I know how he feels . What a nightmare

[Neil]

Poor guy, I know how he feels having capsized our truck in Chile earlier this year. I have the T shirt

https://expeditionportal.com/guy-flips-unimog-in-big-bend-forcing-trail-closure/

Neil

 

[CanucksRedRocket]

ouch! sounds like everyone made it out ok, hopefully they rig isnt too badly damaged and they can right it easily.

 

[LostInTheWorld]

Poor guy. I hope his rig isn't too messed up.

I sure hope we never do that with our Mog. After what happened to you guys earlier this year, Neil, I am super paranoid about how soft the shoulder of the road can be.

It always surprises me in photos like these how mild the road seems, but I know it is totally different in person. I almost rolled our jeep once going like 3 mph down a hill with a steep cut on the side when I hit a relatively small looking gravel filled rut. It turns out that the whole area gave way, and I slid sideways. If I had been going any slower, I would have rolled for sure. I'm sure a photo of the area would have looked like nothing.

Michael

 

[C p weinberger]

We are handicapped from driving in developed countries. We are used to rules, we are used to roads being safe, drivers being safe/ careful. In developing countries you can never take that for granted. I once almost drove off a bridge that was not completed in Mozambique. I was tired and we were almost at Our next stop, I was unfamiliar with the road, I didn’t realize they were many bridges in Mozambique that had not been finished because of the wars. The warning barrels /barriers had been stolen a long time ago. I started to slow down as I was driving across the bridge because I sensed something was wrong but didn’t know what, the bridge was in too good of condition, the road in too good of condition, My sixth sense was trying to tell me something but my westernize brain told me from my past experiences that the bridge would be marked if dangerous . You can never let your guard down In developing countries.
I am in no way implying that it was possible to know the side of the road would collapse, unfortunately, there is often no way to predict where the danger lies. You can only do your best to stay alert and keep your fingers crossed, sometimes it just comes down to Good or Bad luck

 

[Neil]

Sometimes its a combination of several things. Our disater was down to appalling road conditions and my position on the road.

We examined the tracks the next day and I estimated that I was one tyre width too far over thats 385mm. Just mis judged it I guess.

But on a dry day it wouldnt have happened and my position would have been good.

Whatever the cause, believe me its heartbreaking

Neil

 

[CanucksRedRocket]

i know ive been told a few times mogs are big stable beasts, but the one that flipped on the trail does like a wee bit top heavy? that bike up that far on the back and then also the big black box on the cab, is the CG really that low on a Mog to make up for that extra weight up high? im curious as ive had no personal experience with a unimog, but reallllly want to own one lol

 

[Buliwyf]

As soon as the trucks center of gravity, is outside of the track width, over it goes. Yeah, that rig looks a bit tipsy. Sometimes it pays to leave stuff at home.

Nice of the forum to put him on the 1st page. LOL, that's harsh. Even for me.

 

[luthj]

Cog is static. Add some momentum and possibly a sway bar... at speed the stored spring energy can rebound and push a vehicle past it's roll limit.

 

[Buliwyf]

Not when it's tipping over. As the vehicle leans as soon as more weight is not over the track width, than what is directly over the track width, over you go.

Not tipping:

Tipping:

 

[luthj]

Exactly. Some obstacles, which when static, are under the roll limit. However at speed, the vehicles body will roll through the static angular displacement, and into roll-over territory. Cargo shifting, such as transverse mounted water/fuel tanks can further exacerbate the problem.

Question: Any Mog or similar truck owners measured their roll limit angle? Just curious what numbers folks have.

 

[waveslider]

Question: Any Mog or similar truck owners measured their roll limit angle? Just curious what numbers folks have

This would be interesting to know. There was another thread a while back that had a truck similarly sitatued that had clearly reached its roll limit. It would be curious to hear what that number is for some of the larger rigs.

 

[Neil]

Neil,
Would you be kind enough to explain how the wreck happened and how you got your truck up-right again? I am sure that myself and the other "big truck" guys on this forum would appreciate learning from your hardship.
Thanks in advance!
J.S.

Most of its here

http://www.cloud9ontour.com/2018/03/****-happens.html

http://www.cloud9ontour.com/2018/03/cloud-9-lives.html

We got it out of the ditch with 2 large Diggers that simply pulled it out by the chassis with brut force.. Most of the damage was caused during this stage .

I will be the first to admit that I wasnt quite on the best line but never under estimate a ripio road that has been subject to heavy rain for the last week. the surface was almost liquid.

Again I didnt read it right. Just 500m before the accident there was a road crew ( with the diggers ) who were trying to re build the road as a large section of it had simply washed away down the hill.

Whats interesting about my accident was that when it happened we were stationary waiting for an oncoming vehicle to pass. As we sat there I felt the truck slide slightly to the right. Before I had time to shout F*&K the whole road beneath me started to slide away sideways with me in for the ride. We went from upright to tipped over in a couple of seconds .

The lack of forward momentum saved a lot of damage it simply fell ovrr sideways ( Although inside was trashed )

Pulling it out broke all the long Ubolts that hold the rear springs in place and secure the back axle

Once moving again a week later we drove 150km on bad Ripio road with the back axle held on by Ratched straps. ( Tense drive )


Neil

 

[Sitec]

As LostInTheWorld says, we all kinda hope that it never happens to us, but we've seen a couple of vehicle rolls now with friends who are traveling this year, so it's something we all have to be mindful of. Both rolls have been slow or stationary. Neil, It still amazes me having read through your blog again that Cloud 9 suffered such little damage. Alas I don't think the Mog that's flipped in Texas will be so lucky, as the surface looks far from forgiving...

There's several things I take from this thread so far. 1. It might never happen, but then again it might... Be prepared. I'm now thinking along the lines of 4 screw in points on the four corners of my body roof and carrying not 1 but 2 decent recovery straps and a selection of suitable Dee Shackles, along with a way of pinning the 4 point mount solid to the chassis should the need arise... The road giving away under your truck is something you would be hard pushed to foresee, but having the straps and points to assist with recovery would be a start. 2. The overhang on the Mog body is almost half of the whole living body... (think tail wagging the dog). This really won't have helped the situation, and probably compounded it, added too by the bikes hanging from the rear... not an issue with Cloud 9! . This leads me to number 3. The length over height debate. Originally we were going to go down the line of building a 4m or 5m body with storage underneath, making it quite high. I was lucky enough to find a truck with a decent wheelbase of over 4 meters. I also found a body that (with a bit of metal magic) should work well. It's 6m long and I'll position the floor so there's enough room to stand comfortably but not much more. Having read this thread I'm now thinking I'd rather be bellied, or think twice about where I can go due to the overall length of just under 8m than going into somewhere with ease and then becoming unstuck due to stability. Granted it will cost a little more on ferries etc, but if it comes in at under 3.5 m tall with the bulk of the weight low down then I think it can only be a plus point. Just my thoughts though.

 

[VerMonsterRV]

With just under 2m headroom in our habitat our overall height (the Tern hatches being the highest point) is right around 3.5m, which sure looks tall. Without the rear tire rack we are 7.3m from front bumper to rear wall. The proportions seem to look ok. So far though with the composite habitat I think the bulk of the weight is still in the chassis and subframe. All heavy items will be mounted as low as possible. I really doubt the composite box would allow for any recovery points on the roof without seriously ripping things apart. My guess is the route Neil had to do would be the only real way for our truck/habitat. Now if a steel habitat frame was built that might change things but it would also raise the CG and total weight. Thinking about it now, although only a single point, wonder if the rear tire rack could be built to include some sort of higher up recovery point.

 

[dwh]

Question: Any Mog or similar truck owners measured their roll limit angle? Just curious what numbers folks have.

Unicat does tilt testing. Dunno the numbers. Maybe Charlie can tell us his.

Doug Hackney got into the subject pretty well with his build.

http://www.hackneys.com/mitsu/index-CG.htm

Someone else around here did something...can't recall who...maybe Iain_U1250?