Meet the Trot'n Turtle - Unimog U1300L Build

[Cruiser79]

Nice Unimog, I think a Unimog is quite rare in the US? It looks very well maintained! Hardly any rust, and the cabin isn't completely worn out.
Love the Unimogs, had a U1000 and a U1300, and my sister owned a 406 a few years. Every time I hear a Unimog starting (familiar sound!) I regret I sold them... Maybe in the far future...
Are you going to modificate the portal axles? I heard someone who installed a few extra reservoirs for expansion when driving long distances during high temperatures. Oil in the final drives will expand and when there aren't expansion tanks the oil will leak internal to the axles. The final drives needs a lot of attention, you can't check them too often!

 

[unirover]

I drive lots of different Unimogs at high speeds and never had an issue with the the oil getting pumped out (in any significant way) but I do know it has happened to some people. While the hubs can pump out oil, and the capacity is pretty small, I think the problem is a bit overblown. I've got a Unimog with more than 200k on it, it was driven mostly on road at speed and nobody did anything special with the hubs. They are still fine. A friend of mine has more than 300k on the original U1300L hubs. He drives in hot climates all the time at speed. He checks the oils but is not neurotic about it. He did a hub oil seal change and his hubs are still fine. The reservoirs are a good insurance policy (until they get ripped off) but overall with normal maintenance the hubs last a long time. I think a few people have given them a bad reputation because they had vehicles with issues, like one that had it's axles submerged under water for an extended period of time which led to internal rusting. Of course you are going to have problems with the hubs if mud and water infiltrated them but that is very uncommon. Of course it is always best practice to check all oil levels pretty frequently.

 

[Hodakaguy]

My front hubs were defiantly pumping oil at a quick rate and needed often checking. Since I installed the axle vent fix the issue has completely gone away, I've checked the level several times now and both fronts are still completely full.

Hodakaguy

 

[Hodakaguy]

Christmas came early today After a couple month wait the snorkel assy finally showed up today. I wanted the snorkel mounted before starting on the roof rack/brush guard build. Now to get it mounted up

Hodakaguy

 

[Roverchef]

Super excited for you! I did a shop and U1300 build combo 3 yrs ago. Don't know what I was thinking @ the time. Keep the pics coming. Say again why you didn't go with the 395's? You have a 366 right? Intercooled? Thanks for posting!

 

[Hodakaguy]

Yeah I can't wait to get this project going full steam. So far I've only been playing with it while doing errands around town etc...fun but not what I have in mind for it . If I had the standard axles I would have went with the 395's but since I have the fast axles I wanted to keep my first gear low enough for use on trails so decided to stop at 365's. I have the 366A currently stock, no intercooler.

Hodakaguy

 

[Hodakaguy]

Well had a bit of time to do some quick work on the Mog today. Installed the Snorkel and changed the engine oil out with some fresh Syn. Not a lot of progress today but I like the looks of the truck with the Snorkel installed

First up I removed the bracket on the passenger side that used to hold the spot light. When I do the paint I'll have quite a few holes to fill here.

Installing the snorkel assy was a breeze, took a matter of minutes to have the whole thing assembled. I like projects like that lol.

I opted to install a cyclone separator on top of the snorkel instead of the standard rain cap. These units do a great job of removing dirt before the air reaches the actual filter and helps keep the air filter cleaner and yielding longer filter life. Should come in handy when traveling down moon dust trails out in the middle of nowhere.

Under side of the cyclone separator. The air/dust enters under the assy through these louvers which swirls the air and throws the dirt out to the sides of the clear catch bowl with centrifugal force, the dust/dirt then falls down into the clear bowl and the air continues on down to the air filter assy. Every once in a while you need to remove the clear bowl and clean/dump out the collected dirt.

Next up was a quick oil filter change, I like to know exactly what what's in the engine even though it was changed right before the truck shipped to the USA. The change was quick and new Syn blood is now flowing though the 366A

Now that the snorkel is on the truck I want to start fabricating the roof rack and the brush guard, a few more things to do on the shop first then the project should start rolling. Can't wait.

Hodakaguy

 

[Hodakaguy]

A friend and I went out and played with the Mog a little this morning, wanted to see what kind of camera shots we could get. Truck was a blast, very capable. Really made me want to be heading to NV!

Here's a video that my friend put together, look for a longer version coming soon.


Hodakguy

 

[MARIŌVERLAND]

A friend and I went out and played with the Mog a little this morning, wanted to see what kind of camera shots we could get. Truck was a blast, very capable. Really made me want to be heading to NV!

Here's a video that my friend put together, look for a longer version coming soon.


Hodakguy

Loving the Mog video Hodakguy. A day in the desert with a Mog and a Drone sounds like a good day to me!

 

[dwh]

Darrin Fink did a mod on one of his 1300s that made me wonder if it could be related to the oil migrating out of the hubs problem.

Apparently, putting the mog in 4WD also pressurizes the axles and I guess he had a problem with axle seals as a result. So he added a valve so he could disable the axle pressurization when he didn't need it.

No idea if a seal damaged that way could make it easier for hub oil to migrate. Just a thought.

I'd post a link, but for some reason it isn't working. But I looked, his site is still up and the page is still there.

 

[rossvtaylor]

Hi, Hodakguy - who made that dust separator? You posted a great pic of it, and I zoomed in, but I'm not seeing any markings. Thanks!

 

[Hodakaguy]

Thanks, I read that same post a while back. My truck doesn't have the pressurized fording axles like the military units so I don't have to worry about that problem

So far the vent fixes have worked perfectly, not loosing any oil from the hubs since they were installed.

Hodakaguy

 

[Hodakaguy]

Sure, It's a Mercedes part...here's a shot of the tag on the box. Cheers.

Hodakaguy

 

[rossvtaylor]

Sure, It's a Mercedes part...here's a shot of the tag on the box. Cheers.

Thanks! No luck with a Google search for that part, but I'll dig it up - looks like a nice unit.

 

[nick disjunkt]

Donaldson are pretty much industry standard for dust collecting pre-filters