Unimog Camper Adventure Part 1: To be Continued?

[desertrover]

Hello All,
Last Friday I set out from Twentynine Palms, CA in my 404 to pick up a radiobox based camper in Colorado. The photos should tell the story..

Local trails in Twentynine Palms

Stripped to frame in preparation for camper

Stopping for fuel in Arizona

Driving through the night

Rain in Colorado

Inexpensive water solution

Camper!

Mounting the camper

Shooting a Panorama

Trails in New Mexico

Disaster strikes!

A ways in to New Mexico, en route to Los Alamos, the truck suddenly started slowing in 6th gear on about a 6% downhill grade. The feeling was like shifting in to fifth with the throttle closed. Examination showed the transmission to be hot enough to smoke the gear oil. The transmission did not reliably shift into any gear. There was no grinding or sheared metal in the transmission oil, but the one week old change of GL4 90wt had a burned smell to it. It also had a consistency incongruous to that of gear oil. The poor mog is still on the side of the highway. To be continued! (fingers crossed)
-CJ

 

[Hill Bill E.]

Good Luck! The rig looks great, hopefully on the trail again soon!

 

[adventureduo]

First off, i hope your road trip continues!

Second,
Awesome camper box conversion,.. i really like the way they added the pop top. We looked at one, but one of the major reasons we didnt want the radio box was because of the head room or lack of.

 

[desertrover]

The dead trans is the biggest issue at this point.. If I can manage to get it flat towed to Southern California, I'll be able to tear it apart and fix it in a few paychecks. Until then, it is sitting on the side of 285 in New Mexico.

 

[Lynn]

After a great start, part I really had a sucky ending.

Hope Part II gets underway soon! And only happy endings from now on, or I'll stop reading. :Wow1:

 

[kerry]

Good luck on the repair. I think I saw that box for sale on the Boulder Craigslist a few months ago.

 

[rbgerrish]

The dead trans is the biggest issue at this point.. If I can manage to get it flat towed to Southern California, I'll be able to tear it apart and fix it in a few paychecks. Until then, it is sitting on the side of 285 in New Mexico.

Careful flat towing it, the portals dont like the high speed! I think the manual says keep it under 30 or something, but I dont remember...

Good luck!!

 

[desertrover]

Thanks on catching that, I meant it needed to go on a flat bed.. I'm looking at getting shipping lined up right now.

 

[mvanaman]

Shipping

Hi! Sorry to hear your adventure was cut short! We just shipped our 416/u1100L with a radio box, from New York to San Diego. We used United shipping, had a great experience with Deena. If you have not aquired a shipper yet I would give them a call. They under promise and over deliver! Good luck!

 

[Harald Hansen]

Sorry about your troubles, but please tell us more about the pop top!

 

[desertrover]

The pop top is borrowed from a 1979 VW westfaila van, as is the slat window on the drivers side of the camper. The top deploys very quickly and gives more than stand up headroom for a very useful area in the camper. I didn't get any photos with the top up, but I'll put up more about the box itself when I catch up with the truck in California.

 

[048642]

Sorry about the speed bump on your trip, great pictures I like the first one in 29 Palms.

A couple of questions...

Out of morbid curiosity how fast were you driving and for how long before the failure occurred?

Also, do you have an insulated top on your coolant fill on the dashboard? If I left my cellphone on mine I think the battery would eventually explode!

 

[desertrover]

Update on the Mog:
The people who live just off the road where it is broken down were nice enough to let me park it there for a few days. It will be picked up and transported back to Twentynine Palms on a trailer. Stay tuned for the teardown when I catch up with the truck!

I was doing 50-55 mph down a grade for about an hour and a half when the transmission failed. It isn't a complete lockup, but it is far from drivable. Yes, the coolant tank has an insulated cover. With the engine temp usually just a bit over 80C, you could put your hand on the cover without burning oneself.

Until then, here are a few more shots:

Parked next to the rangie

Playing in the sand in 29

Pop top action shot

 

[048642]

I hope you have it running soon. I use the top of the coolant tank to keep my mug hot on cold days (on all days for that matter)

 

[Ford Prefect]

NICE BUY!

I always thought that would be perfect radio box for me! Love it.

Congrats. How do you like the interior of the box? Is it fairly nice then?

Very jealous!