Unimogadventures - Our build and travel thread

[Iain_U1250]

Got the figures from the manufacturer, probably something in the scaling, could be mm not inches. The rear axle load is around 4000-4400kg, and the springs start off with 425mm height, and are now at 330mm height. The springs are progressive, so a bit more difficult to work out.

The price of diesel was quite a shock in some of the remote areas. In Halls Creek, diesel was $1.40 per litre, on the Canning Stock Route, diesel was $3.40 per litre, and if the guy wasn't at the pump when you turned up, you had to pay a $50 call out fee. We had a 1000km trip, so needed to carry an extra 90lt of diesel on the roof to ensure we made it. In the end we had about 100lt left in the tanks, but running out of fuel is not something worth risking out there.

On the Gibb River Road, diesel was $2.80 to $3.00 per litre, whist at Kununarra, only $1.11. We did 1500km and made it to Derby with 50lt spare and filled up the secondary tank with $1.30 per litre diesel.

We are planning on doing more remote area trips, if we can carry more fuel, then we should be able to save quite a bit, but the main reason is that you can't always depend on the service stations in the remote areas here. At a few places the fuel truck had not made it and they were limiting the amount of fuel to 20lt per vehicle. We were lucky, as we had enough fuel to get us through to the next town, but other people had to just wait for the fuel truck to arrive.

We upgraded the GVM to 8000kg, so basically have 500kg to play with, we would at most be adding another 150kg of fuel but only when we need it. Strangely enough, the fuel in Brisbane is more expensive than in some of the country towns, having a bigger fuel tank could save us quite a bit of money, and pay for itself in the long run.

 

[piratexpress1369a]

Wow what a price hit in the different areas

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[Iain_U1250]

Figures out how to download our fuel consumption records from our Garmin GPS. This is our second trip and just short of 19,000km in 3.5 months. We travelled over a variety of roads, from highways to very rough tracks, and we were always fully loaded, so this is a pretty good representation of the fuel consumption for our truck.

 

[Wyuna]

Hi Iain,

Ive been reading your build blog over the last 2 and a half years, it's been a great read and its been even better to see it finally running and reading your travels, it was the reason i signed up to Expedition Portal.

So when is the next trip and were are you thinking of going next?

I just spend 3 years in NZ, what a beautiful country, you could easily spend 4-5 months travelling around there. Both north and south islands are stunning, although its nice to be back living in Brisbane again.

Tasmanian would be good in the Aus Summer, Loved it down there, so much to explore, the people are great, heaps of free camping.

One thing i noticed through your build was that you didn't put in larger fuel tanks during the build, Those Unidan tanks powered coated black would be nice if you have the space, not cheap, but hey, as you have noticed anything Unimog is pricey.

Nothing worse than working about fuel when out west or in remote places, when i built my Hilux for our camping trip around Aussie in 07, the first thing i did, was to rip out the 70 ltr tank and put in a 140 tank, the money you save from cheaper fuel really does add up, plus it's reassuring that you have more fuel than you need.

I've also noticed the rural QLD towns have cheaper fuel, it should be dearer, but Brisbane always has been dearer for some reason.

Anyhow, look forwards to your next adventure, i've just ordered a new VW Transporter to convert into a kombi, so ill be busy with that, so i can head back out exploring aussie again.


Cheers,

Bryn

 

[Iain_U1250]

Hi Bryn, thank for the comments. If all goes as planned, I should be working for 6 months in Exmouth, we will take the truck across as well. either shipping it across on a flatbed or driving it across, but will not have time for much sight seeing. We will do a fair bit of touring around whilst we are there . The next big trip will be on the way back, and hopefully in summer. We will head down the west coast to Perth and below, and then up towards Esperance before heading back through the interior up to Uluru and Alice Springs.

Tasmania is one our "Maybe" list, we prefer warm weather, Trish hates the cold, so it would have to be a summer at least.

Regarding the fuel tanks, I have seen the various aluminium tanks that the Unimog vendors have, and I am not a fan of aluminium in any type of fatigue loading, especially welded aluminium as it is a case of when they are going to crack, not if they are going to crack. The prices for these tanks are pretty high as well, and whilst the ones with the pressed or machined end plates are better, with aluminium, there is always a risk due to metal fatigue. I prefer steel tanks, and a proven design, hence I prefer something from an existing truck with a good reputation. $2000 or more per side, is a bit too much for me a well.

I originally wanted 400lt of fuel, but I bought the tanks very early on in the build. I calculated the volume in the wreckers, and thought I had a 140l and an 180lt tank, so 320lt but when we filled them we only had 120lt and 170lt, and a usable capacity of only 110lt and 160lt, so only 270lt. We did not think it was that much of a problem, and it was fine on our first trip, but in the more remote areas, the cost of fuel goes up a lot. We carried 90lt of fuel in jerry cans on the roof in some of the more remote areas, and this was worth it,saved us quite a bit filling up in the bigger town than on the small road houses. I decided to move the air tanks in order to build a box to hold four or five jerry cans on the side, so keeping the weight down low. I was at the wreckers looking for a tool box the other day when I saw a tank with a rated capacity of the 190lt tank at the wreckers for $500, I decided to buy it. This is bigger than the main tank, so should have a usable capacity of around 175-180lt.

The tool box at the wreckers would not fit, so I have asked my local sheet metal shop to make me one, it will still be able to hold four jerry cans, but most likely we will not need it, given we now have around 340lt fuel capacity but we will carry a few jerry cans of just in case.

Our long term plans are to take the truck around the world, so the extra fuel capacity will come in useful.

I'll sell the smaller fuel tank, it would fit nicely on an Isuzu or something smaller.

 

[Wyuna]

I see were you are coming from regarding the a steel factory made tank, and it is a lot easier to weld up a steel tank than an aluminium tank out in the bush.

But having said that, a well designed and well made baffled aluminium tank, supported by steel brackets shouldn't have any issues with fatigue, if engineered right, and thats the big question.

There are a lot of outback trucks and even boats with aluminium tanks that have survived harsh extreme conditions.

But, like you pointed out $2000 a side is quite steep compared to the $500 truck tank you just picked up.


I like the idea of getting a box made up for more jerry cans, a possible 420 litres of diesel would give you piece of mind while out west, and it also gives you a flexibility off carrying water jerry cans if you need to.

As for Tasmania, if Trish and yourself like to be warm then summer is the only time to go, we went in September/October and it was cold, but my wife and i prefer the cold over the heat, so it worked for us, plus we like travelling when the caravaners, and tourists aren't in plague numbers, so we plan our trips out of school holidays and off season.

It is just an amazing stunning place and i think your photography skills would do the Tasmania justice...

Well i got go, so good luck over in Exmouth, 6 months of working hard will fly, and you will be back on the road before you know it.

Keep updating your build, its a great read.

Cheers

 

[Iain_U1250]

Here are a few videos from our trip up the Canning Stock Route







and I finally got around to updating the blog as well.


http://unimog-adventure.blogspot.com.au/?zx=9fcf021c0dc1a2d9

 

[piratexpress1369a]

I saw them pretty cool ...

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[piratexpress1369a]

Wow what details in your blog .. great pictures

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[mrFelix]

canning

those corrugations looked like fun :Wow1:

 

[Iain_U1250]

Finished with the current modifications. First the new 190lt fuel tank, all sorted and connected. It took 20lts to get to the point where I could get the fuel pump to suck

The tool box is also in, it is big enough to hold four jerry cans, but most of the time it will just be extra storage, holding heavy items like the tool bags etc. The box is made from 1.6mm steel, with a strip of 5mm steel underneath as a support connection the front and rear brackets.

An open box is no where near as strong as a closed box like a fuel tank. The chassis flexes a fair amount, so I had to make the supports so the the box is not loaded by the twisting of the chassis. I made the front bracket so that it can pivot and has a couple of millimetres of freeplay around the hole and a teflon pad between the bracket and the box to reduce friction. I will find out if it works as soon once we get off road.

Here is the finished result - the inside is lined with marine carpet to reduce rattles and wear inside.

It is about 3" above the lowest point on the truck, so should be OK. We have not gotten into any situations where we have even come close to bottoming out the chassis.

 

[piratexpress1369a]

Looks awesome

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[Iain_U1250]

Finally got around to editing some of the video footage we took on the Canning Stock Route

 

[Sitec]

Fantastic vid! Awesome looking route too! I'll get to try it in mine one of these days!!

 

[Iain_U1250]

We drove down a pretty steep side slope today, over 30 Degrees on our in-cab Tiltometer.




We were on a Defender Club day our part of a long convoy. We came down a steep hill and then were on the side slope, no way to turn around. It was way beyond our comfort limits, but we made it. We then had to turn around and head back along the slope again. One particular turn to which we made going uphill, would be very difficult now we were approaching it going downhill. We got one of the cars to rig up a winch line through a snatch block attached to a tree then onto the top of the roll bar behind the cab. It was more of a safety rope than anything else, and we ended up not needing, the line stayed slack the whole time, it but I think we were pretty close to our limit. On the way out the truck lent up against a tree, the roof bars doing their job protecting the edge and the solar panels from damage.

I'm not sure what our actual tipping limit is, but I think were were pretty close.