Presentation and looking for a chassis

[Sitec]

Although at this time our power seems ok (the 200hp OM366LA) I did inquire with a company in the UK about a power upgrade (about $4,000 for an injector pump upgrade to give up to 270hp).

Interesting you should say this VerMonsterRV. This is the other reason I went for a large engine (10.4 litres)... Mine is only at 220hp in standard form which is ok, and is enough to keep our truck at near highway speed. I figured that a large unstressed engine with plenty of room for more power if required is a better option than a smaller engine working hard having been 'tuned'. This is also why I love the hub reduction axles. Very heavy over engineered axles with good ground clearance that are good for 400-500 hp. The downside to this is that the larger MK SK cab, V6 or V8 engine, heavier chassis and axles etc make for a heavier build. Because I have this, I now have a 6m body, a 500lt water tank, 30kg of gas, and space for more stuff!!! The 8 tonne planned build will probably now end up nearer to 11 tonnes... Too heavy??... Watch this space!! Guess it really depends on where we plan to go... This is all stuff that needs to be considered Link_Cat in your build. It's very hard to 'know' what you want early on and lots buy a truck and then build to suit it. If you have a shed or large room, I would suggest you lay out some plans to scale... See what space you are happy with and then build from there. I was really lucky that I found a 4.2m wheelbase truck, and then later on found and bought the 6m body I have. We started with the truck, then planned a 5 or 5.5m box. The box I now have was for sale for about a year and I'd decided against it. 6 months later when we decided to turn our beds around and have 2 single mattress as we both like different comfort. Suddenly we needed 6 meters. The deal was done and this 6m body has formed our build. I've widened it, lowered the floor, reshaped the rear, but it gave me a good solid base to start from. Things that all need consideration are:- Compost or flush toilet... Chest or upright fridge... Bunk beds or double or twin... gas diesel or electric heat... Air Con... grey tank... black tank... (not a fan), leisure batteries and how many... solar... seating arangements... composite or steel frame... The list goes on. Decisions decisions.... Great fun though!!

 

[Sitec]

Link!!! You have me looking at trucks again!!!! This caught my eye.... Later cab. Hub reduction on the back, clean and straight, and the bonus of a box on the back! A little short for my liking, but a nice looking truck none the less! If I were still looking, this would be on my list to view!!

Truck1

www.truck1.eu

 

[Link_cat]

I'm out a couple of days! Will read in calm monday! You're amazing!

 

[Kurben]

What is the name of the company in the UK ?

 

[Sitec]

What is the name of the company in the UK ?

You're possibly thinking of Withams or Vass. Anything out of the UK will be RHD though.

MOD Sales Online - Military Vehicles and ex MOD Land Rovers for sale

We sell ex MOD Land Rovers, Military Vehicles, Earth Moving Plant in our online auctions, tenders and sales.

www.mod-sales.com

 

[VerMonsterRV]

What is the name of the company in the UK ?

Are you asking about the UK company that can upgrade power and gearing? If so https://www.unimogs.co.uk/our-stock/unimogs.

 

[Link_cat]

In a week we're going to be in Abenteuer Allrad in Germany, time to get more ideas! If someone of you want to know something specific I will try to make some photos!

 

[Neil]

The Camp ground at Bad Kissingen is the real show.

Enjoy

 

[VerMonsterRV]

In a week we're going to be in Abenteuer Allrad in Germany, time to get more ideas! If someone of you want to know something specific I will try to make some photos!

Would love to see ideas of motorcycle/spare tire lifting racks on the back of trucks. I am thinking of a vertical linear rail system. Some of the professional builders have some really nice ones but I am pretty sure most of them would be out of our budget (not to mention fabrication skills). We are building a foam cored composite box so the lift will need to be chassis mounted. Although not hugely important (though gives you an idea of size) our truck is an 1988 1120AF. Another thing is we are building this in the USA, so it would need to be fabricated here.

Have fun there, maybe one day when we ship to Europe we can attend with our truck. I am sure I would learn a lot and likely should have gone before we started this build.

 

[loonwheeler]

The Camp ground at Bad Kissingen is the real show.

Enjoy

Will be there at the end of this week and plan to be scoping out ideas not only interior, but also exterior - especially lift gate style exterior rack systems. Interested to see how it differs from Overland Expo West (my previous show experience). Any tips / suggestions coming my way are more than welcome.

 

[Neil]

If you are camping. You need to be there well before Friday. It's very popular and by Thursday the camp ground will be full.

You will love it

Neil

 

[Link_cat]

Hello everyone! we are back from Abenteuer allrad, for us it was the first time at this great fair, I highly recommend to all who can that you go to see it, it's really worth it.

The real exhibition, as @Neil said, is the camp area.

The most popular days (and most difficult to find parking) are Friday and Saturday, we arrived on Thursday noon and it was hard to find a suitable place. On Saturday afternoon many people were leaving and there were more places to park.

We saw some ideas to upload a bike and wheels in the back @VerMonsterRV I think to do it in a simple way there are two options, or your box has the joints with bolts (like most shelterboxes) or you have to reinforce the back panel (FlussMobile and another company based in Ukraine, I do not remember the name they do in their boxes). I'll leave you some photos!




Talking to different people from the camp area and the fair we saw that this type of vehicles are having a huge boom, and prices in 5 years have multiplied by 3! A 1017 5 years ago could be found for 5-6k€, now it's hard to find a single cab for less than 12-15k€...

We saw some interesting options with some Magirus (90 16), steyr... but definitely the Mercedes win by a landslide. The idea now is to find a good 1222 or similar (fast axles) I hope we can found one for less than 10.000€ , mount a subframe and buy a shelter zeppelin fm3 (5m). Does anyone know how to calculate the wheelbase I need to fit a 5m box?

Enjoy the video (not mine!)

 

[Sitec]

The idea now is to find a good 1222 or similar (fast axles) I hope we can found one for less than 10.000€ , mount a subframe and buy a shelter zeppelin fm3 (5m). Does anyone know how to calculate the wheelbase I need to fit a 5m box?

Great choice! (I'm biased!!). Re wheelbase, that depends on what cab you end up with.... Mine's a 'day cab' and has a 4.2m wheelbase. This allowed for a 6m box length with approx 150mm to 200mm between the cab. The attached pic is to scale of my 1222A with a 4.2m wheelbase and a 6m box. Print a few copies off (with my box blanked off/covered) and scribble on it... Draw your proposed 5m box on and see what it looks like... With a pair of scissors and some sticky tape you could also play with the wheelbase... I just scaled your box on my photocoppied A4 drawing and it has it ending just after the two rear lower locker catches... Slightly short overhang, but hang twin spare wheels, a log rack and a motorbike of the rear and it'd be the same length as mine! For reference my box is 2250mm tall outside and sits 100mm off the chassis rails. Ideally, I would have liked the slightly larger cab with a little room behind the cab seats to store coats, and other clutter, but out here I didn't have the choice you have. If I were you I'd be looking for a 4.2m wheelbase with the 'mid cab'. Go for the latest truck your budget allows, (later cab with tapered door glass, swept dash, later OM441 V6 (the earlier OM421 V6's sound like someone rattling a tin 1/4 full of nuts!), or find a truck with a straight 6 engine which though lower hp and cc's, are quieter and better on fuel. Once you have your truck in your yard, you can then really plan your layout, storage etc etc. Just remember, fuel tanks, battery boxes, air tanks etc can be moved... Axles can't! Looks like you had a great time at the Overland Meet. Great pics, and lot's of ideas gained I guess!! Enjoy!!

 

[Neil]

Glad you liked the show.

I don't know if there is a calculation as such, but our single cab MB 1017a has a 3600mm wheel base and a 5m cabin.

It fits perfect

Neil

 

[VerMonsterRV]

On our 1120 we are building a 17' (just over 5m) habitat. It does have a slight angle at the rear, much like the trucks you took pictures of. One thing while trying to make a decision on which truck I tried to get a rough idea of fuel mileage. The only trucks I knew that were sort of similar had the inline six and reported around 12 mpg. Been a while since I checked ours but without the habitat and the smaller tires we got just under 13 mpg on the highway. I hope we will still get around 12 when complete.

Back to the tire/motorcycle lifts. Thanks for the pictures, I really like the bottom gray one. Any idea where they sourced the sliding portion? The design seems simple enough to build but not sure about how to keep the rails sliding smoothly?