Shock conversion #s for Unimog S404.114

April 14th, 2011.

Gents:

I am looking for both the Mercedes-Benz and Monroe or equivalent shocks (Front and rear) for my 1963 Swiss Army Cargo Unimog S404.114, as she has finally blown the original gaskets on all four shocks due to age (1963). I guess 47-48 years are pretty good life expectancies, but the ride sure sucks as a 2-1/4 ton truck with unrestrained coil springs on all four corners will let you know who the master really is!

Any pointers on stock units or Monroe HD equivalents would be appreciated.... as four of the MB originals will just about be a down payment on a new Ford PU!
Thanks,

[FONT=&quot]Over the years the following shocks have been reported as usable on the 404. You may need a couple of washers to compensate for too short a sleeve on the ends, and there might not be a metal sleeve in the ends of all of these (only rubber bushings). BUT, they are cheap. Even the Koni replacements are well over $200 each now!!!

NAPA#74003
[/FONT][FONT=&quot]NAPA 650406
[/FONT][FONT=&quot]NAPA 6863

Of course you should make your own measurements before you plunk down your money.

Say Kyle, are you coming down to Tennessee for the South East Mogfest May 13-15? (we'd welcome visitors everyone).

Bob
[/FONT]

April 15th, 2011.

Dear Bob:

Thanks for the numbers, I'll look them up as the MB ones are like buying a car. I would love to come down to visit the mogfest, the only problem is that Uncle Sam doesn't seem disposed to spare me during our busy season, and the S404.114 has still be squirrelly on the fuels available around here (too much Ethanol).
She ran reliably in Texas and on the trip up, but has eaten 3 MB fuel pumps in 3 months (about 100 miles between failures), so I converted her to a electric pump system. She cuts out without warning, at either idle or road speed, but she usually restarts within 30 seconds to a minute and a half, so I am still puzzled. The truck only has 25,000 miles on her at best, and I put about 13 to 15K of them on since 2007. S404.114's aren't known to be overly temperamental except where fuel issues are suspected, and MB has nothing in the supply system for her that can resist Ethanol (apparently it was never concieved that a S404 would be exposed to such a fuel).... So I am still working out her issues. If they keep up I may drop a Deutz diesel in her and be done with it, though I normally won't fault the M180 engine as it does work when you need it to.

Good luck at the meet and thanks again for the numbers.

saddamsnightmare said:

April 15th, 2011.

Dear Bob:

Thanks for the numbers, I'll look them up as the MB ones are like buying a car. I would love to come down to visit the mogfest, the only problem is that Uncle Sam doesn't seem disposed to spare me during our busy season, and the S404.114 has still be squirrelly on the fuels available around here (too much Ethanol).
She ran reliably in Texas and on the trip up, but has eaten 3 MB fuel pumps in 3 months (about 100 miles between failures), so I converted her to a electric pump system. She cuts out without warning, at either idle or road speed, but she usually restarts within 30 seconds to a minute and a half, so I am still puzzled. The truck only has 25,000 miles on her at best, and I put about 13 to 15K of them on since 2007. S404.114's aren't known to be overly temperamental except where fuel issues are suspected, and MB has nothing in the supply system for her that can resist Ethanol (apparently it was never concieved that a S404 would be exposed to such a fuel).... So I am still working out her issues. If they keep up I may drop a Deutz diesel in her and be done with it, though I normally won't fault the M180 engine as it does work when you need it to.

Good luck at the meet and thanks again for the numbers.

Click to expand...

There must be something else wrong. I have no issues running ethanol in my 404. It vapor locks in the summer, but that was kind of a known issue. Mercedes offered an extra fuel pump optional from the factory. But yea, my truck runs fine and the fuel pump is good to go running on ethanol.

Hi Kyle,

Maybe next year for the SEMF!

You are right about fuel issues with the 404 systems. Vapor lock can be a serious issue. Gas has to be pulled all the way from the tanks to the mechanical pump up front.

I also added an electric pump pushing from the bottom of the rear tank (there's an extra port in the bottom of that tank). That keeps the gas in compression.

The gasoline here in TN works fine, thankfully. Back in Denver I started adding a gallon of Diesel per tank (2 gallons for both tanks) and that raised the Reed vapor point to stop vapor locking. The truck ran great on that mix! A couple of quarts of ATF or 2 cycle oil works in an emergency.

As you know, these engines were made to run down to 70 octane so they tolerate the gas mix just fine.

Bob

saddamsnightmare said:

April 15th, 2011.

Dear Bob:

Thanks for the numbers, I'll look them up as the MB ones are like buying a car. I would love to come down to visit the mogfest, the only problem is that Uncle Sam doesn't seem disposed to spare me during our busy season, and the S404.114 has still be squirrelly on the fuels available around here (too much Ethanol).
She ran reliably in Texas and on the trip up, but has eaten 3 MB fuel pumps in 3 months (about 100 miles between failures), so I converted her to a electric pump system. She cuts out without warning, at either idle or road speed, but she usually restarts within 30 seconds to a minute and a half, so I am still puzzled. The truck only has 25,000 miles on her at best, and I put about 13 to 15K of them on since 2007. S404.114's aren't known to be overly temperamental except where fuel issues are suspected, and MB has nothing in the supply system for her that can resist Ethanol (apparently it was never concieved that a S404 would be exposed to such a fuel).... So I am still working out her issues. If they keep up I may drop a Deutz diesel in her and be done with it, though I normally won't fault the M180 engine as it does work when you need it to.

Good luck at the meet and thanks again for the numbers.

Click to expand...

Hallo Kyle,
I think now your fuel pump problem is not based on the Ethanol, however may be on poor lubricating somewere. So an old trick is to add oil as mentioned above. However the expensive stuff is not neccessary. 1 gal oil on 100 gals of gas is sufficient. The cheepest engine oil will work, 2-stroke stuff is much to expensive, a single range oil works as well (10W or 30 W). Never use something used! We had several car models in the past with fuel pump problems the last 60 years. The best always was to add some oil to the fuel. A friend of mine, who worked for NSU with their Wankel engines and their fuel pumps problems confirmed this.
Thge next probably is fuuel overheat, so the fuel vapors in the system and the fuell pump tries to pump against a gas bulbble which will not work. The GMC from WWII had simelar issues. Simple help: poor some water from your canteen over it to cool it down. I read in a wheeled vehicles drivers manual fron the early 40's that for the Jimmy there was a felt coat awailable (I newer saw an original one), which they did put arround the fuel pump and on regular bases poored water over it. Natural cooling was enough to avaid gas vapours and keept the trucks running (every 30 min. some water required.).
Shocks : Here we do not have these problems. We go to the shop, order some and get them. Here Monroe is not realy the brand we like to trust. Billstein is much better. Or we buy NOS, which might be only 25 years old or less. Was made to be stored for , I do not know, 200 years or so.
Hope these informations help.
Wolf