After years of ownership, hundreds of hours of work and thousands of miles of adventure its time to sell our beloved Tiger. (AKA "Tony")
Tony was born in 1996 with a 6.5 turbo diesel, NV4500 transmission, NP241 transfer case, and a 3.73 locking differential. The 6.5 has been extensively modified for increased performance, longevity, and economy. The engine benefits from an aftermarket intercooler, custom welded intake system, marine injectors, re-mapped ECM, PMD heat sink, calibrated fuel pump, and a full 4" exhaust. This is a very strong running diesel that has traveled 185K miles, with more than enough power for any situation. When driven easily it has returned 22MPG average over a 5K mile trip.
The chassis has been upgraded with Rancho RS9000 shocks on all corners. A set of firestone air bags in the rear, and a custom heavy duty rear sway bar. It rides and handles very very well.
The wheels are brand new hot forged Alcoas with 285-75/16 BFG All terrains, load range E of course. The spare is also brand new.
The exterior is in reasonably good shape except for a wrinkle in the passenger side rear corner.
The coach has been carefully upgraded from below the Hickory flooring to the 160 watts of solar panels.
Carpet removed and subfloor sanded and sealed with west marine epoxy.
A layer of underfloor insulation was installed before the laminate was laid with every joint carefully glued.
The kitchen was completely rebuilt with a full custom cabinet, three new drawers, a custom extra deep stainless sink and a Corian counter top.
The RV spec stove was removed and in its place is a full convection microwave and a high end single burner gas stove. The stove stores in a drawer above the oven when not in use. We went with this arrangement because 99% of the time we are cooking outside. I did not see the point of installing a $2K Wallace diesel cooktop and then using a Coleman camp stove... That being said the drawer above the oven was designed to the Wallace rough in dimensions so one could be easily installed.
The propain frodge was removed and a 12V compressor fridge was installed in its place. The fridge is surrounded by extra insulation and will run indefinitely off the solar and battery system. I have kept beer cold in the fridge for 5 weeks in the summer without ever plugging in starting up or draining the battery bank.
Speaking of the electrical system... There are a pair of Trojan T105 Golf cart batteries in a custom built rack behind the rear axle. They are wired in series and then connected to a huge Xantrex inverter with 00 cables. The Xantrex 3000 has 3 stage charging, power sharing, a remote control panel, battery temperature compensation, surge protection/compensation, and a host of other options. It is big enough and cabled well enough to start and run the A/C and the microwave. The battery banks wouldn't last more than a few hours with the A/C on but the surge compensation lets the A/C be easily powered of a 1000 watt Honda generator. The switching and distribution is done by two Blue Sea panels, one for 12v and one for 120V. All wire connections have been crimped and then soldered.
The batteries can be charged by plugging in, the engine alternator, and by the solar panels. the solar panels are high quality BP Solar units with a high quality German made charge controller. the charge controller has dual outputs, a primary for the house bank and an isolated secondary for the starting batteries.
The water system is all new except for the holding tank. There is a new pressure sensing pump with filter, (eliminates the stutter of normal pumps), a stainless isotherm marine hot water heater, an outside shower system, and an ultra high quality single lever faucet. The system is laid out so the majority of the fittings and components are above an epoxy sealed "Water Box". The water box will capture any leak or fitting failure and let it safely drain out.
The coach has two double beds, the standard goucho bed on the main level and the over the cab bed. The cabover bed has a very comfortable plastic "box spring" an intermediate foam, and a memory foam topper. This is one of the most comfortable systems you can imagine.
Believe it or not this part of the bed system was re-purposed from an Earthroamer.
The drivers side of the coach body has allot going on. The front access door leads to the back of the fridge. There is a 120V plug here for running well pretty much whatever you want, and a few cubic feet of storage space. The next door over was custom built to fill in the vent/hatch where the standard RV water heater use to live. The drain for the water heater is here as well as the tempering and safety vales for the HW system. Next to that is the outside shower and then the Marine shore power plug. As an aside, if you have a camper of any kind (Expo or not) you owe it to yourself to get rid of the push the cord through the plastic door till something breaks scheme and use one of these. Dead simple to install and much much nicer to use.
The Tiger is in Portland Oregon, I am not able to accept any trades and the answer to the obvious question is right here...
http://www.expeditionportal.com/for...Capable-416-Based-Unimog-Expedition-Motorhome
Cheers
Chris
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