less than 20 000km due to excessive noise and compound failure. An expensive change.
 

mog

Kodiak Buckaroo
Our truck straight from the factory in 1994. Custom ordered single rear wheel axle with 20" rims and 2 spares.
The 20" rims were changed to 22.5's after less than 20 000km due to excessive noise and compound failure. An expensive change.
WOW, an LKW Mercedes with a single rear wheel axle, that is awesome! A pretty rare bird I am guessing.
 

Sitec

Adventurer
Another vote here for keeping it simple on 22.5's. We are going to be running the 315/80 R22.5's that are on our truck, and just to add to the confusion, I'm sticking with the duals on the rear axle. :)
 

Toby3

Member
Hi, thanks for all the advice, still feel a bit conflicted but coming back towards 385/65/R22.5.

Hi mate, I just ordered some 385/65 R22.5 Nokian R-Truck Steer (3PMSF). They seem to have a pretty aggressive thread. Of the options I had (Hankook AM15+, Bridgestone and Michelin XZY3) I was recommended the Nokian tires. I also have a bias to Nokian coming from winter driving up here in the north..

View attachment 627787

Geo.Lander, how are you getting on with the Nokians?
 

Geo.Lander

Well-known member
Hi, thanks for all the advice, still feel a bit conflicted but coming back towards 385/65/R22.5.



Geo.Lander, how are you getting on with the Nokians?

They seem fine and they are on the truck now, but the truck has only driven a handful of Kms with them (real winter conditions) so we do not have a good impression yet. Of course this is also my first truck, I have nothing to compare it to ?‍♂️

Pretty thou ?
image_6487327 (3).JPG
 

Toby3

Member
HI, trying to figure out bits inside so we can make sure they all fit in the design. Looking at washing machines. Seems to be a mix of smaller conventional household ones and ones that more like marine options. Any recommendations. Having spent a year trans africa washing clothes in bucket etc definitely want a washing machine in the truck.
 

Sitec

Adventurer
How about the Daewoo Wall Mount unit... 2kg capacity, so not huge, but can be mounted on a wall, and has a short 20 min wash cycle option too...


It's what we are planning on using.
 

Joe917

Explorer
We have a Bosch Maax 5 apartment sized washer. It is an Italian model and ha been great. It is a top loading horizontal drum. Spins clothes almost dry. The pump failed at the end of our South America trip. We have a new pump on back order. We are also trying to source a new handle.
 

Toby3

Member
Hi SItec, Joe, thanks for both the options, sounds good. Effectively can you just put a normal small washing machine in, guessing that's what the Bosch is Joe. Presuming there is nothing specific on electrical draw, water consumption etc that is specific to putting in the truck? Do like the look of the Daewoo. Not sure how easy to source in UK, looking at options but they seem to be shipping from Korea
 

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