Hodakaguy
Adventurer
First off would Like to say high to the group, looking forward to sharing my build and picking up tips and member knowledge/help as I go.
About 18 years ago I owned a Unimog 404 and had a lot of fun with it. A couple months back while in the shop working on my wifes car my dad and I started talking about building up a Mog with a camper to use for remote desert travel, within an hr that plan had been set in motion!
My wife on my old 404.
First up sell some toys to fund the project. I listed up for sale my dirt and street bikes, a couple minibikes and a few other misc items. Once things were sold we started looking for our perfect Mog to start the build with. I've always wanted a newer diesel mog and I quickly settled on a U1300L model as the unit we were looking for. I wanted a super clean/low mile troop carrier with a turbo but after quite a bit of searching all the troop carrier models I was finding were rougher than I really wanted. I came close to purchasing a 1300 from Scott at Expedition Imports, while Scott was great to work with I decided I wanted a Turbo and the truck that Scott had has lacking the turbo and fast axles. I ended up finding a super clean RW1 from VK Cars in Belgium and after talking to Andy (the owner) numerous times decided to close the deal and buy his 1988 RW1's. Andy was great to deal with and about 1.5 months later the Mog was on US soil!
The RW1:
The RW1 is a fire truck that is used in rescue service, this truck carries gear such as the jaws of life, rescue tools, etc. The box on the RW1 is very cool, the sides fold down and become steps and the inside of the box is filled with slide out racks and drawers that the rescue tools once lived in. The RW1 offers a few advantages over the troop truck models which are usually bare bones basic models. The RW1 comes with an exhaust brake (very effective and reduces brake wear, keeps the portal temps down, and helps in steep decent in low range), has the newer 366A Turbo engine with fast axles, Hydraulic Werner winch (Located under the back of the truck for better winching effect to utilize the trucks weight, the cable spools out through guides to the front of the truck, you can also leave the front cable pinned and use the snatch block to pull backwards), diesel fired aux cab heater, Front and Rear sway bars, Hydraulic suspension drivers seat, Undercoating, has 4 calipers on the front rotors (two of the calipers can be locked down by pressing a button for winching duties), square vent hatch on roof, electric air dryer system on brakes. The U1300 trucks use a 8 speed gear box and have air actuated 4x4 and diff lockers. The articulation is amazing on these trucks, one of the most capable factory 4x4's you can buy.
Being a fire truck that was just recently taken out of service the maint is current and the truck is ready to roll. Since these are emergency vehicles they are maintained and treated very well compared to the military versions, in the end I decided this would be my best bet for finding a super clean unit to start my build. The truck has only 26,000 KM on it (16,100 miles).
My plan as of now is to install a troop bed, repaint the truck a silver/grey color, build a custom safari rack and brush guard, install larger tires and make/buy a removable camper unit for desert travel. I was thinking about making a dedicated camper to leave on the truck full time but really want the double duty offered by having a removable camper and troop bed.
The Truck: After going through all the necessary paperwork the day finally arrived to pick the truck up from the port of Tacoma WA. My father and I arrived at the port at 7:30 am eager to see what our money had bought. After a few more forms we were taken to the holding area to get the first peak at the truck.
My first peak at the truck....see it?
Yep that's it...I recognize that yellow stripe.
A few min later one of the dock workers brought the Mog over to me.
I was very impressed with the cond of the truck, it looked way better in person than it did in the pictures! The underside of the truck is super clean, no rust anywhere! It was advertised as being "like new", very accurate description. Thanks Andy! Had to pose with a shot of the new truck
These trucks are BIG but at the same time they have a very tight turning radius.
We drove a few miles down the road and stopped for breakfast, I wanted to give the truck a good once over and check engine oil before hitting the highway for the 230 mile drive home. Andy had changed the engine and trans oil, oil and fuel filters and air filter before the truck left Belgium...everything looked good!
Portal Axles: Unimogs use portal axles for increased ground clearance and each portal box has it's own oil reservoir. It's a known issue on the U1300's that at high speeds the gear boxes will pump their oil out through the vent and into the main axle, if you run the boxes dry you can burn up a lot of expensive parts. Knowing this I brought a IR temp gun with me and pulled over fairly often to check temps on the gear boxes and axles till I was comfortable that all was well. The drivers side front gear box was running higher temps than the rest so we stopped at an auto parts store to make sure all the gear boxes were topped off. Turns out both front boxes were a little low and once topped off all the temps were running low and close together....glad we didn't just roll on!
Getting ready to top off the portal hubs, once home I will change out all the gear oils to synthetic.
Checking the back portal units, both were full.
Nice shot of the winch.
Top of the pass crossing the Cascade Mountains. Cruising at 53-55mph and enjoying the scenery.
Dad checking out the dash, he hadn't driven it yet
Rest Stop
My Dad trying out the truck, we swapped drivers at this point so he could see what I was grinning ear to ear about
Fuel Baby!
Rollin down the hwy
Pulled in the driveway at home and my son came running out to the truck, instant jungle gym!
"Yeah dad, this is going to be sweet!" You can see the side folded down and the interior of the box, more pics to come.
Stock size tires arn't small by any means...they will be replaced soon by larger units though
Lots more to come!
Hodakaguy
About 18 years ago I owned a Unimog 404 and had a lot of fun with it. A couple months back while in the shop working on my wifes car my dad and I started talking about building up a Mog with a camper to use for remote desert travel, within an hr that plan had been set in motion!
My wife on my old 404.
First up sell some toys to fund the project. I listed up for sale my dirt and street bikes, a couple minibikes and a few other misc items. Once things were sold we started looking for our perfect Mog to start the build with. I've always wanted a newer diesel mog and I quickly settled on a U1300L model as the unit we were looking for. I wanted a super clean/low mile troop carrier with a turbo but after quite a bit of searching all the troop carrier models I was finding were rougher than I really wanted. I came close to purchasing a 1300 from Scott at Expedition Imports, while Scott was great to work with I decided I wanted a Turbo and the truck that Scott had has lacking the turbo and fast axles. I ended up finding a super clean RW1 from VK Cars in Belgium and after talking to Andy (the owner) numerous times decided to close the deal and buy his 1988 RW1's. Andy was great to deal with and about 1.5 months later the Mog was on US soil!
The RW1:
The RW1 is a fire truck that is used in rescue service, this truck carries gear such as the jaws of life, rescue tools, etc. The box on the RW1 is very cool, the sides fold down and become steps and the inside of the box is filled with slide out racks and drawers that the rescue tools once lived in. The RW1 offers a few advantages over the troop truck models which are usually bare bones basic models. The RW1 comes with an exhaust brake (very effective and reduces brake wear, keeps the portal temps down, and helps in steep decent in low range), has the newer 366A Turbo engine with fast axles, Hydraulic Werner winch (Located under the back of the truck for better winching effect to utilize the trucks weight, the cable spools out through guides to the front of the truck, you can also leave the front cable pinned and use the snatch block to pull backwards), diesel fired aux cab heater, Front and Rear sway bars, Hydraulic suspension drivers seat, Undercoating, has 4 calipers on the front rotors (two of the calipers can be locked down by pressing a button for winching duties), square vent hatch on roof, electric air dryer system on brakes. The U1300 trucks use a 8 speed gear box and have air actuated 4x4 and diff lockers. The articulation is amazing on these trucks, one of the most capable factory 4x4's you can buy.
Being a fire truck that was just recently taken out of service the maint is current and the truck is ready to roll. Since these are emergency vehicles they are maintained and treated very well compared to the military versions, in the end I decided this would be my best bet for finding a super clean unit to start my build. The truck has only 26,000 KM on it (16,100 miles).
My plan as of now is to install a troop bed, repaint the truck a silver/grey color, build a custom safari rack and brush guard, install larger tires and make/buy a removable camper unit for desert travel. I was thinking about making a dedicated camper to leave on the truck full time but really want the double duty offered by having a removable camper and troop bed.
The Truck: After going through all the necessary paperwork the day finally arrived to pick the truck up from the port of Tacoma WA. My father and I arrived at the port at 7:30 am eager to see what our money had bought. After a few more forms we were taken to the holding area to get the first peak at the truck.
My first peak at the truck....see it?
Yep that's it...I recognize that yellow stripe.
A few min later one of the dock workers brought the Mog over to me.
I was very impressed with the cond of the truck, it looked way better in person than it did in the pictures! The underside of the truck is super clean, no rust anywhere! It was advertised as being "like new", very accurate description. Thanks Andy! Had to pose with a shot of the new truck
These trucks are BIG but at the same time they have a very tight turning radius.
We drove a few miles down the road and stopped for breakfast, I wanted to give the truck a good once over and check engine oil before hitting the highway for the 230 mile drive home. Andy had changed the engine and trans oil, oil and fuel filters and air filter before the truck left Belgium...everything looked good!
Portal Axles: Unimogs use portal axles for increased ground clearance and each portal box has it's own oil reservoir. It's a known issue on the U1300's that at high speeds the gear boxes will pump their oil out through the vent and into the main axle, if you run the boxes dry you can burn up a lot of expensive parts. Knowing this I brought a IR temp gun with me and pulled over fairly often to check temps on the gear boxes and axles till I was comfortable that all was well. The drivers side front gear box was running higher temps than the rest so we stopped at an auto parts store to make sure all the gear boxes were topped off. Turns out both front boxes were a little low and once topped off all the temps were running low and close together....glad we didn't just roll on!
Getting ready to top off the portal hubs, once home I will change out all the gear oils to synthetic.
Checking the back portal units, both were full.
Nice shot of the winch.
Top of the pass crossing the Cascade Mountains. Cruising at 53-55mph and enjoying the scenery.
Dad checking out the dash, he hadn't driven it yet
Rest Stop
My Dad trying out the truck, we swapped drivers at this point so he could see what I was grinning ear to ear about
Fuel Baby!
Rollin down the hwy
Pulled in the driveway at home and my son came running out to the truck, instant jungle gym!
"Yeah dad, this is going to be sweet!" You can see the side folded down and the interior of the box, more pics to come.
Stock size tires arn't small by any means...they will be replaced soon by larger units though
Lots more to come!
Hodakaguy
