November 12th, 2011
Spicergear:
Looks like greenjeepster is suffering Unimog envy. He cuts down the S404.114s without realizing that the S's were to the UHN's what the Model "A" is to all other Fords since then, the grandparent. My S will do pretty much everything the UHN will, except go as fast on the road. An S is a very powerful little machine, as I have experience in ripping bumpers off of Hummers and Land Rovers that do not have the front ends sufficiently braced for a hard pull, and if I have to, I will use the elastic inertial in a 8 ply nylon extraction strap (ex C-130) to ether break them out or break them down. I would like to have the auxilliary 4 gear add on box, which then gives you 8 gears in low range F or R instead of 2, but my wallet doesn't travel in that stratosphere.
I suspect our friend above has never really driven a stock S404 to know what it will do if the driver has more intelligence then the average FWD runner. NO, there are no stock Subaru Foreasters or Land Rovers that will do what the Unimog will, if there are they are purely in the fantasy land of electronic gaming.
An S404 has only 80 HP stock, but handled with sense and intelligence, it will cause most FWD owners to load their diapers in the same terrain areas, and make them green with envy. I've driven everything but the Land Rovers, and none of the ones I ran into in Texas or Illinois set any great standard of mobility in extreme terrain or mechanical reliability on any terrain or use.
The only British truck that would remotely meet a Unimog on fair comparision is the old 6X6 Scammells, and that is like comparing apples and oranges in terms of weight. I challenge Greenjeepster to load his Land Rover down with 2750 LBS of payload and then try to follow me in a stock Unimog....
It won't happen as neither the frame, transmission or axles on his Brisith toy could stand the punishment, yet there are plenty of 48 year old S404's doing just that all over the world...
And I will admit, Spicergear, that you have given me a case of UHN envy, but reality is that if I can get ahold of a good U1300L, I'll still rip up most other FWD's in rough terrain under load....
Real men drive MB Unimogs, all the others just wish they could own one..... Try it in a Unimog, greenjeepster, and you'll trade your tin and aluminum toy in on a Unimog and a lot of Fosters....