The surprises of an ex-Army Unimog - Part 1

[@L2SFBC]

Errors 1. The GVM (max mass) is 12,000kg not 12,300, that's the sum of the axle limits. 2. Tyre age explained kzbin.info/www/bejne/goebk41optx3m8k Extra info: The Tatra 8x8 truck demo and explanation kzbin.info/www/bejne/anbaemiPhMmDask Russia's Gaz Trackmaster, a roughly comparable vehicle kzbin.info/www/bejne/aoSxZIOidrGBjrs

[@klima11111]

I did the first Unimog repair course run by the Army in 1983 and was still working on them when they went out of service. Very good vehicle.

[@L2SFBC]

When did they go out of service? And what replaced them?

[@iffracem]

@@L2SFBC Long post... sorry.. from what I remember (I've had some memory problems lately.. so caveat emptor) AFAIK were still in service when I left in '98 I don't know what superseded them, as I'd converted from mechanic to IT Systems admin in 95 and had long left the army when any replacement happened. When I was involved with them it was in 9tpt Sqn, Townsvile, first unit to get them operationally, and at RAEME training centre, as an instructor. They didn't have those "super singles" when I was in, instead they were issued with Dunlop "Militaires" which were the same basic tyre used on the previous Internationals instead of the lower pressure wide tyres they were designed to have. Why? I have no idea, cost I guess but they were useless and killed 80% of the offroad ability. Yes they had 8 reverse. The same 4 speed/splitter combo gearbox was just reversed. The "Unimog" was supposed to be a universal system that had multiple attachments available, winch, train track stabilisers, forklift, crane, dozer and front end loader attachment. Army only had 1 in 4 with a power take off to use with the winch or crane (1 in 10 had crane IIRC). That winch is weak as, don't try to winch with the rope beyond about 10 degrees either side or the auto fairlead roller will poop itself. I don't think it's the same winch as fitted by Mercedes. Likewise the crane on some (1 in 10) had a weaker crane than Mercedes would have supplied, it struggled to lift and hold 1 tonne in practise... cost cutting or something I suspect The suspension is coil, with "portal axles" that give incredible ground clearance, the nylon bushes of the "torque tube" drive shaft system at the gearbox/transfer case end could cause problems (with the militaire tyres, super singles are softer and should be OK) They used to wear out in a matter of a few thousand K's on a truck constantly loaded, like water tanks (one trip from Townsvile to Karumba via Hughendon on the western cape we had to swap tanks onto 2 different vehicles, then replace the bushes due to that) The brakes are air over hydraulic discs, very good, but the hand brake and caliper piston manual adjusting/retraction system was typical German over engineered and weak. Hopefully the original alternator has been put back on (as the tyres seem to be on yours) The army in it's infinite wisdom had developed it's own alternator (we called it the EDE alternator, after the branch that forced it upon us.) It was supposed to be a one size fits all for all military use, APC's, Trucks.. whatever. Trouble is when fitted to the Unimog it stopped the cab being tilted forward for maintenance. So you had this stupid fart around partially tilting the cab, loosening and sliding the alternator out of the way, then completing the cab tilt... And if you needed to run the engine you had to replace the alternator, which meant you had to go through the same BS just to drop the cab back. You'll notice the RHD version we have has a 90 degree adaptor behind the dash, a shaft that travels across under the dash to the left side of the dash, than another 90 degree adaptor that joins it up to the original LHD shaft. Works, but you'll find that traveling any distance at around highway speed (good luck with that.. 80-90kph is it's realistic top) it's a hell of a lot easier to have only one hand on the wheel keeping a slight "preload" to one side or the other .. two hands you end up weaving all over the place. You'll find a can reach under the dash and easily steer the thing with one hand by twisting that shaft.... a dirty trick to play on an unsuspecting driver..... so a friend tells me ;-) Great vehicles, stuffed up in some regards by the Army, but if returned to their original state (tyres, alternator etc) will serve you well for a very long time. The only problems we had at 9TPT were the tyres, alternator and sometimes disc brake adjuster and the headlights were weak.. very weak to the point of dangerous .. everything else was near bullet proof. Except that one they drowned in an amphibious landing exercise... that one was never right afterwards.

[@L2SFBC]

Brilliant story thank you, added that to the blog post!

[@fritzkuhne2055]

@@L2SFBC would interest me too

[@L2SFBC]

I am collecting stories for the blog post added this one already

[@allanhugh2044]

Great to see someone actually showing and describing how the various things work; very good demonstration. So you converted the kPa into psi; some of us have joined the modern world and use kPa. I was half expecting to see the tray measurements in feet and inches.

[@L2SFBC]

I use the most commonly used measurements in Australia be they imperial or metric :-) Hope you enjoy your next flight at 9144 metres ;-)

[@allanhugh2044]

@@L2SFBC Touché !

[@btlepyromane1648]

@@L2SFBC i watch from france and still converting in bar ^^ thank's for your vidéos I always learn a lot.

[@AquaMarine1000]

​@L2SFBC Aviation is a funny beast. Runways lengths are in metres, flight elevation is in feet and speed is in knots. It all comes down to what is understood for safe operation. A great video, thanks for your continued efforts. Cheers

[@michaelhermans4753]

Just like tyre sizes

[@s87583]

Thankful.

[@Miles-bq4yn]

An excellent presentation, much appreciated. I enjoyed owning the ex army 6x6 Landrover.

[@TheMadMagician87]

Awesome bits of gear from a pure capability and built for purpose point of view. Thanks for the excellent overview and demonstrations in this video 👍

[@TheMadMagician87]

The gear boxes have all sorts of configurations in terms of 'working gears' and PTO's (there are both high and low speed PTO variants). I think some arrangements on the gearbox and working gear sets achieve essentially 4 levels of reduction (with 2 of those being available in the standard gearbox). There were also some aftermarket overdrives made at various stages from Class and Perkins Engineering. Diff gears are available in all sorts of combo's, mostly for people looking to run different tyre sizes and reduce RPM's at higher highway speeds.

[@MrRanma3030]

Oh no. You'll drive up the price. I'm hoping to get one in the next 5 years.

[@speedygonzales9993]

UGE or UHE?

[@MrRanma3030]

@speedygonzales9993 either would be great but the ex army ones like the one Robert is showing will be the go.

[@LyfeLangmead]

AFM (Australian Frontline Machinery) who are the civilian liquidators through Pickles selling the AFM unimogs have already sold all the MRVs (6x6) unimogs and have only a couple hundred of the 3500 original unimogs left. If you want an ADF one, you have a few months of auctions left - maybe 6. And then it'll only be the second hand market. Wit

[@MrRanma3030]

@@LyfeLangmead will have to end up being the second hand market for me unfortunately. Cheers mate!

[@philipreiffel5077]

We had just one to play around with for the day at the pucka tank range in 1982, didn't see them again, must of been a trials vehicle, i liked it.

[@pijama4wd]

What amazing video!! Many details I would never know. Thanks for this

[@L2SFBC]

Glad you liked it!

[@Mark-zt7sv]

8 in reverse. Didn’t want to go faster than around 80km/h in reverse along Cable Beach in the early 1990’s when I drove one around Australia

[@nicolasbednarz9085]

amazing tool!!!!!!!!!!! what a beast. its a lot better designed to easy operation than the older models i think. im sure soldiers care a lot for this things.

[@justinwynn7299]

Another thorough video, thank you Robert. I was interested to see the specs of these ex-ADF circa-1980's Unimogs - there are quite a few on the market at the moment. They are much bigger than the 1963 404 model (ex-German NATO forces) I had in Zimbabwe. Keep up the great videos 🙂

[@jimderrick846]

Well done Robert. Always nice to see new toys !!! Have a fantastic weekend

[@L2SFBC]

Thanks

[@operation4wheelz]

I don’t remember ours having those tie downs in the back. But ours were only used as gun tractors.

[@brycejames8770]

Did you notice it’s actually left hand drive, with the steering column on the passenger side, travels behind the dash via universal joints to the right hand side.

[@L2SFBC]

Didn't notice that at the time but was told a trick for next time!

[@brycejames8770]

@@L2SFBC as an instructor on these I would sometimes clamp my feet around the column and wait for a concerned comment from the driver. Also fuel bowl located adjacent to the front right wheel wheel well, can suck water in or air on occasions. They don’t like the mix of regular diesel and tropical diesel.

[@MrTerrymiff]

I had one up to 7th gear reverse before my boss complained because he couldn't see where we were going. One of my corporals reckoned that they went faster in reverse because they were aerodynamically more efficient going backwards.

[@L2SFBC]

He may be right! However slightly greater friction losses

[@michaelhermans4753]

Was reversing in a unimog a few weeks ago down a runway . Got to 4 th gear, handy if you a retreating from an ambush

[@cyclemoto8744]

THank you Robert. Cheers

[@rockylarocque]

Awesome!

[@kenfowler1980]

Drove them in the’80’s did my drivers course on them and then posted to a transport unit that had a troop of them. Interestingly I drove the last of the International MK5/F1’s UBRE’s in the 1990’s, so I drove the ‘mog first then the Mk 5! And as others have said, like chalk and cheese. I also got to drive the Unimog with hi speed diffs, it could do over 130 unloaded! I always thought the Unimog was a great truck, I always said the Unimog did everything with technology (at the time) while its companion the 6x6 Mack used brute force! Like the Mk 5 really. Anyway great video on a great vehicle! PS out of the 4 vehicles Landrover series 3 &110, Unimog and Mack, which one would I buy? The Unimog of course :)

[@nealesmith1873]

Great video! I’ve always liked Unimogs.

[@L2SFBC]

Thanks!

[@tonydownunder5703]

👍👍👍👍👍 Great little unit, Thanks for sharing 👍👍 I’ve got a Iveco Daily 4x4 Truck so this was quite interesting for me 👍

[@MKMTA]

Great video. Thanks Robert. 👍

[@L2SFBC]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@paulmartin7737]

Did my Army driver training in one of those (Along with a Mk 5 International), these are nice to drive.

[@L2SFBC]

Any tips? And you are the first ex or current ADF person to comment, I'm sure you won't be the last!

[@paulmartin7737]

@@L2SFBC Unfortunately no tips, my allocated vehicle was the Mk 5. I rarely drove one after the drivers course, mostly Landrovers. There will definitely be other ADF commenting regarding driving and maintenance of these!

[@contributor7219]

I was RAEME and drove Mk5s during my initial driver training course, but then drove the Unimogs later. The Mogs were a completely different generation of vehicle and certainly felt like it to drive both on and off road!

[@paulmartin7737]

@@contributor7219 I am/was RAEME as well, had to drive the Mk 5 with repair bodies on them in 84. Absolutely the Mogs were a completely different drive! AeM

[@L2SFBC]

What are Mk5s?

[@rjl110919581]

love my 2010 iuszu nps 75 as run well for travel

[@L2SFBC]

Would be faster but more comfortable? Not so sure!

[@Marks.Reviews]

My father used to work for the Royal Australian Electrical & Mechanical Engineers (RAEME) of the Australian Army as a civilian and he said that a replacement diff on these cost as much as a Land Rover.

[@nirfz]

But you probably would need to buy a new Land Rover more often than a replacement diff for a Unimog ;-)

[@L2SFBC]

Fair point!

[@btlepyromane1648]

@@nirfz XDDD

[@scottlampe70]

8 reverse gears. I can vouch that you can do at least 80kph jn reverse. Possibly more, wasnt game enough to find out, 80 was enough.

[@stevenkydd6919]

I know it’s off-topic but I’d love to hear your take on amt transmissions in the Isuzu NPS’s versus the manuals off-road. I see some major advantages and disadvantages with the Fluid coupling they have between the engine and transmission. Thank you.

[@L2SFBC]

I have driven the AMT Isuzu. It is slow to respond at times, but can easily be manually operated. I think I'd prefer it over the manual as it's less work, and simple enough to manually shift eg when approaching a hill. Like most AMTs, you get to learn how and when it'll shift up/down. Converting a Fuso is expensive.

[@i.m.peterrific]

Definitely 8 in reverse as well, and it is possible to get the front wheels airborne if you are having fun and not paying for repairs if you know what I mean 😏

[@L2SFBC]

8 made sense, but the engineering diagram showed only four...

[@philhealey4443]

​​@@L2SFBCSome variants inhibit reverse in the higher ratio gates 5 to 8, others have reverse in all gears.

[@L2SFBC]

Thanks!

[@contributor7219]

@@philhealey4443 At least some of the ADF Mogs I encountered during my RAEME career had 5-8 locked out in reverse.

[@philhealey4443]

@contributor7219 Can only advise U1250 going backwards at moderate speeds and U2150 going backwards very quickly. Slow probably wise unless someone is shooting at you from the front.

[@andrefischer5025]

I got a U1300L sitting in the shed. 7500kg GVM, 5.55m long, bit more nimble.

[@andrefischer5025]

You can also fit additional reduction or overdrive ratios giving you more gear ratios. I have “working gears” which is one additional reduction, giving me 16 fwd & 16rev gears.

[@philhealey4443]

@@andrefischer5025 The Claas splitter overdrive is akso GREAT!

[@nirfz]

Sounds like the Unimog has an 8 gear double H pattern like many trucks (lorries?) of that size and bigger commonly had here in europe when i got my drivers license. (just that they also often had an additional "split" and reverse was different.) In the last picture of the Ranger next to the Unimog the difference in grouund clearance becaomes clearly visible, but i guess that will be part of part 2. 🙂

[@L2SFBC]

Yes Part 2 will cover ground clearance!

[@coqulation]

i have done 5th gear in reverse was fast enough i think

[@mxthl]

Comparable U1300 used in the German Army were locked to the first four gears in reverse. I would be surprised if the Australian Unimogs could drive in all eight gears in reverse.

[@contributor7219]

At least some of them I drove here had 5-8 locked out in reverse.

[@dallasvanwyk]

These videos are great. Is there a name for the active fairlead device?

[@L2SFBC]

Not that I know of

[@contributor7219]

They are known as screw level winders. Level winders are generally only seen for spooling wire rope in heavy applications, most commonly on heavy construction equipment but also on some trucks.

[@notrut]

Did the Australian Military send it to Auction rather than buy new Tyres? Weird.

[@peterjanvanbijnen226]

I am so jalous

[@slimjim1125]

Not good to demonstrate the 4WD/diff lock abilities with a spinning drivetrain. Even though you acknowledged it was for demo purposes only.

[@L2SFBC]

That's why I said it and once only at idle was ok I feel. If the wheels weren't spinning the demo would not have been as effective.

[@klima11111]

Running a twenty year old tyre

[@einfelder8262]

At 8k max speed and unladen the tyre won't even get warm. Would be a bit slick on a wet road though. But as he said in the video, the owner has replaced them.

[@michaelhermans4753]

The cabin noise is unbearable, it’s almost impossible to have a conversation in one

[@L2SFBC]

Just smile or send text messages

[@GooglePowerUser]

hello, thank you for the great Video! What is the name of the protective grid in front of the radiator? I have only seen it on Aussie Unimogs and I think it`s fantastic!

[@L2SFBC]

No idea sorry

[@LyfeLangmead]

GVM is 12,000kg exactly, not 12,300kg. The plate is in the driver's door if you want to check. This makes them exampt from the fatigue logbook requirement, which starts at 12,001kg. Yes, all 8 gears work in reverse, if you're brave enough (and a straight road), making it one of the fastest reversing vehicles in Australia.

[@L2SFBC]

Yes you're right I've copied the wrong number over, axle sum is 12,300kg.

[@philhealey4443]

@L2SFBC The great thing is that in converting one of these to an expedition truck, you are not going to worry about overstressing the thing. The morass of shattered CV joints seen in struggling Japanese 4x4 trucks venturing off road do not feature in the Unimog World. Look also at the feeble transfer box in an Iveco Daily and compare with Unimog components and there is only one winner. With zero electronics and on the move 4x4 and difflock engagement to boot. Apart from the magnificence of optional CTIS and the Claas splitter overdrive gearbox apparently developed for the 6x6 version doing missile launcher duties. Not sure if the ADF variants have the venerable OM352 or later OM366LA motor, but either one is more reliable than your heartbeat.