surewriting
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- Buford, Ga
Well, its taken a little over 2 years, but we (well my dad, but I feel I can claim some credit, since I found it and got it home safe) finally have our '63 404s Unimog! Be warned, I tend to be long-winded and it might get tedious, and after all, it was a loooonnngg day; it started at about 9am and ended at about 3:30 am.
We bought it about 2 years ago from a very nice gentleman who raises reindeer on a farm down in south GA, and around the same time we purchased an '86 one-ton chevy dually and a 40-ft car hauler gooseneck trailer (located in memphis). It took about a year to get the truck running reliably enough to attempt getting the trailer (went through 2 motors and had the rear end rebuilt), which went off without a hitch (sorry, I love bad puns). When we got it home, it was placed in the backyard, which slopes downhill to a creek, where it levels out and loves to collect a couple of inches of rainwater, fortunately it was put down there in the summer, so no problems getting it down. We had several abortive attempts over the past few months to get the trailer out to get the unimog due to rain and the truck sliding and getting stuck. We finally got down there tuesday morning, and hooked everything up, only to find the trailers tires were all dry-rotted, and one had a nail, and another had a broken valve stem. Well, since we had to get the unimog on that day (otherwise we would have to wait for an unknown number of months, and the former owner needed it off his property, though he was extremely gracious about holding onto it for us), we decided to push our luck (against my better judgement) and head on down with those tires, and no spare.
After a couple of trips to Northern tool to get some d-ring shackles, a snatch block, and many ratchet straps/tie downs (at my insistence- my dad figured he would be fine with 4 straps and one tow strap- we wound up needed 8 ratchet straps and about 5 tow straps), we were about ready to start extracting the trailer from the gooey mess of the backyard.
Now onto the exciting part! But do not worry, I can make this one tedious sounding too lol.
We get the dually backed down the hill, and hooked up to the trailer, and the jeep (nice '06 rubicon, not the crappy one in my avatar) is standing by over to the side, w/ winch, waiting to have to pull stuff around. So far so good, and we start getting some momentum through the muddy stuff, about to make it to more solid ground, when a sapling gets caught between the tire and the frame of the trailer (open tire design- no fenders), so we have to back up, and get stuck in the mud. At my suggestion, the jeep is placed with its front bumper against a tree (to brace it) to winch the trailer sideways about 20 feet through the mud, and it worked perfectly! The yard got a bit torn up though. Then to move the jeep way ahead and to to the side of the dually, to brace it against another tree (other wise it'll just slide in the slick muddy grass), and use the snatch block to haul the truck forwards a couple of feet. After that, we hook up all the tow straps together with the d-rings and put the jeep up on the pavement at the top of the hill (as seen in my avatar, my former truck being pulled out), and winch that sucker out. We smoked the clutch on the jeep trying to tow truck and trailer, and just wound up using just the little electric winch to pull it all the way up the hill, whereupon we meet another setback: the footings for the trailer are hitting the sidewalk and preventing the trailer from being hauled all the way up to street level. After much swearing, grunting and PB blaster, we get the neck of the trailer adjusted up, and the whole shebang onto the street, almost ready to go. So far, its taken about 3 1/2 hours to move the trailer about 300 feet.
Onto part II of the Saga!
The jeep is loaded up and strapped down on the trailer (need to use it to pull the non-running unimog around and onto the trailer for the recovery). The plan is me and my dad are going to drive down there as fast as safely possible, and load up the unimog and the jeep on the trailer, and drive home. Don't worry, more setbacks are on their way! Whilst driving around Atlanta, we get a flat on one of the trailer tires, and have to pull off at the nearest exit and get to a tire shop, whereupon we are informed that the empty lot we pulled into next to the tire shop wont work (they cant reach it with the air hoses), and that we need to turn around and back into the tiny parking lot, which involved me having to stop traffic, and my dad (not having driven this trailer more than once), backs into a subaru with the corner of the trailer, leaving a half-dollar sized hole, which of course puts everyone in an irritable mood, which is compounded by the fact that all the trailer tires are crap and need to be replaced. Aparrently they were all dry-rotted, one was a passenger car tire, another was off of an SUV, and one was some random bias ply tire (the one that went flat), and of course the shop only has 3 tires. While its being worked on, we also find out that the tires will support the weight of the jeep and unimog, but not the dual axles, which puts a bit of a hitch in our plans. Since I regrettably cannot drive stick (working on it), my mother is called in to drive down about 45 min to take a trip with us, so she can drive the jeep back home (the only other member of the household capable of driving that beast). The recovery has gotten more complicated.
Now, to part III!
After lots of driving through rural south GA, we make it to the place where the unimog is, and of course, theyve been getting rain nonstop, so its all unpaved and under a inch or two of water. First things first, just getting the truck and trailer into the driveway, we get stuck. Next, onto to inspect the unimog (kept in a barn), and we get the truck unstuck, turned the right way, hook the jeep up to the unimog, pull it around to the trailer, load it up, and drive the rest of the way back nice and uneventful (to cut it short).
And none of it would have happened without my expert guidance (sorry, I just want to brag for a moment, since Im pretty modest in person, or at least act like it). Faced with constant setbacks, darn near everything I did worked like a charm and man it feels good to have absolutely everything you do to fix something work perfectly.
some pictures to come, I promise! sadly, not a whole lot, because I was busy working
We bought it about 2 years ago from a very nice gentleman who raises reindeer on a farm down in south GA, and around the same time we purchased an '86 one-ton chevy dually and a 40-ft car hauler gooseneck trailer (located in memphis). It took about a year to get the truck running reliably enough to attempt getting the trailer (went through 2 motors and had the rear end rebuilt), which went off without a hitch (sorry, I love bad puns). When we got it home, it was placed in the backyard, which slopes downhill to a creek, where it levels out and loves to collect a couple of inches of rainwater, fortunately it was put down there in the summer, so no problems getting it down. We had several abortive attempts over the past few months to get the trailer out to get the unimog due to rain and the truck sliding and getting stuck. We finally got down there tuesday morning, and hooked everything up, only to find the trailers tires were all dry-rotted, and one had a nail, and another had a broken valve stem. Well, since we had to get the unimog on that day (otherwise we would have to wait for an unknown number of months, and the former owner needed it off his property, though he was extremely gracious about holding onto it for us), we decided to push our luck (against my better judgement) and head on down with those tires, and no spare.
After a couple of trips to Northern tool to get some d-ring shackles, a snatch block, and many ratchet straps/tie downs (at my insistence- my dad figured he would be fine with 4 straps and one tow strap- we wound up needed 8 ratchet straps and about 5 tow straps), we were about ready to start extracting the trailer from the gooey mess of the backyard.
Now onto the exciting part! But do not worry, I can make this one tedious sounding too lol.
We get the dually backed down the hill, and hooked up to the trailer, and the jeep (nice '06 rubicon, not the crappy one in my avatar) is standing by over to the side, w/ winch, waiting to have to pull stuff around. So far so good, and we start getting some momentum through the muddy stuff, about to make it to more solid ground, when a sapling gets caught between the tire and the frame of the trailer (open tire design- no fenders), so we have to back up, and get stuck in the mud. At my suggestion, the jeep is placed with its front bumper against a tree (to brace it) to winch the trailer sideways about 20 feet through the mud, and it worked perfectly! The yard got a bit torn up though. Then to move the jeep way ahead and to to the side of the dually, to brace it against another tree (other wise it'll just slide in the slick muddy grass), and use the snatch block to haul the truck forwards a couple of feet. After that, we hook up all the tow straps together with the d-rings and put the jeep up on the pavement at the top of the hill (as seen in my avatar, my former truck being pulled out), and winch that sucker out. We smoked the clutch on the jeep trying to tow truck and trailer, and just wound up using just the little electric winch to pull it all the way up the hill, whereupon we meet another setback: the footings for the trailer are hitting the sidewalk and preventing the trailer from being hauled all the way up to street level. After much swearing, grunting and PB blaster, we get the neck of the trailer adjusted up, and the whole shebang onto the street, almost ready to go. So far, its taken about 3 1/2 hours to move the trailer about 300 feet.
Onto part II of the Saga!
The jeep is loaded up and strapped down on the trailer (need to use it to pull the non-running unimog around and onto the trailer for the recovery). The plan is me and my dad are going to drive down there as fast as safely possible, and load up the unimog and the jeep on the trailer, and drive home. Don't worry, more setbacks are on their way! Whilst driving around Atlanta, we get a flat on one of the trailer tires, and have to pull off at the nearest exit and get to a tire shop, whereupon we are informed that the empty lot we pulled into next to the tire shop wont work (they cant reach it with the air hoses), and that we need to turn around and back into the tiny parking lot, which involved me having to stop traffic, and my dad (not having driven this trailer more than once), backs into a subaru with the corner of the trailer, leaving a half-dollar sized hole, which of course puts everyone in an irritable mood, which is compounded by the fact that all the trailer tires are crap and need to be replaced. Aparrently they were all dry-rotted, one was a passenger car tire, another was off of an SUV, and one was some random bias ply tire (the one that went flat), and of course the shop only has 3 tires. While its being worked on, we also find out that the tires will support the weight of the jeep and unimog, but not the dual axles, which puts a bit of a hitch in our plans. Since I regrettably cannot drive stick (working on it), my mother is called in to drive down about 45 min to take a trip with us, so she can drive the jeep back home (the only other member of the household capable of driving that beast). The recovery has gotten more complicated.
Now, to part III!
After lots of driving through rural south GA, we make it to the place where the unimog is, and of course, theyve been getting rain nonstop, so its all unpaved and under a inch or two of water. First things first, just getting the truck and trailer into the driveway, we get stuck. Next, onto to inspect the unimog (kept in a barn), and we get the truck unstuck, turned the right way, hook the jeep up to the unimog, pull it around to the trailer, load it up, and drive the rest of the way back nice and uneventful (to cut it short).
And none of it would have happened without my expert guidance (sorry, I just want to brag for a moment, since Im pretty modest in person, or at least act like it). Faced with constant setbacks, darn near everything I did worked like a charm and man it feels good to have absolutely everything you do to fix something work perfectly.
some pictures to come, I promise! sadly, not a whole lot, because I was busy working
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