Any Unimog'ers out there?

[Longhorn]

Here some interesting specs on the Kamaz truck I was trying to buy: 730hp and 170km/hr WOW...

KAMAZ RACING TRUCK IS THE WINNER OF THE PARIS-DAKAR RALLY
Dmitry Shorkov
The racing truck of the KAMAZ family has brought a victory in a team count to the Russian crews of Vladimir Chagin and Firdaus Kabirov at the 25th anniversary Paris-Dakar marathon rally. Besides, Vladimir Chagin, has scored a victory in the individual count.
The racing KAMAZ-4911 is a double- axis all-terrain vehicle, weighing 11 tons, with an all-metal canopy body. It is equipped with the Russian-made 8-cylinder multi-valve turbo-diesel with a capacity of 730 horse power. In combination with the 16-step gear-box, which makes a single bloc with the transfer gear-box, it can gather
speed of up to 170 kilometers per hour. The power-generating set is installed over the fore axis.
15-leaf springs at the front of the racing KAMAZ and 10-leaf springs behind it serve as a suspension. Besides, each wheel is supported by 2 hydro-pneumatic racks with the built-in shock-absorbers. With such a suspension, a truck, after jumping from a spring-board, can land with all its mass on one wheel, without breaking a suspension. The 20-inch aluminum wheels have huge tubeless tyres of variable pressure. The design of the wheel is such that a tyre can be easily replaced without taking the wheel off the hub. Trucks have drum brakes with separate pneumatic front and back drives.
The three-seat cabin of a racing truck in exterior resembles very much the cabin of a mass-production truck. But it only looks like it. It has a reinforcing safety frame. Special seats are custom-made and adjusted to crew members. Broad safety belts press racers against their seats as if they were piloting a warplane. The
distinctive feature of a racing truck is a steering-wheel shaft with hinges. Therefore, a steering wheel is situated in front of the driver like in a car. The cabin is equipped with navigation devices. 6 additional powerful head-lights are fixed on a strong frame on the outside of the cabin.
Racing trucks can easily climb 61 per cent slopes, a vertical wall 50 centimeters high and a ford of more than 150 centimeters deep. 2 fuel tanks, with a capacity of 450 liters each, enable a truck to cover a distance of up to 1, 000 kilometers long, which is quite enough for the Paris-Dakar rally.
A marathon KAMAZ is a miracle truck that is made this way so that it can outdo the Czech-made "Tatras" and the Dutch-made "Dafs", which are its formidable rivals.

 

[Polarblu]

I worked 2 years in Kazakhstan pulling wrenches and can tell you the Kamaz trucks are junk. The ones off the showroom floor are 40,000$ and thats the big 6X6 with a deck. Every component is under-built and made out of cheap material. There is an old joke about russian equipment, buy new truck and fix it!! Those race trucks are highly modified and would probly be worth 500K?

 

[OVERKILL 19]

I worked 2 years in Kazakhstan pulling wrenches and can tell you the Kamaz trucks are junk. The ones off the showroom floor are 40,000$ and thats the big 6X6 with a deck. Every component is under-built and made out of cheap material. There is an old joke about russian equipment, buy new truck and fix it!! Those race trucks are highly modified and would probly be worth 500K?

Ever work on a Belaris tractor....could be the same junk!

 

[carguy]

I worked on a farm that had a 1968 (I think) Unimog with about 27 000 kms on it. Had a 90 hp mercedes diesel in it. This thing was equipped with every attachment available. All info was in German inside, most hired hands on the farm could never get it moving as it had one tall 6 spd main gear shift and at least 4 others surrounding it, needed to shift a short gear shift to select between forward & reverse gears. Not a fast vehicle but always able to get anywhere. It was the ultimate farm vehicle! This particular one spent some years working in Germany with a trench/tunnelling company prior to coming over to the farm.

I miss working on the farm.

 

[Catman10]

I worked at Freightliner for 5 years and when I first started there, they had a brand new unimog that had a 330 hp mercedes in it with the autoshift transmission and that truck would drive down the hwy at 110 kms no problem and drove like a car. I put a couple of thousand k on it driving it around and loved it. We had to take a huge loss (30K) just to get rid of it because they are way overpriced and we had a very hard time getting financing on it. All around they cant be matched for what you can do with them, its just hard to justify over $100 k for a new one. They are no longer available new so good luck on finding a good used one!

 

[Shibby!]

I worked at Freightliner for 5 years and when I first started there, they had a brand new unimog that had a 330 hp mercedes in it with the autoshift transmission and that truck would drive down the hwy at 110 kms no problem and drove like a car. I put a couple of thousand k on it driving it around and loved it. We had to take a huge loss (30K) just to get rid of it because they are way overpriced and we had a very hard time getting financing on it. All around they cant be matched for what you can do with them, its just hard to justify over $100 k for a new one. They are no longer available new so good luck on finding a good used one!

Pretty sure they are still being made.

Most people don't have new ones. Lots of people are rolling around in the 60's versions yet. They were only rated between 60-90 HP and couldn't do 100. The ones equipped with fast axles could just barely do 100.

The newer ones got up to 125HP on the smaller turbo deisels I think but still struggled at 100.

I'd love one, but it's a pipe dream.

 

[Catman10]

The one I drove was a 2004 model and it had a 330 hp Mercedes engine in it and Freightliner discontinued the Unimog about 2 years ago because of poor sales. So unless they have changed there minds you cannot get a new Unimog ordered from the factory, you may still find a 2004/05 new one on a lot though.

 

[Shibby!]

Freightliner doesn't make them though.

Company's are still importing them if FL is the only place they were sold before.

Very few people have new ones. As you said, for what they can be used for, they are still very expensive.

Lots of following on the older models though.

 

[aaron_m]

Wow, this thread brings back memories.
Way back in the day, I worked for a company out of Nisku that had one. Summer job, slave labour kind of job. But paid good, and i didn't mind working hard. ANyways, their usual guy quit, and they needed some farm kid to take this mog from Nisku up to fricken whitecourt. I had that girl screaming at 60mph down the hill on the whitemud crossing the river, thought it was going to explode.
Got to location, and was used to shuttle water to helecopters for clear cut area spraying. 8 speeds forward, 8 reverse. Inflate/deflate tires. Found an awesome little creek to load water, do some fishing, and work on my tan.
best summer job ever.
that machine was the ch!t, and i wish i coudl have one for the farm right now.

 

[Bandit]

There a company out of Plamondon that has a few new ones. They have them set up for snowplowing on the oilfield roads. They are frickin amazing. If I could find work for one I would so have one!

 

[Shibby!]

Lately seen a few on the deerfoot... Two to be precise. One hauling lumber on the back (older one) and then the other one was one of the newer big ones.

They are wicked, but the old ones being such a small truck still tower a lifted 1ton easily.

 

[brianwmcdonald]

My dads friend back home has a 1956 Unimog, those things are unbelievable!!

 

[fat tire]

Anyone own one or had one? Before my life is over I must have one...just cause!

I used one for work in eastern europe and turkey and south america....... not the ultimate machine in my opinion.....depending how you use it i guess..... they can be set up in soo many different ways but at the end of the day the reliability issue is always the last thing on a guys mind when he takes that thing anyplace you really shouldn't be ...... My experience was allot of failure of the compressor for the breaking system..... good thing is you can find a compressor for em anywhere.....almost every euorpean design compressor will work....three bolts and your done..... bad thing is you will have issues with that and going up or down hill if you ever hear a ( ting ting ping sound be ready for the four wheel lock job and fast because the aux air tank runs out quick) and on the newer M55 or 500 models the electrical system is a nightmare.......... they should have stuck to the old 60's version 24 volt system and kept most things mechanical like the idle down/ idle off valve which would kill the fuel and air to the motor..... the new electrical system does the same thing now but get things wet....... and there isn't enough contact cleaner made to get ya running again....... So no not the ultimate vehicle IMO.....Ask me anything about those things and I probably have had or knw of a problem with most Unimog models....... if you do buy buy old and you'll be better off for it ........ Last one I drove was one from the georgian army and had 890,000 km on it...... still ran fine ( 18 speed forward and 18 speed reverse) top end was around 83 km/hr........... flipped it on it's side on the side of a mountain in turkey on the annitolian fault line when the compressor crapped out. good times though.

 

[Shibby!]

I used one for work in eastern europe and turkey and south america....... not the ultimate machine in my opinion.....depending how you use it i guess..... they can be set up in soo many different ways but at the end of the day the reliability issue is always the last thing on a guys mind when he takes that thing anyplace you really shouldn't be ...... My experience was allot of failure of the compressor for the breaking system..... good thing is you can find a compressor for em anywhere.....almost every euorpean design compressor will work....three bolts and your done..... bad thing is you will have issues with that and going up or down hill if you ever hear a ( ting ting ping sound be ready for the four wheel lock job and fast because the aux air tank runs out quick) and on the newer M55 or 500 models the electrical system is a nightmare.......... they should have stuck to the old 60's version 24 volt system and kept most things mechanical like the idle down/ idle off valve which would kill the fuel and air to the motor..... the new electrical system does the same thing now but get things wet....... and there isn't enough contact cleaner made to get ya running again....... So no not the ultimate vehicle IMO.....Ask me anything about those things and I probably have had or knw of a problem with most Unimog models....... if you do buy buy old and you'll be better off for it ........ Last one I drove was one from the georgian army and had 890,000 km on it...... still ran fine ( 18 speed forward and 18 speed reverse) top end was around 83 km/hr........... flipped it on it's side on the side of a mountain in turkey on the annitolian fault line when the compressor crapped out. good times though.

Hahaha.

Wicked stuff man! I can't imagine the experiences you had with it, but sounds like you had a few.

 

[fat tire]

Hahaha.Wicked stuff man!* I can't imagine the experiences you had with it, but sounds like you had a few.

Yeah I was fortunate to work around the world in a few places where we needed them...... it was alot of fun...... but if* anyone is interested in a UNI then they* need to do a little homework.....* newer isn't better for those machines* and* if you* can turn a wrench go older....** then again* a good lifted* rock climber with some lockers will probably be as* much* fun as* a UNI maby* even keep running* as* good if* a guy turned it himself.....* but* hey** good on anyone* who* wants something* different.......if anyone* out there* buys one* and* has any issues** give* me* a* message* and I might* be able to help ya out in some way.......after all everyone* wants* a mercedes at some point.