My first Benz

Hi everybody:

I'm new around here and I thought I would drop a line about my ride. It is a 1970 Swiss Armed Forces Unimog Troop Carrier. I have owned it for just over 3 years.

John

hey welcome to the forum john that is a nice mog some I hope to get my hands on one
but tell then I'll just drool.
p.s can you add your location to you sig.

Hi John nice 404 rig you have there.
I am also a newbie around here but I love all millitary rigs wit a special soft spot for all the Unimogs.
But then again I may be a bit biased because I am also a mog owner albeit from the other side of the globe in Sunny South Africa.



Pretoria South Africa

U1100 416 Unimog (Rebuilt from ex SADF Buffel APC)
280GE G-Wagon
290GD G-Wagon

3 SAI (South African Infantry batallion 1984/85 - CF camps till 1993)

3SAIInfantry welcome to the site from the plains of Kansas. If possible you could start a thread on what you had to do to convert the Buffel, not like we see them over here in the states, but always interested in what folks have done to convert something into a useful vehicle.

Hi ther John. Welcome to the forum. There are some very knowledgeable people here on the site so if you have any questions, they probably have the answers. If they don't, they will send you in the right direction to the right people.
Cheers from Quebec!

John

WOW this is an old thread Oct of 2005

Hi there
The unimog was the base vehicle our military used to create the Buffel Apc.
I just used the standard unimog cab (had to refurbish and fix used cab) and spares to return vehicle to its original state.
I have made some changes to cab however to suit my needs.
I have posted some pics of the vehicles military condition as well as some of the current state it is in.
It is however still a work in progress project.
Thanx for the interrest in my project.
We all love mill vehicles otherwise we wouldnt be on a site like this.
Keep on trucking

John good looking 404, the Swiss Army did a pretty darned good job on keeping them in very nice condition, please let us know what was involved in your conversion of the truck back to its original condition, 404s are really great trucks I had one for a few years and enjoyed it very much. A friend of mine (Eddy) once told me that a 404 was like a COCKROACH, they are kind of slow, maybe not the sexiest military vehicle out there but long after everything else in the world is gone the 404s will still be running! Good luck John and I look forward to seeing more pics
Karl

MWMULES said:

3SAIInfantry welcome to the site from the plains of Kansas. If possible you could start a thread on what you had to do to convert the Buffel, not like we see them over here in the states, but always interested in what folks have done to convert something into a useful vehicle.

Click to expand...

Hi There sorry I havent been very active . I will post some pics to show what I have been doing since I bought the old Buffel from the SADF at auction .I bought the Buffel in November 2005

at first there wasnt time nor much money to work on the Mog/Buffel so I did the next best thing and drove to every hole and obstacle in my area and played as much as I could .
I did start on fixing rust spots and just covering it temporaily with undercoat and later some paint I had in my Garage

Later I aquired an old South African Defence force ambulance cab they used on the Unimog chassis for ambulances to casevac injured soldiers off the battlefields in our 23 year long bush war on the Angolan border.
This cab was the only cab I could find at that stage as original unimog cabs is scarce in SA .

In 2007 I had to replace the clutch pressure plate and release bearing and also did a better job of respraying the Chassis at the same time .
for a long time I saved money and bought spares to later rebuild the complete Unimog. only in 2014 I was lucky enough to get a Unimog cab that was discarded by a millitary unit of our Spes forces , our Recces . the cab was so damaged no one wanted to even try to refurbish /fix it. the complete subframe was bent broken in 7 places . I removed it completely and built a brand new subframe as wel as used 2 sheets of sheetmetal to build a new floorpan as well. it took me and my son in law 3 weeks of work 12 hours a day to fix the cab to be in a usable state for my unimog. firstly some pics of my starting point with my (sic) new cab

I started to repair my new rustbucket tackling the areas one by one to remanufacture pieces from steel .
some holes in body needed to be filled as well
I even used some oldschool techniques like filling areas with lead to smooth the bodywork like below picture

new cab mounts and subframe built

I also lifted the cab mounts with 70mm as I knew I will at later stage upgrade my wheels from 12.5 by 20 to 14.5 by 20 .
test fit of lifted cab on chassis before we started to rebuild the floor completely .

before starting on new floor and seatboxes

filling that pesky hole
welding and strenghthening the floorarea

test fitting refurbished bonnet

more new material added to underside of cab in front corners . note in red circle one of the 9 bullet holes that was in the cab in different places . this cab truly belongs on my Buffels chassis .both cab and chassis has seen their share of ambushes and war excursions in the Bushwar just like their owner .

the only piece of the old subframe that I could reuse circled here

in 2015 we built the roof structure for the cab as well as added some room in the back of cab to accommodate the VolvoS40 seats I mounted for easy long distance traveling with Mog


Fitting 2 by 132 liter stainless steel dieseltanks one on each side of mog. also note added space behind the Volvo seats and newly made steel doors.


Making my own unimog badge by using leadcasting .first try below

if at first you fail try try and try again

Closing cab

custom made bonnet badge in 2015

custom made centre console built and installed in the roof

in 2017 the original OM352 motor was due for rebuild or replace. after carefully doing some investigation it was just 2000 rand more expensive to buy new OM366 turbo assembly and new turbo and reuse my old 352 head after rebuilding it completely. so out with the old and install new engine with turbo .

in 2018 we started building the steelframe aluminium skinned Camper on the deck.

finished camper in use at Cars in the park event at Swartkops raceway . sitting on the roof myself and my friend who helped me build the Camper .

my Moggie at Unimog 75th celebration event in SA at Brauhaus am damme near Rustenburg

most recent pic of my Unimog after replacing 12.5 by 20 wheels to 14.5 by 20 continentals to accomodate the 366T engine a bit better .

I hope that the picture Process may inspire someone else to undertake a similar task to resurrect an old vehicle like this to keep these oldtimers alive for they truly deserve to be on our roads .

Fantastic job on that Unimog! I am very impressed with the quality of your work.

That really is a good looking truck! Seems that those last few pictures are the reward for getting all the hard word done - and a little relaxation time is definitely in order!