New to group - just bought a 404s

Hi,

I've been reading this forum and several others for a while now. I've learned so much from reading all of your posts. I've got a notebook full of notes.

My mother was from Hanover Germany and since I was 5 having seen my first Unimog back in 1976, I've wanted one. Nowadays I live in Baton Rouge, LA right at the edge of where it flooded last year. It was that horrible morning when I saw the East Baton Rouge Sheriff Dept's M35A2's going through my neighborhood taking people out that my wife said, if you had your Mog we'd be out of here by now! We did get out but in a GMC 2500 in 3 feet of water. Fast forward to now, I've been looking online at Mogs when my wife told me to stop looking and to just buy one! So I did. I bought a 1965 Unimog 404s Radio Box converted to a camper. In retrospect I think I should have bought a U1300 Ext Cab but I think I'll wait a bit and decide to expand my Unimog collection or trade-up to it.

As I prepare for my 404 Mog to arrive, I was reading this site: http://www.cs.brandeis.edu/~zippy/unimog-404.html and found a section on Hot Climate Operation needing a Tropical Radiator.

Hot Climate Operation

For hot climate operation, an extra fuel pump and a tropical radiator were offered as factory-fitted options. Additionally, the following fan pulley diameters maximize fan speed and water circulation flow (part numbers for all 404 models with the M180 engine, according to Microfiche SA 35464):The weather here in the deep south Louisiana gets to about 95 degrees in the summer with 100% humidity. Not ever owning one of these before, I ask the Mog community, do I need this Tropical Radiator or is that meant for Amazon Jungle or Sahara Desert conditions and I should be ok with the stock radiator?

Thanks again, I think I'll be on here a lot in the future. Hopefully contributing as much as learning.

UPDATE - 4-16-17 - Photos



I have a YouTube Channel with some videos I'll be adding here as well as I create them. If you want more pictures, just ask. These are all formatted in 640x480.

Welcome to the site Crunchy the 404 is a very great vehicle, and I like you started out with a 404 and with that said I can also say that there is a U1300 in your future! Take every great point that the 404 has and multiply it by 5 and you have your U1300! The reason I know is because that is what I did and as good as the 404 was the 1300 is just more usable in almost every way! Good luck with the 404, great started point!!
Karl

You should be fine with the stock setup. My Swiss 404 has no overheating problems in central Texas with daily 100*+.

Where you WILL have issues with heat is in the axles/hubs if you try to run extended high-speed (over 55mph). 404s are slow, and like it that way, they do not like long high-speed runs. They will chug along at 45-50 pretty much all day though. Anytime you get near a hill, speed will no longer be a problem though. The Mog will quickly let you know that roads you previously thought were flat are actually uphill...

A word of advice - keep your legs away from the doghouse in the summer! It gets very hot. I made a carpet sample/insulation rug that I put between it and me while driving.

Cheers

Hi Crunchy,.
Rory gave you good info. You probably don't need the upgrade. Your radio truck is a great choice! It should have the air system for trailer brakes (works perfectly with M105 trailers) and should have high capacity radiator with sloped top tank, not flat top.

The only scenario the truck might need the faster ratio fan is hard climbs, like first or second gear, for long grades. Think Rocky Mtns. I did have to put on the high speed v-pulley when living in the Rockies.

Note that just a swap of position of two pulleys is first upgrade, increasing fan speed. The pully replacement speeds up water pump too.

I know you will enjoy it! More pictures please, an box too! Thanks.

Bob

My experience is that the tropic kit may be useful, especially if you are running it loaded over hilly terrain at low speeds.

I had a 404 for a while, and found that if I kept it well tuned and running light, I was Ok. If I ran it loaded the cooling system was almost insufficient.

Welcome to the site!
Rick

The beautiful thing about living in Louisiana is there are no hills. The bad thing about living in Louisiana are there are no hills.

Thank you for being so supportive. I already got the Mog on Thursday, United States of Freight did an amazing job. Clicked the link in this forum at 12 midnite on Monday, got an email 8 hours later Tuesday morning, had the deal in place by 10am, truck was picked up by 6pm and at 5pm on Thursday it was here. And for less than others were quoting on U-Ship! I need to find out where in the forum I can go to post a longer review. Joe did such a great job! Happened so fast the seller forgot to put the driver side and passenger windows in the truck! I get those on Wed. Pictures are coming!

What is metal thing sticking out of the steering column that looks like a wrench? I got the shop manual so I will be reading that.

Two things can stick out of the steering column, the tire direction pointer, and the independent brake control for the trailer. With air built up, pulling down on the lever will apply trailer brakes manually. This is handy for testing trailer braking independent of foot pedal. As the lever is moved the second air pressure needle moves to show pressure applied.

The foot pedal also applies trailer brakes. BTW, there is no pressure assist to chassis brakes on most 404.1 trucks.

crunchylicenseplates said:

Hi, It was that horrible morning when I saw the East Baton Rouge Sheriff Dept's M35A2's going through my neighborhood taking people out that my wife said, if you had your Mog we'd be out of here by now! We did get out but in a GMC 2500 in 3 feet of water. Fast forward to now, I've been looking online at Mogs when my wife told me to stop looking and to just buy one! So I did. I bought a 1965 Unimog 404s Radio Box converted to a camper. In retrospect I think I should have bought a U1300 Ext Cab but I think I'll wait a bit and decide to expand my Unimog collection or trade-up to it. .

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Not something you hear all the time.

And welcome.

Another Ahab said:

Not something you hear all the time.

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Here are some pictures from that very crazy morning. While my house was eventually spared as was my friends, about 80% of my neighborhood flooded. The neighboring parish lost 80% of it's homes and businesses. As I'm sure many folks on this forum have been in disasters or have helped. This is one event in my life that I will never forget.

6:30am - You can see flood waters down the street.


Four hours later.... 10:30am - We had a ruler out to see how fast it was rising. About 1 inch per hour.

An hour later at 11:30 as we drove out in our friends truck, this is Millerville Rd near I-12.



The next day, we drove back. We couldn't go the way we came out, so we went in the back way.
I was in the passenger seat, a semi got stuck trying to deliver food to the local Winn-Dixie. It about about 4 to 5 feet deep where we were.



To this day there are people that are not yet back in their houses.

I no longer say "**** or High Water" and I got a Mog and I'm shopping for a flat bottomed boat.

I'm sorry to hear about that disaster for you. That's a nightmare.

I recall visiting Baton Rouge once and walking around the LSU campus. I kind of remember everything being up on a bluff way above the River.

But I guess not all of Baton Rouge is like that, is that right?

Another Ahab said:

Not something you hear all the time.

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I've been told "I'm tired of you talking about it, just buy it." Twice, so far.
Of course, this from a woman who has four cars herself.

The FLU farm said:

I've been told "I'm tired of you talking about it, just buy it." Twice, so far.
Of course, this from a woman who has four cars herself.

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Got a pic of the "fleet"?!

I can get three of them in one pic with relative ease. The fourth one hardly ever leaves the garage.
She also has two tractors and two utility vehicles. Unfortunately (for me) I still have her beat. Not in price, there I'm very far behind, but in number of vehicles.

Is there a race?!

The FLU farm said:

I can get three of them in one pic with relative ease. The fourth one hardly ever leaves the garage.
She also has two tractors and two utility vehicles. Unfortunately (for me) I still have her beat. Not in price, there I'm very far behind, but in number of vehicles.

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She also has two tractors, Caterpillar or John Deere. Any ways Welcome aboard from Nevada.

Good luck. I miss my 404. The road speed was lacking, but it was fun to drive on and especially off-road.

Another Ahab said:

Is there a race?!

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For several years there was a race, sort of, but when she got a car that does 0-60 in 2.9 seconds and the quarter mile in under 11, I gave up. Even with less than 6.5 lbs./ hp, my quickest car couldn't compete with those numbers. At least not with me rowing the gears.

Anyway, here's 3/4 of her "fleet". The not-so-manly V-6 1/2-ton in the back is mine.

Tracer said:

She also has two tractors, Caterpillar or John Deere.

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Kubota, both of them. She had a tractor when we first met - which was a big reason I made a move on her.
And before someone asks (I've been asked many times), no, she doesn't have a sister.

The FLU farm said:

Anyway, here's 3/4 of her "fleet". The not-so-manly V-6 1/2-ton in the back is mine.View attachment 675256

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And color-matched (of course); REAL nice!

Funny thing, as a kid growing up I had a neighbor buddy who had an older sister who was the prettiest tiny imp of a woman, absolutely stunning. Picture a real-life human Tinkerbell.

I just wrote about him on another thread here. He had a bad run-in with a train.

His sister was a concert-quality pianist, and her favorite hobby? Track racing MG's! She raced to win.

She had a tricked out MG Midget that was an absolute super-charged piece of work.

Anna was her name; what a sweetheart. God bless her. Amen