Strange looking critter

[NDT]

It's funny how those Unimogs can be so popular in Europe, you see them everywhere with flail mowers cutting the roadside, and for light earthmoving, but here in the US if you showed up on a jobsite with one, noone would be able to stop laughing . . . the guys with the Case 580's would dig a trench around you before you could get set up, and that was true 40 years ago as today. I guess some things work over there, but were never popular here, but the Army thinks they are cool, so let's try it too. Cabover 2 1/2 ton 4x4's (LMTVs) come to mind as well as "knuckleboom" cranes (sorry Cranetruck).

 

[mbarber84]

I believe the SEE series is being phased out by the HMEE (High Mobility Engineer Excavator) built by the JCB corporation.....same purpose as the SEE but in a more stout package and i think it has a 60mph top speed too. I had a rare opportunity to sit in one of them at the 2008 CONEXPO equipment show in Las Vegas. Man that was a cool trip....., and the HMEE is a pretty awesome piece

 

[Jones]

When they're running they're loud, hot and slow.
Unimogs have very tight tolerances (thanks, german uber engineering) so everything has to be lined up exactly or they don't come apart or go together without a fight.
Until recently, Unimogs had torque tube drivelines so you had to pull the axle(s) to do any trans., clutch, or transfer case work.
Had one with a turn signal indicator light that wouldn't work. Turns out the darned thing had it's own fuse.

Chaplain, you're right. The restrictions on post-war Germany dictated that nothing could be built which could be converted to tactical use-- so the earliest Unimogs were built as farm implements.

 

[KaiserM109]

I have heard that unimogs were originally designed as tractors.

That's true; they were designed right after WWII to help German farmers get going. Now half the 3rd world countries use them as military vehicles.

In the '70s Unimog marketed a lot of configurations like that to civilians. Our county had one very similar to that one.

4k is cheap for a Unimog.

I believe the SEE series is being phased out by the HMEE (High Mobility Engineer Excavator) built by the JCB corporation.....same purpose as the SEE but in a more stout package and i think it has a 60mph top speed too. I had a rare opportunity to sit in one of them at the 2008 CONEXPO equipment show in Las Vegas. Man that was a cool trip..... , and the HMEE is a pretty awesome piece

Take a look at the video in this thread:
http://www.steelsoldiers.com/requirements-new-members/37584-army-grease-monkey-new-here.html

 

[Canislupus]

It looks Borg...

Scary

 

[mbarber84]

That`s it! Pretty awesome piece of construction equipment.....I wouldnt mind putting one of those in my fleet ( I can think of some practical applications in the rougher neighborhoods!)