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Thread: Progress on My Unimog

  1. #271
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    Bling

    Just fitted some new wheels to the truck. Aluminium beadlock wheels.

    2022-03-05 17.22.23.jpg

    They have internal beadlock inserts, to hold the tyre on the wheel at low pressure.

    2022-02-17 17.17.54.jpg

    I also have internal tyre pressure and temperature senors, they shoudl be a lot better than the external ones, and are supposed to last 7 years or 100,000kms, so longer than the tyres at least.

    2022-03-05 17.22.39.jpg

    Getting the tyres off the old wheels confirmed that this was the right decision, it took about 20-30 minutes to get them off the wheel, using a proper set of Michelin truck tyre irons and an R&R beadbreaker. Getting them back on the new wheels took 5 minutes to fit the tyre, and another 5 to tighten up all the wheel nuts. I did a trial to get the tyre off inadvertently, when I forgot the seal ring, and that took only 5 mintures as well.

  2. #272
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    is there much difference in weight between the original wheels?
    Andrew
    1998 Landrover Defender 300Tdi 130 HCPU Expedition
    1972 Peugeot 504 Sedan - Daily Driver

  3. #273
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    Quote Originally Posted by 86mud View Post
    is there much difference in weight between the original wheels?
    The new wheels with the internal beadlocks are 39.7 + 4.8 = 44.5kg

    I had a pair of 11x 20 SDC "Super" wheels - 38.2kg on the rear so they were 5.9kg lighter

    and a pair of 11 x 20 32,8kg "Standard" wheels on the front, 11.7kg lighter.

    All up I have added an extra 46.9kg to the overall weight of the truck for the five new wheels.

  4. #274
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    The new wheels will make changing tyres a bit easier I think.


  5. #275
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    Before we had our Unimog, we had a couple of Land Rovers and this video show two of the trips we did.


  6. #276
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    Progress on My Unimog

    Quote Originally Posted by Iain_B View Post
    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.

    Hi Ian, your recent post has me thinking this again as I transition soon to more time on my hands, after I finish a couple of LR projects. The mog is an impressive platform, but what about Japanese 4x4 trucks like the Mistsu? These are prob more available.

    Also a mate of a mate bought a MAN camper a few years ago, and OMG looks amazing. Way way outside my budget.
    L322 tdv8 poverty pack - wow
    Perentie 110 wagon ARN 49-107 (probably selling) turbo, p/steer, RFSV front axle/trutrack, HF, gullwing windows, double jerrys etc.
    Perentie 110 wagon ARN 48-699 another project
    Track Trailer ARN 200-117
    REMLR # 137

  7. #277
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    The problem I have with a lot of those type of trucks, is that they are basically road trucks to which they add the 4x4 system. They are fine for the occasional dirt road, but are not designed to be at full GVM all the time on bad roads.

    The Unimog is, so it is pretty much overkill for most situations, a 12 ton GVM on the U1700 means you are not going to be close to maximum, however on my U1250, I am always close to max GVM, but the truck can handle it, the chassis rails are 10mm thick U channel, and that is even strengthened in places. The Canters and even the MANs have thinner chassis, yet the same GVM or close to it, the laws of physics don't change, so I asked myself why is it that a Unimog chassis is thicker and made of high tensile tempererd steel, so much so you can't weld on it without the proper weld procedures etc. The others are much thinner, especially the Japanese ones. MAN have two different specifications for their chassis, the standard one and the miltitary one.

    There are Mitsubishis and others that people use, and they have fun with them, I think they will have a limited life expectancy if you use them on a lot of corrugations, fully loaded for long trips.

    I've seen quite a few with cracked chassis, failed spring supports,gearbox problems etc,

    Just my opinion, but I did look seriously into all the options before deciding to get a Unimog.

    I like mine because it is a smaller Unimogs, so I can fit in the same places people with Land Cruisers and Patrols do, the bigger U1700 ones will most likely find a way, but lots of risk of tyre damage etc. Bigger is not always better

  8. #278
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    Thanks again Ian for the detailed reply. The U1250 does sound like a good size, but not very common.

    And thanks for the link to your videos. The build was good to see.
    L322 tdv8 poverty pack - wow
    Perentie 110 wagon ARN 49-107 (probably selling) turbo, p/steer, RFSV front axle/trutrack, HF, gullwing windows, double jerrys etc.
    Perentie 110 wagon ARN 48-699 another project
    Track Trailer ARN 200-117
    REMLR # 137

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