Cletuskasady
New member
- 4
- 0
- 1
- Location
- NJ
Would a fast axle Unimog make a good cross country expedition RV?
thanks, J
thanks, J
Steel Soldiers now has a few new forums, read more about it at: New Munitions Forums!
Thank you @tennmogger ..When you add a large habitat that is heavy and raises CG, wide as or wider than the Unimog, maybe decreases departure angle, you just limited where the vehicle can go. The abilities of the vehicle, and the benefits of a Unimog have been negated.
Then consider the desire to push the Mog beyond it's designed speed parameter, the inability to have it towed (can't pull an axle or drop a driveshaft), no shops to do repairs, and somewhat of a parts procurement issue. Then the hub issue.
After putting over 100k km on our U1300, Om-366A turbo with faster axles (ex-fire truck) and overdrive, we moved our Alaskan camper to an LMTV and eliminated the breakdown concern.
But I miss the 14 mpg of the mog compared to 6 for the LMTV.
Best solution: get a Unimog, a lightweight shelter, and slow down.
I have bought a few large items from AV over the years, like soundproofing mats and a used cab tilting jack. Both came by air freight (not cheap) but they were willing to do it. With all the goodies you want, it makes sense for AV to source a base truck, recon it and install all the parts and ship it over instead of trying to get the parts shipped. The one caveat is that 1300Ls are not immune to rot and the german's use road salt, with what you are looking at for a build, I would fly over to see the donor truck before the rehab. See if they can source the Atlas subframe. BTW, make sure the engine you buy has the oil squirters that spray oil up under the pistons. I think the OM 352 block has to be machined for them but the OM 366 is at least machined and many have them OEM.Thanks @peakbagger !
I wanna keep her lightweight and go anywhere. I have Starlink for the times that I’m out too. Have had that for about 1.5 years.
Cruising back roads, staying off the interstate, and being on dirt/4x4 trails as much as possible is the goal. Yes, there are other rigs out there but I’m pretty set in my mind.
Fast axles, maybe super fast, and overdrive, coupled with a turbo’d engine is what I think I want. Unsure on the super fast.
I’ve been chatting with Paul at Atkinson Vos.. Good guy!
I think a lot of approaches have been tried and the solution is stock weight synthetic oil filled to the brim (or even slightly overfilled) with Vons special tubing to recover any oil that tries to go up the purge tubing. If the oil is in there they seem to do well but eventually there can be rear seal leakage and once that starts, there just is not a lot of fluid to leak before the damage occurs. Most folks carry a cheap IR gun and check the temps of the portals at every fuel stop.I wonder if anyone has considered using helicopter or turboprop transmission oils in their gear hubs. Turbine transmissions operate at high speed and load continuously.
Recently I was presented with some large bearings that were overheating. Previous operators decided to use high temperature grease (Kendall Super Blue 427) because the bearings were overheating. High temp grease has higher viscosity oil
. This led to more overheating and bearing failures. The solution for sustained high speed operation was to switch to a lighter duty grease (Mobil Polyrex EM)
Appreciate the knowledge!I think a lot of approaches have been tried and the solution is stock weight synthetic oil filled to the brim (or even slightly overfilled) with Vons special tubing to recover any oil that tries to go up the purge tubing. If the oil is in there they seem to do well but eventually there can be rear seal leakage and once that starts, there just is not a lot of fluid to leak before the damage occurs. Most folks carry a cheap IR gun and check the temps of the portals at every fuel stop.
We get it, advertisements are annoying!
Sure, ad-blocking software does a great job at blocking ads, but it also blocks useful features of our website like our supporting vendors. Their ads help keep Steel Soldiers going. Please consider disabling your ad blockers for the site. Thanks!