MB 1120 Coming to America! Purchase, Build and Now Travel!

[joeblack5]

Wow, vermonster, you are having a lot of bad luck . Impressive that you share also all the problems and downfalls. Disappointing that Mercedes asks that kind of pricing for straightforward parts.
Best,

Johan

 

[VerMonsterRV]

Can an 1124 transfer case be transplanted in .

Let me know if we can help from the UK

Neil

Thanks for the offer, biggest hurdle though is getting parts through customs here.

Well, I'm got my fingers crossed it's a bearing, which I can source here. Second plan is to buy a complete used box in Europe, but have the seller open it up and just mail me the bits I need instead of a pallet. Third is a conversion to a box like yours (vg 500 without permanent 4wd). But there is an extra differential bolted on the back to ours (I think) that allows the full time 4wd. A switch to your box would mean a new or modified rear drive shaft.

Next option is the vg 550 from the 1124. It's still in use in the Atego. But that's way more complex and expensive as it would mean new mounts and drive shafts. Last place would be to convert to 2wd, but that would be a desperate measure.

Or we could try and get residency in Chile/Argentina and buy a brand new Atego 4x4 😜.

 

[VerMonsterRV]

Wow, vermonster, you are having a lot of bad luck . Impressive that you share also all the problems and downfalls. Disappointing that Mercedes asks that kind of pricing for straightforward parts.
Best,

Johan

Well I think that these parts are now in short supply. I doubt some are still being manufactured.

And yeah, the truck was pretty trouble free for a few years. Now it seems to be going through a rough patch. Hopefully on Monday I'll have better news to share. When we were still sailing, we all used to joke that cruising was "Fixing your boat in exotic locations". Guess overlanding is much the same. For kicks open up ioverlander and just turn on the mechanics item. Pretty telling the number of entries in this area 😵‍💫.

 

[Geo.Lander]

Well is seems our truck really doesn't want to go south. We're now having issues with our transfer case. What started as a shaft seal leaking has now turned into a pulling of the transfer case, splitting it open and finding out why I am getting a fair bit of metal on the magnetic drain plugs.
View attachment 808338
This was the third oil change in about 1000km. The challenging part is we're now at "The End of the World", the farthest south in South America you can drive without taking a ferry (south of Punta Arenas). There is a MB dealership in Punta Arenas, which is where this picture was taken. I am scheduled to return Monday morning for the removal. The problem is that parts for this case are not available in Chile. Some are available in Argentina, but that carries some risk. If you need to order from Europe then Argentina is a very poor choice. So for now I have some available parts on order into Ushuaia (600km bus ride away) and an appointment in Chile.
I am also finding out that our transfer case shares some parts with the non full-time VG-500 box, but not all. The not all part is the potential problem. These would have to come from Europe and frankly it would be cheaper to buy an entire used transfer case than even one of the internal gear parts new from Mercedes (one gear alone in the full time bit is over 4k euros). I'm actually considering getting the case open, jumping a flight to Germany, and carrying back the needed parts.

So a word to others, if you want an LN2 try like heck to get the 1124. The 1124 would be nicer for a few reasons. First, obviously more power, second 6 speed transmission so better gear spacing, and third it uses the VG-550 transfer case which is still in production. Yup the 1124 are more upfront money, but maybe a bit easier/cheaper to fix down the road.

Let me know if I can be of assistance somehow from here. I suppose the second hand route would be more cost effective for sure. We actually have 6 gears, I think the G4/65-6 but I can’t remember since 7zap started to charge for vin parts lookups. Best of luck!

 

[Geo.Lander]

Thanks for the offer, biggest hurdle though is getting parts through customs here.

Well, I'm got my fingers crossed it's a bearing, which I can source here. Second plan is to buy a complete used box in Europe, but have the seller open it up and just mail me the bits I need instead of a pallet. Third is a conversion to a box like yours (vg 500 without permanent 4wd). But there is an extra differential bolted on the back to ours (I think) that allows the full time 4wd. A switch to your box would mean a new or modified rear drive shaft.
View attachment 808386
Next option is the vg 550 from the 1124. It's still in use in the Atego. But that's way more complex and expensive as it would mean new mounts and drive shafts. Last place would be to convert to 2wd, but that would be a desperate measure.

Or we could try and get residency in Chile/Argentina and buy a brand new Atego 4x4 😜.

Good luck trying to fix a new truck on the road 🤣

 

[Geo.Lander]

So a quick truck update if anyone has the optional 4 wheel parking brakes like we do. Our previous "fix" for front parking brake that would slowly actuate while driving wasn't really a fix. The mechanic replaced a shuttle valve and to be honest I tried to understand how this would fix it but really couldn't. It did seem to work though so we continued on south. Well it happened again while driving and I decided to dig into it myself and do a bit of basic testing. I removed each of the air lines on the shuttle valve and actuated both the service brake and parking brake. The service brake worked as I expected, air flows when the pedal is pressed and nothing when not. But the parking brake was a different story. When engaged it would flow lots of air, but when off it still flowed some air. Which is what caused our problem. Due to our remote location and limited parts availability here in Argentina I have blocked off the front parking brake for now. The real problem lies in one of 2 places. Either the parking brake handle valves or the trailer brake valve. I will diagnose both those but not in this location.

Just so you know its not all work and no play here are a few recent photos! This is a National Park with a dirt coastal road. Great views and camping, but a bit windy at times.
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A visit by Zodiac to a penguin colony, what a great day.
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Flamingos, never realized they were here.
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Petrified trees in another National Park.
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Same penguin colony, about 10,000 birds on the island.
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Fur seals who came out to play with the Zodiac.
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Guanacos, heaps of them on the road to the petrified forest.
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More to come...

Stunning pictures btw! We’re currently taking a small surf trip in the Canaries I must step up my photography game!

 

[VerMonsterRV]

And the latest on the transfer case boondoggle. The Mercedes dealership has now refused to work on the truck as parts are not available for it in Chile (and this is the dealership that controls all of Chile, they have the entire country). So now we are off to a small independent mechanic shop this morning. With any luck it is the bearing I think it is, as I have found an aftermarket replacement locally.

 

[Madoxen]

Fingures crossed for you

 

[VerMonsterRV]

The repair has been going fairly smoothly (finding parts here is a challenge). The transfer case came out, taken apart and all parts cleaned and the source of the metal found. Each of the 3 shafts within the transfer case are adjusted within the case shells with these very thin washers. These make sure there is just enough tension (but not too much) to keep the bearings spinning freely but without any play. Well, 2 of these failed. This is what's left of the worst one. Not really any short term damage, but if left it could cause way more damage. Luckily we caught it early and all the rest of the box looked great.


you can see the 3 shafts with the tapered bearings. The spacer washers are sandwiched between the top of these (well the second half of the tapered bearing) and the case half. With the correct compression it will hold the shafts perfectly while allowing them to spin freely.

The transfer box is now back assembled and back hanging on the mounts. The drive shafts still need to be bolted back on and oil filled, but we should be back on the road in the morning. Ushuaia here we come!

 

[DiploStrat]

Great news!

 

[joeblack5]

Great that the independent mechanic was able to fix the problem what a Mercedes dealership did not want to touch. Shame on them.

Now what was the cause? These bearing shims should be stationary. Not rotating. The only way that this could happen if a bearing half shell started rotating on the shaft or in the casing and spun against the shim. Did the casing get to hot and expanded and allowed the bearing to rotate in the casing? Or did dirt lock the bearing up and spun in the casing?

Hope it stays together.

Johan

 

[VerMonsterRV]

Great that the independent mechanic was able to fix the problem what a Mercedes dealership did not want to touch. Shame on them.

Now what was the cause? These bearing shims should be stationary. Not rotating. The only way that this could happen if a bearing half shell started rotating on the shaft or in the casing and spun against the shim. Did the casing get to hot and expanded and allowed the bearing to rotate in the casing? Or did dirt lock the bearing up and spun in the casing?

Hope it stays together.

Johan

Yup, it shouldn't have moved. The mechanic didn't find anything that would have caused it. I asked about using bearing loctite but he didn't seem to think it was necessary. The main one that failed, the machine seat isn't 100% contiguous. There's cutouts for oil channels, leaving a paper thin washer unsupported. To me this wasn't a great design in that area. Only one like that in the case and it's the one that failed. Might be coincidence, or not. We now have about 500km on it and all seems good. When we get to Ushuaia I will change the oil and hopefully see no metal bits.

 

[VerMonsterRV]

Hey all, been a while and a lot has happened. We're still bouncing around South America and are currently in Santiago Chile. We've been having a blast but the truck continues to cause us troubles. We're now "camped" in a campground with the transmission mount off to a welding shop and a log holding up our transmission/engine. Yeah, I found it while trying to find a coolant leak. If this would have completely failed while driving it would have dropped the rear of the engine onto the road. We got lucky, I could flex this with my hand. Guess these roads are hard on things.

 

[Backroad Explorer]

Hi Jon & Heather;
It's great to hear your having A Blast.
I guess this was a good time for that Coolant Leak (Ha Ha)

See you Next time your in Idaho

Brian

 

[DiploStrat]

All this is why we are taking our truck back for another spa days at Atkinson Vos. So far, all is good and the truck is actually pulling a bit better on Yorkshire grades.