Scania SBAT (Volvo TGB's big brother)

[guyfromCO]

Okay so long long time lurker here and I'm sorry if this has been covered but I searched everywhere and couldn't find anything here on EP. In the endless quest for my next vehicle, (something to live out of for 2-3 months at a time when I'm back state side between contracts) I was looking at the Volvo TGBs when I found these. It's another swedish military truck made starting in 1971 with 4x4 or 6x6 configurations, lockers, winches and crew boxes available for the 14 foot flat bed. They seem to run in price from about 8000 dollars on up to about 20k and be easy to find low mileage units.

By all looks and appearances it seems it would go anywhere a larger mog would, run better on the highway and cost a quarter to buy. If they started production in 71 there are a lot of them out there old enough to import as classics. The one thing I haven't found is fuel consumption but hopefully its not as bad as a deuce. I figure it would be super easy to to slap a camper on the back and go. And because it is from Scania then you would have world wide product support meaning you could actually leave the US and still find parts. I even found one blogger that seems to have done just that. All they did was paint it, get some sand ladders and went to tunisia for two weeks where it performed without fail. I have some pictures below of the 2 types and the boxes as well as a couple video links which show how well these beasts handle off road. Has anyone out there seen or preferably driven one of these? I am seriously considering a trip to sweden to take a look at one and of course bulk price is always better. Anyone else thinking earthromer on the cheap?

4x4

6x6

Boxes

Videos
bare chassis with good view of the flexibility of one of these- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lb_aZpUN8D0&feature=related

can you say ready made camper- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=845Zm6Bhddc&feature=related
Blog
http://ergmachine.wordpress.com/

 

[nick disjunkt]

And because it is from Scania then you would have world wide product support meaning you could actually leave the US and still find parts.

I would check this out before you buy one. Most of the European truck manufacturers (with the obvious exception of mercedes) do not provide parts support for older vehicles. The SBAT was a specialist military vehicle vehicle and I'm not aware of any being sold by Scania for civilian use, this makes it even less likely that Scania stock any parts for it. In addition they were not exported in large numbers outside of Europe and so getting second hand parts outside of scandinavia and northern euurope may also be difficult.

The mercedes roundnose vehicles (911, 1314, 2623, etc) were produced in much greater numbers and are still used throughout the world so parts availability is much better.

 

[Lajning]

I would not get one if you don't need the size and space. The 4x4 version weighs more or less 3 times as much as the 6x6 Tgb. The footprint left by this vehicle are of the kind you don't talk about, to anyone. Drive it on a wet soft road, and there shall be no more road, but two cuts the size of the tires. They sure are cool though.

But, if you really are thinking about getting one, visit http://forum.terrangbil.net/ google translate it. One thing to look out for is the control unit for the automatic gearbox, they tend to brake and spares are short, or not available at all. Some guys on the tgb forums are working on their own control unit, and there is a thread about it here :http://forum.terrangbil.net/forum_posts.asp?TID=6971&title=intresse-fr-nyutvecklad-styrbox

 

[guyfromCO]

Lajning,

Thanks for the info on the transmission, the weight is high but I was looking for a live-in platform so big is beautiful and required in this case. But after looking into that transmission problem I think I'll stay clear of these. The whole plus side to an old chassis choices is supposed to be the lack of electrical complexity and that control unit doesn't sound like something I want to get stuck tinkering with on a regular basis. Guess I'll go back to square one and see what else is out there in the Euro market.

 

[Lajning]

If you would like to go the SBAT way, I've heard that it is possible to swap enginge/transmission from a regular road-going Scania truck. I am no mechanic so I have no idea how to achieve this, but the info should be available on the terrangbil forums.
SBAT v8 anyone?