Thread: New Camper

Originally Posted by Barefoot

I was talking to a guy looking at importing one from the UK.

Be interested to know what the ballpark cost would be, but looking at the comments they might not be the best choice.

I wouldn't want to go silly places, just what the average 4x4 ute with caravan would go.

Wonder what happened to Swazi man's Mog rebuild? Went quiet when Covid hit. Think his plans was to take to Aussie outback?

He sold the business, must be two years ago now.

His Mog rebuild turned into a labour of $$. I shudder to think how much it would have cost him all up. Possibly three to four times what @Mistral will have outlaid. Took 18 years from start to finish....

But he's a free agent now, so he could well be over there at some stage.

Originally Posted by Savage1

I'd love to convert one of these:

https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/t...ing/4433139705

I'll wait until the kids leave home and I get a big shed.

Would be neat to travel the world in one, I've seen a few German and Swiss number plates in NZ on some that the owners have shipped over to travel in.

Yeah a good mate of mine has one.
Arrived here ex UK, 10 years old, but 0 kms, plastic still on the seats.
Bigger than the Mog, on leaf springs, & probably not as good off road, but epic truck!

The prime reason the NZ Army purchased this family of medium-heavy trucks is that the UK Defence Force offered them up real cheap. Back in the mid 00's the UK MOD put in an order for thousands of these trucks...then promptly downsized their Force by 25%. (since 2010 they have dropped a further 40% of their personnel strength...throwing up even more kit to be sold) But the funds had already been committed. So they were left holding thousands excess to requirement, and hit up their mates to see if they were interested in the deal of the century.

The MAN family of trucks themselves have limited cross country capability for several reasons: Their tare weight is crazy high...cause they are built to accept tons of modular armour to improve troop survivabilty. This rules out coil suspension. They also have a payload (when not armoured) of 6 tonne, vs the mogs of 4 tonne.

The MAN family of military trucks purposely use as many parts from their commercial family of trucks. So that rules out portal hubs, which reduces the MAN's ground clearance significantly.

The trucks are also very wide. 2.55m. So are over width for NZ roads. So legally need to wear overwidth fluro placards everywhere.

Being so heavy their fuel consumption is 50% more than a Mog. 30L/100km vs 20L/100km. @Mistral 's one may be even more fuel efficient than that, given his motor sports 40 year younger technology.

I see the NZDF is going to reduce its Mog fleet by 90 ish vehicles some time later in 2024.......

Originally Posted by XR500

The prime reason the NZ Army purchased this family of medium-heavy trucks is that the UK Defence Force offered them up real cheap. Back in the mid 00's the UK MOD put in an order for thousands of these trucks...then promptly downsized their Force by 25%. (since 2010 they have dropped a further 40% of their personnel strength...throwing up even more kit to be sold) But the funds had already been committed. So they were left holding thousands excess to requirement, and hit up their mates to see if they were interested in the deal of the century.

The MAN family of trucks themselves have limited cross country capability for several reasons: Their tare weight is crazy high...cause they are built to accept tons of modular armour to improve troop survivabilty. This rules out coil suspension. They also have a payload (when not armoured) of 6 tonne, vs the mogs of 4 tonne.

The MAN family of military trucks purposely use as many parts from their commercial family of trucks. So that rules out portal hubs, which reduces the MAN's ground clearance significantly.

The trucks are also very wide. 2.55m. So are over width for NZ roads. So legally need to wear overwidth fluro placards everywhere.

Being so heavy their fuel consumption is 50% more than a Mog. 30L/100km vs 20L/100km. @Mistral 's one may be even more fuel efficient than that, given his motor sports 40 year younger technology.

I see the NZDF is going to reduce its Mog fleet by 90 ish vehicles some time later in 2024.......

So what your saying is that I should wait for some auctions at the end of the year to get an ex-mil unimog?

This is the ex spreader I noted early.
This sort of wagon could be an option.
Most trucks used as spreaders would be fairly competent offroad.
Others on here will know more about them.
Would have to consider fert residue,damage etc

Sent from my SM-A226B using Tapatalk

Originally Posted by Savage1

So what your saying is that I should wait for some auctions at the end of the year to get an ex-mil unimog?

No he's saying I need to get my class 2 licence and then pick up a 1700 which will then become a huge time sucking project for the next couple of years

Originally Posted by erniec

This is the ex spreader I noted early.
This sort of wagon could be an option.
Most trucks used as spreaders would be fairly competent offroad.
Others on here will know more about them.
Would have to consider fert residue,damage etc

Sent from my SM-A226B using Tapatalk

DO NOT TOUCH an ex spreader.....all the metal is corroded after only a few years..all the wireing will be brittle ..I used to go through 2-3 trailer connection plugs perseason.....the scania killed 3 dash boards in 7 years 5K a pop.... fert redisue just gets in and eats wires.

Originally Posted by Savage1

So what your saying is that I should wait for some auctions at the end of the year to get an ex-mil unimog?

Personally I wouldn’t be looking at the heavy ex-military vehicles at all.

We spent many years knocking around the Overlander scene and - all things considered - by far the most cost effective & practical truck builds were those on commercial bodies like the Hino 300s and 400s, Fuso Canter, Isuzu N-Series, etc. Especially for couples travelling alone.

Originally Posted by Flyblown

Personally I wouldn’t be looking at the heavy ex-military vehicles at all.

We spent many years knocking around the Overlander scene and - all things considered - by far the most cost effective & practical truck builds were those on commercial bodies like the Hino 300s and 400s, Fuso Canter, Isuzu N-Series, etc. Especially for couples travelling alone.

I’m a pretty big fan of Isuzu, but they just don’t have the character of a Unimog.

Originally Posted by Savage1

So what your saying is that I should wait for some auctions at the end of the year to get an ex-mil unimog?

As @Thar has alluded to, it would be wise to do some sort of analysis as to what exactly you will do in your offroad camper. In many cases a 4x4 variant of a commercial common as mud light truck would be more sensible to use as a basis for you to build a camper upon.

But if unbridled capability is your prime motivator, a Mog is hard to beat. Many is the passenger that has said to me..." We'll never get up/through/across ther.....well fuck me, we are across!"

Although the NZ Army Mogs are 40 years old, parts are still easily available. The chassis is C section, so nowhere for rust to hide. The cab is the biggest rusty thing but is so basic that any panelbeater/competent DIY mig welder can fix stuff. The motor is a common as mud German truck motor (most Army mogs do bugger all miles anyway). The gearbox is expensive....but nothing real special so capable people can poke around inside. Air valves do all the work that modern vehicles do with electronics and solenoids, so are far more robust. Parts for the portal axles are also expensive, but keep an eye on the oils and they will last well. Remember they were designed as a 4 tonne cargo truck. Most RV build will see them carting 2-3 tonnes of home about, so will not stress the drivetrain much at all.

But you should be fairly mechanical to own one...Or have deep pockets.

As a Zombie apocalypse prepper vehicle, they have no peers

For those interested, I forgot to add this OIA titbit from 2022:

Well it's out of the shed!
Dropped the truck at the Sparky's workshop this morning, so he can put the cab & wiring back together, then fit the front winch & bar and then it's just a few little things to tidy up.

Nice.