A: Well, actually our experience with the truck to date has been on some sand tracks and well-formed gravel roads plus heaps of ks on bitumen. So far, as you would have expected, we have not been bogged or stuck.

In time, once we have completed our minor repairs and made sure all is in order, we will venture out into some more demanding landscapes to test the old girl out.

Generally speaking though, we have seen and heard plenty of people getting stuck in serious situations due to, in some cases thinking that the truck can, indeed go anywhere.

I think that as long as we remember that the Mog is not a tank with tracks, that it is heavy and can get bogged, we will er on the side of caution when it comes time to decide between the chicken track and the obstacle.

We carry three sets of Maxtrax in the event of a bogging and we have a front mounted 25000lbs Runva Winch in the event of a silly move on our part. (Yet to be installed)

The Mog is fitted with dash switchable four-wheel drive and can be changed from 2-wheel drive to 4-wd at any speed at the flick of a dial. It has front and rear air-operated lockers.

When Fording, the suggested depth given by the factory is 1200mm - though if you search YouTube, you will find plenty of people take them well beyond that.

When switching to 4wd, the air system automatically pressurises the driveline including the gearbox, transfer case, tail shaft and both the front and rear diffs, as well as the headlights to prevent water from entering the parts.

Without a doubt though, the main feature that provides the Unimog with outstanding off-road ability is the Portal Axels.
This feature places the diff centres much higher than the wheel centres offering a clearance of at least 500 mm. In fact, with the tyre and wheel combo we have, our clearance is more like 600mm.

Perhaps, the main limiting factors for where the truck won't go are its height and width.

The height of our truck is 3200mm to the top of the storage containers which are bolted to the roof of the canopy.
So far, the height of the Mog has not been a problem... We do need to keep a constant lookout for overhanging branches though.
The width of the Mog is approx 2450mm. 

Most tracks are made and frequently used by common 4x4 vehicles so the tracks are generally 2.4m wide (unless the track is heavily used). This causes great risk for the truck as it can easily run into tyre-splitting stakes on the side of the track that normal-width cars can avoid.

A: Our truck is a 1983 U1700L Mercedes Unimog - This particular truck came out of the Australian Army where it was stationed in Darwin in the Northern Territory. It was assigned to The Combat Engineers.

While working on the truck, we came across several old insignias and in three or four places we found the name Ramrod SNR. We can only speculate that our Mog (Being an 83 model) was in service for a long time. As newer Unimogs came into service, Ramrod SNR must have continued carrying out its duties tirelessly and earned the nickname out of respect as it kept on going I guess. At the time of writing, there are 269,000 KM on the odometer.

Unimogs have been available at auction for several years now and typically go for anywhere between 5 and 100 or more thousand dollars (Depending on the type and what records are available for them).

We purchased our truck from a private seller and, frankly, if you are inexperienced as we were when we made our purchase, we would recommend doing the same.

Buying privately allows you to drive the truck and also get it looked over by an experienced mechanic. (Or in our case, dumb luck with a bit of an ear and eye for engine health. 

Many Mogs come out of the auctions with the ADF (Australian Defence Force) log books. These are a written history of all of the works that have been carried out on the Mog it is attached to. (Make sure your log books and Chassis number match though.) - Ours did not have a log book - bugger!

We paid a little over $30k for ours complete with rego and a set of Hutchinson Beadlock Rims and Michelin ZXL Tyres. A rough price alone for the tyre and rim upgrade would be (New) about $20k.
Unfortunately, our tyres had some issues and we had to replace them. (See the "What do those tyres cost" section for more details of our doughnuts)

A: Generally, when someone asks this question, the response to our answer is... well I'll be buggered... that's about the same as my (Insert the name of large 4x4 here)

Actual fuel consumption for our truck, without towing, is around 22 litres per hundred km. The truck weighs about 9500 kgs when it is carrying all of our gear and is filled with 600 litres of water.

When Towing recently, we travelled to Alexandra Bridge Campground and Back with the trailer complete with the Jimny in the back. Our litres per 100 worked out to 28.5. Pretty darn good in my opinion.

The total carrying capacity of the truck or rather The GVM is 12 tonnes. When the truck is stripped of all loose camping gear and water, it weighs in at around 7.8 tonnes.

GCM (Gross Combined Mass) which includes any trailer is normally 24,000 kgs. The rego we pay is currently at a reduced rate to save some money on rego fees and permits us to tow a trailer of up to 4.5t.

This is one of the reasons we love the truck... we can say "What else can we take" instead of "What do we need to leave behind"

The range of the truck is aided by a couple of extra jerry cans along with the factory tank which is 160 litres. We normally carry 4 20 litre cans giving us a capacity of 240l.

This equates to a range of around 1000kms of road and gravel driving. Like any vehicle, the softer the road or track surface and the more 4wd work that is required, the higher consumption will be.

Towing the loaded trailer we would see about 830km of range.

A: Towing the trailer puts additional stress on the truck and also (obviously) increases fuel use.

Our trailer is a 4.5t GVM flatbed, and began life as a plant trailer used to cart around a bobcat.

When fully loaded with the car, two loaded fridges, all our tools, our boat and other toys, the trailer weighs in at 3.9t...

Our calculations for fuel use when towing throughout the South West of WA have been approx 32-34 Litres per 100 Km.

A: To drive a Unimog you are required to have at least an MR or Medium ridgid License.

Because the truck has a 12t GVM you aren't required to complete a heavy vehicle work diary - However, the moment you put a trailer behind the truck, it becomes a National Heavy Vehicle in which case you need to keep thorough records of all trips when towing.

A: When Unimogs are released from the ADF, they are fitted with the original rim and tyre combination. They always have 10-inch split rims with Goodyear Omnitracks.

With the Omnitrack setup, the trucks can only manage a top speed of around 80-85 kph before hitting the factory governor.

With the Hutchinson Rim and 395 85 20r setup, the truck can reach 90-95 at about 2900rpm.

There are other ways to reduce the RPMs and increase the road speed, but the cost is prohibitive when you are on a lowish budget.

A: Well the Mog has 8 forward gears and 8 reverse gears. Technically, you could achieve rearward movement in 8th gear, but I wouldn't try it.

Some people say that a Unimog can go faster in reverse than forwards... I doubt it though!

A number of upgrades can be made to the driveline that can increase the gears available to 32 forward and 32 reverse. 

A: You will notice that our truck still has a hole in the roof. As far as I know, all mogs have these and not just ex-army ones. They are referred to as Capolas. In some cases they are used as openings to shoot the enemy, in others, depending on the platform that the mog is deployed as, can be used to operate the controls of machinery like hiabs / cranes.

We use ours to bring cool air into the cab, to take photos and if required, to launch our drone. (haven't done that yet but I am sure it would work with no problem.)

A: Not at this stage... The cost is high and we (So far) have ben able to cope with the heat in the cabin.

A: The canopy and the electronics and plumbing are a result of many weeks and months of slowly making it up as we went along.
Well, the canopy and trailer were modelled in 3d before fabrication but all of the rest just kind of happened.

All of the work except for the plastic welding of the IBC water tank was done by ourselves in our suburban backyard.

Please go to our Truck and Canopy Page for more details on the build.

Please go to our Trailer build page for details on the Trailer Build.

A: Actually, you would be surprised... Looking through the parts lists on some of the websites that supply into Australia, the prices are pretty good. Basic repair parts vary from a few dollars through to a few hundred. The service items that are required to carry out regular maintenance are quite affordable with the exception of the gearbox oil. The truck requires 16ltrs of liquid gold it would seem... better that than a a box full of metal filings though I guess.

Larger items like Diffs, Gearboxes and Transfer boxes understandably carry a hefty price tag. 

Fortunately, many Unimogs have been released into the public domain and quite a few of these have been parts trucks, so whilst it is not easy to get these components, it is far from impossible.

These are old vehicles that have had pretty tough lives, so the better you can treat them in your custody, the more likely they are to survive through your ownership and into the next...

We recently had a head gasket let go on us and including parts and labour (carried out in our driveway) was around $5000 INC machining and new head bolts. I reckon owning a Y62 Patrol or other similar 4x4 would be at least this sort of money (Out of warranty of course) for the same issue.

A: The tyres on our truck are made in China and carry the brand "Advance" They are 395 x 85 x 20r.

They weigh about 150kg per tyre and the rims are about 25 kg each.

The cost per tyre is approximately $1100 plus fitting and balancing.

Are they easy to repair and work with? ... They are not that bad. As they are set up as tubeless, repairs on the side of the road are not that time-consuming.

The rim and tyre combo allows us to reduce the air pressure down to around 18 psi provided some care is taken.