Who Built This Unimog Camper

[Iain_U1250]

The smaller Unimog can go where the Land Cruiser / Patrols go ( Jeeps don't go anywhere here in Australia, they just break down or get stuck) I've found that most of the tracks are only used by smaller vehicles, and since our U1250 has a very similar wheel track to a Patrol or Land Cruiser, ( 2000m outside of tyre to outside of tyre) we can go down the same tracks, bigger trucks would find one wheel out in the bush in many of the places we have driven, and have a much bigger potential for tyre damage. A U1300 is wider than us, and a U1700 wider again. Whilst the wider track helps stability, if also is more restrictive.

We do have to push through branches and having proper protection for the windscreen. cab and box is essential, as is having screen over the windows on the side.

 

[charlieaarons]

Regarding tipping angles the above is very similar to my calculations.
I calculated that my angle is about 32-35 degrees with the 7% increase due to decrease in offset with Hutchinson wheels from 161mm to 90mm increasing track from 1828mm to 1970mm. But of course the track is now close to a heavy truck.
Charlie

 

[thebigblue]

I certainly would love to own a Unimog - no doubt about that!

But do you really need the ground clearance that the portals gives you? Size-wise a MAN-VW FAE 4x4 (or a Mitsubishi Fuso) is similar to a Mog, and the MAN-W comes for less than 20% the price. Real demanding of-roading in EU can´t really be done, you need to travel to Morocco or other North-African contries. I'we been in Morocco on several occasions in my G, and haven´t really seen terrain that would call for a Mog, a MAN-VW would do just fine. In Iceland the only real challenge is the river fording, and a MAN-VW would be just fine, and you not allowed off-roading at all!

Maybe in the Americas you can use the Mog´s potential fully - I don´t know about that. Again I absolutely love the Unimog - but they are expensive, and in my opinion not really worth the extra money.

 

[charlieaarons]

Generally I agree with you but in North America in 2005 when I bought my U500 there weren't any decent alternatives. By that I mean at least 100 to 1 low range gearing, CTIS and full locking diffs
. A brief story. While near Lviv recently in Ukraine I was trying to make a three point U-turn on a fairly narrow dirt road. My rear wheels fell off the edge of the road which was elevated three or 4 feet above the surrounding terrain which was impassable due to woods. The sides of the road were soft gravel. First I locked my diffs, Still stuck. Then I deflated my tires by about 70% that got me out. I was in second donkey gear which is about 200 to 1.
What I have gotten unstuck in an MTV? The lowest gear is only about 42:1 not counting the torque converter with the 6.14 conversion. And the diffs don't lock either. What about an international or other American truck? Front locking diffs are almost unknown in these trucks as is central tire inflation. Of course you can deflate manually but with CTIS it only takes about three or four minutes to drop 70% of my pressure.
If MANs had been available in North America I could've gotten a T GM with central tire inflation and the ZF 16 speed Which offers low gearing.incidentally when I was stuck I was within about 2 inches of being grounded just in front of the rear axle but I wasn't grounded due to high ground clearance.
This was not intentional hard-core off-roading but rather an unexpected "happening" due to my stupidity and/or fatigue.
Charlie

 

[Iain_U1250]

I hope I never need to use the full capability of my Unimog, because that will mean I have screwed up rather badly.

What I have found is that the tracks are nearly always suitable for vehicles with a lot less capability than a Unimog. There are places where the "weekend warrior" go to see what they can break on their 4wds, but you don't take your "house" up one of those tracks just to see if it can handle it. When I'm driving around, there are some basic rules I follow . First is always take the "chicken track", there is no point trying the harder track just to see if you can, because the consequences of failure are just not worth it. Second is don't do it unless you have to. We saw some big hills our on the Canning Stock Route with very rough, loose and very steep tracks to the the lookout at the top. We decided to walk up the hills rather that drive like some do, as if something had gone wrong, we were 600km for the nearest town. We know that the truck would be able to do it, as we have driven up tracks that were steeper and rougher earlier in our trip but those were tracks that went to specific places which we wanted to go to, not just a side track to a lookout.

The real big advantage of having lots of spare off road capability became evident for us when driving up the some steep sand dunes. I would drive the first part in normal 3 or 4th gear, then if it got really steep and loose we would come to a stop. I could then just put it into my low range (working gears) and just pull off and carry on up the dune slowly. I knew there was no way we would bottom out given the 500mm clearance I have under the diff and 700mm under the chassis. With the 54:1 first gear could drive up a 45 Deg slope. On a few really steep dunes, due to the prevailing wind, the approach to the crest was soft wind blown sand. I could see by the masses of footprints, big holes and broken trees that people before us had gotten stuck and had to use Maxtraxx and winches to pull themselves over. In first gear / low range with the diffs locked we crawled over the dune very slowly, almost paddling our way up. I didn't have to take a massive run up and use momentum to get over crest, nor did I have to lower my tyre pressures to the minimum ( although if I had CTIS like Charlie, then I would have changed the pressure a lot more often). Driving up the dunes became the place where we could relax. I would stop halfway up, lock the diffs, put it in 4th gear / low range and then I could take my hands off the wheel, take a sip of coffee and a biscuit, clean the sunglasses, check the map and get ready for the radio check on the crest, etc and I'd just relax whilst the truck tractored up the dune.

 

[LocoCoyote]

I certainly would love to own a Unimog - no doubt about that!

But do you really need the ground clearance that the portals gives you? Size-wise a MAN-VW FAE 4x4 (or a Mitsubishi Fuso) is similar to a Mog, and the MAN-W comes for less than 20% the price. Real demanding of-roading in EU can´t really be done, you need to travel to Morocco or other North-African contries. I'we been in Morocco on several occasions in my G, and haven´t really seen terrain that would call for a Mog, a MAN-VW would do just fine. In Iceland the only real challenge is the river fording, and a MAN-VW would be just fine, and you not allowed off-roading at all!

Maybe in the Americas you can use the Mog´s potential fully - I don´t know about that. Again I absolutely love the Unimog - but they are expensive, and in my opinion not really worth the extra money.

I suggest you try Romain and Albania.......you will get your "real" off roading there.

 

[chand-o]

If you want to reduce the scratches have the body vinyl wrapped. You will be able to do minor repairs and if in a few years time you decide its badly damaged you can peel it off the paint work will be pretty much OK if not perfect. Obviously it wont stop a heavy impact but it will still help reduce the damage. Its surprising how much it can reduce the impact of a stone hitting the paint as well.

 

[lost1]

Going back to the original question of height and cabover design. I really needed the space with a family but didn't want to go too high either so I built a raising roof with electric screw jacks inside. I don't have access to my pics (as I am in Haiti) but I found a video clip from my family trip across North America last summer.

http://globalnews.ca/news/2849647/cross-canada-road-trip-brings-baby-boxes-to-moms-in-refugee-camps/