Buddy wants a UNIMOG

Okay, here's the deal. Buddy of mine south of here is looking to buy a Unimog. Here's the specifics of what he is looking for:

MUST BE:
diesel
capable of near-highway speeds
$8,000 or less
good title
decent mechanical condition

Want to be:
good body, but he realizes that for under $8K beggars can't be choosers

I looked around for him in the usual spots, and no dice - at least not in his price range. Can anyone guide me in the right direction? He's a good friend, want to help him out if I can.

Umm, good luck! $8000 will get you a nice 404 or a basket-case 406 at best. Near highway speeds can be accomplished with super-fast axles found in ambulance or firetruck models using 14.50 tires. The gears or axles can be installed in other 406 or 416 variants for the right price. I wouldn't want to go highway speed in a 406. They are too short. Maybe a 416 or 1300L, but you are going to pay $15,000 to $25,000 for one of those. Mogs are basically tractors for all intents and purposes. They aren't meant to run highway speeds for any length of time. They are meant to run any number of implements while crossing any variety of terrain. They are incredible off-road vehicles. I once looked into using a Mog for a daily driver, but unless you have an unlimited budget for the Mog and maintenance, you should look elsewhere. The www.rockymountainmoggers.com and www.unimog,net sites are good reference. Unimog.net has a nice classified section too.

I'm sure TedG, MB4-94 or some of the other Mog folks will chime in here so I'll stop for now.

I remember sometime ago Major's surplus and survival had a pristine unimog for sale for 10k$....several years ago. I kick myself for not getting one.

The 406s and the 416s are both pretty slow; my 416 was good for about mid to high 40s. You're also talking closed drive-lines and lots of steps to otherwise simple tasks; i.e. Clutch job involves dropping the rear axle down and back before you can even start thinking about getting at the transmission. Transmission and transfer case are inside the same case so problems with either mean you get to work on both. I ended up notching the dash just to get the valve cover off and on easier for valve-jobs. It's a semi-cabover design so you're either working inside the cab and trying to reach just a little farther forward or working under the hood and trying to reach just a little farther back. And, as with all German engineering, everything is tight tolerances.
The 406s are so short that it's recommended that they be run with about 1,500# of ballast in the rear if they're not set-up with any implements so they don't tend to tip over forwards if stopped hard when pointing downhill. No joke; check out the operator's manual.
The newer ones may be faster but you're talking five-figures easy.
Not saying the occasional super-deal isn't out there-- just want you and your buddy to know that there may be an extended search involved.
Check out some of the Unimog websites that have a classified section and you'll see how the prices are running.

MD, Coleman's has them once in awhile so checking with then might be good. I looked at Mogs before getting an M35 and the price for a good one was steep. There are ones out there by even after searching for about 6 months, I coudl not find a good one that I could afford.

Bill

MUST BE:
diesel
capable of near-highway speeds
$8,000 or less
good title
decent mechanical condition

Click to expand...

what, no flux capacitor?

The Rocky mountain Moggers web site has a a links page that lists many sites that have Unimogs for sale. http://www.rockymountainmoggers.com/links.html He should start his search there. You guys are correct that he is likely talking about a 406. While a realistic price for a good one with little rust wouls be 12-18K they can range quite a bit from there. He will also need to consider that they are expensive to maintain even before the drop in the value of the USD. Good luck!!

Have your friend email me. I'm very active in the Unimog community and can guide his as to where to look and how to get it.
MPop5555@aol.com

Problem with the 404s is that they are all gasoline engines, and that is not what he wants. I know the gearing is low in Unimogs, and he is willing to swap gears out to get his precious 65mph he wants, but the diesel engine is a MUST HAVE.

Bill - thanks for the heads up. Last time I was a Colemans, he had a 404, a gasser.

Will pass along all the good info to my friend. Thanks, guys.

I've owned a 404 and a U1300L. I've also been exposed to over 100 Mog owners and their rigs. I know the pros and cons of these fine machines. Please direct your friend to the right source before he gets misinformed.

Yes, a diesel Mog will be a minimum of $12K for a project, average price for a diesel 406 or 416 will be about $18K. A U1300 will run $25K-40K. If he wants to do 65mph, then he will need to invest at least $30K and get an SBU model (U1300, U1500, U1700, U2450). My 1300 could do 64mph but the more expensive models can do 70mph. If he has a lot of money, he can buy a U500 for about $80K but the off road capability is not as good as an SBU.

As far as maintenance and parts, maintaining my U1300L was very easy, the transmission, engine, and driveline were very accessible. My cab even tilted so you could pull the motor. The SBU cabs are by far the best designed. I agree with Jones...the 404, 406, and 416 are the rounded cab and very difficult to work on. Not much room without pulling the cab. Parts for the SBU can be very expensive...for example...a waterproof headlight is $125. I know...I've replaced mine a few times after off roading. But then again, it's cheap compared to a windshield on a U500...$3,000!!!

Oh...and swapping gears out will not give your buddy 65mph, especially on a 406 or 416. If he wants to do 65mph...he needs an SBU with super fast axles and the turbo diesel engine. They have three different axles: Normal, Fast, and Super Fast. I had Fast axles in mine. The 406 or 416 usually have the OM352, naturally aspirated engine while the SBU's are all diesel and many have the OM366A (turbo) or OM366LA (turbo intercooled).

Well wrote/said Mike. Mogs are fun but not fast unless you want to shell out real money. On maintenance, I just spent $250 on a brake booster rebuild parts kit and $350 for master cylinder kit. Nothing worse than trying to stop a 14,000 pound rig with implements and with no brake pedal can you say pucker factor!

On the engineering and being compact, I have drop tools by accident in the front top, where it lands nobody knows. It takes several minutes to find it and another 10 minutes to reach it! On my other mv's, you drop a wrench in the top and after a second or two of it bouncing down through, you finally hear it clank on the concrete. Now that is a good sound!

Have fun finding one and don't buy it sight unseen. Also, take a mog owner with you to help look it over.

Good advice from Mike.

You can find a 406 or a Case 406 by watching many of the State and local auctions. Quite a few states purchased 406's back in the 70's and then just let them go in the 90's and beyond. For example my state , Vermont, sold a 406 they used a test core drill rig. $4500 - this was a few years back. I went and looked at the truck and it was a total basket case the poor guy who bought it was told it was made by Case not unimog. He asked me how much for a used cab, I told him a clean would run him 2500 plus shipping. I am not sure what he ever did but I am sure he would have easily put 15K into the truck.

There was one for sale in Wisconsin for around 8K a few months back but it was pretty shot by the pictures.

I buy my share of Unimogs in Europe and you can find 406's in that price range (sometimes as low as 2500 EURO) but with the exchange, shipping, duty, fees etc you will take a 2500 junk and have it turn into 9-10K just getting it here.

As for 404's - I think it was pretty well said in the previous post.

Good luck in your friends search, you never know what will turn up.

May 18th, 2008.

I concur with most of what's been said above about the Unimogs and speed, My S404.114 will do 61 miles an hour briefly, but she prefers 35/40 generally, and the M180 gas engine is much maligned, it's reliable (for a 1950 design), sounds good and runs good, if you don't get a load of bad gasoline..... Don't ask me how I know, just stay the hades outta Texas..... I like the 404's because, compared to the M35A2 deuce I own, they're a sports car with a nice rumble for a six cylinder engine, they'll go almost anywhere, and they're fairly easy to park (compared to the duece).
The bad part is the exchange rate, and I don't think that's going to get any better any time soon...... The good thing is they piss off the Civillian H1,H2, H3 hummer owners because the Unimog is so much more capable, and they can even pull out a stuck Land Rover....
Just my
But do learn to swear in German, your buddy's Unimog will thank you for it....

Kyle F. McGrogan

Speed.....Condition.....Price

Pick any two!

BTW, the 406 is a short wheelbase truck, probably shorter than a Land Cruiser. While they may be the least expensive diesel Unimog available, they are NOT good candidates for the faster axles. The short wheel base has great attributes, but high speed in not one of them.

Rick