Thread: Progress on My Unimog

Originally Posted by Iain_B

Just a few additions, going to have to stop some day





Got a heavy duty bike rack so we can take our mountain bikes with us on the next trip.











At the recent Defender Day Out we pushed the comfort limits a bit on one particular side slope.







and finally, a couple more videos,



First just to show our truck is a little bit faster than a normal Unimog.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65XWr0ncMQ0



This one shows a friend truck going down a tight creek bed.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXQIZVyrQng&t

Are the U1700s a good base for a touring vehicle? They are around 30 years old now.

A U1700 would make a good touring vehicle, but it is quite a big truck, and the wheel track is about one tyre width wider than a Land Cruiser or Patrol. This is only a problem on tracks that have never seen a grader for years, like the CSR. We found that the remote tracks are Land Cruiser or Patrol size, and we had to push through the scrub, but at least we have the narrow track Unimog so our tyres seem to survive. Budget for two replacement tyres at the end of the CSR if you have a normal Unimog.

An ex-military U1700 is a very basic vehicle, no heat or sound insulation, no air con, very basic seats, etc etc. If you like driving very basic trucks, then it would be fine. To "Civilize" it costs at least $20K, unless you do it all yourself, then around $5-10K. Buying a 30+ year old truck and then taking around Australia in remote areas would not be a good idea. The military ones might have been maintained properly a few years ago, but looking at the ones I have seen come off the auctions, they stopped fixing things a long time ago. I would replace everything on the air system, tanks, hoses, valves, all components. They never ran air dryers on the military ones, so after 30 years, the air tanks are full of gunk, and that ends up throughout the air system, it is only a matter of time before something fails, and then you are stuck. Other common failures are the Omnitrac tyres they all come with, don't even think about airing down for the beach unless you are lucky enough to have a set new tyres, or they will disintegrate. Most of the tyres are way over 5 years old, and very brittle from being parked without moving for so long. I don't think the ADF ever wore out the tread on tyres, just replaced them through age, so check the date stamps on the tyres. A common mod are the Hutchinson bead lock wheels, they increase the already wide track by another 150mm and they need longer wheel studs. Michelin XZL 395/85R20 tyres are currently easy to obtain, the US military are selling loads from their stock piles, most are 5 years old, but never been fitted. They are suppose to be fitted on 10" wide wheels, and standard Unimog wheels are 11".

Top speed of the military U1700 is 90kph, and that's with engine sitting around the redline at 2700rpm to do that, to improve things fit a Claas Overdrive, and the bigger 395/85R20 tyres so you can do 100kph at 2200rpm. You will then need to fit an intercooler and get the injectors and injection pump reset so you can have enough power to drive at 90kph.

Then you need to fit the "Working Gears" so you can drive slow enough when going down creek beds. First gear is still too fast for crawling up rocks of slopes, imagine driving a Defender without low range on anything other than a road.

Then you will need a bigger fuel tank, as the stock ones have a useful capacity of 140lt, so only around 500km range off road.

From talking to other Unimog owners, it costs at least $50K to get an Ex-military U1700 up to basic touring standards. Then you need to build a box on the back to live in, budget $75-100K for that with all the fittings if you do it yourself, or $150-250K for someone else to build one depending on your taste.

Rar110 - Iain has summed it up pretty well. We seriously looked at using a Unimog, but the amount of work required to get it 'civilized' is enormous.

A Claas overdrive can be imported from Vos in the UK, but by the time you get it fitted, there goes $10K.

Airconditioning - I got a quote for $8K to get that fitted.

They are a stunning offroad vehicle, and if you are good at fabrication (like Iain is) they can be an excellent project. But for general touring, you might need the capability of a Unimog 1% of the time. The other 99% you have to suffer its shortcomings.

We solved it like this:


See here: Deciding on a vehicle if you are interested in how we decided what vehicle to use.

Cheers
David

Thanks Gents. Much appreciated. Also, I've enjoyed reports from you both. Fantastic build up.

Originally Posted by Iain_B

...


and I finally updated the blog as well.

Iain and Trish's Unimog Adventures

Great bit of reading here - congratulations on an epic build and tour! Is the blog above still working?

Blog still works, but set to private for a while, send me you email address and I will add you to the subscribers.

Originally Posted by veebs

Great bit of reading here - congratulations on an epic build and tour! Is the blog above still working?

Bump

We have had a great time in our truck, been traveling a lot when not having to work. My wife has a YouTube channel with quite a few videos now.







In terms of modifications, I have done a few small ones since last I posted here, but recently I decided to upgrade the transmission, and have taken out the 40 year old UG3/40 and replaced it with a brand new UG100/8.

It was a tight squeeze getting it in, but will be worth it to have a modern dual syncro transmission with overdrive 8th gear, should be a lot smoother and quieter as well. It will let us cruise at 100kph at around 1950rpm, and in low range, at 1kph.

Gears 3.jpg

2021-10-31 17.58.16.jpg

2021-11-08 18.30.46.jpg

It has pneumatic forward/reverse and high/low ratio change over, and since it comes from a much heavier and more powerful Unimog, it should it will have no problems with our little truck.

2021-08-08 14.05.05.jpg

All I have to do now, is put the front and back axles, re-plumb the air system, a bit of wiring, and put the fuel tanks and storage boxes back in, piece of cake really