Why I won't drive Civillian...... Unimog Wins!

December 4th, 2010.

Gents:

What follows is a bad day in mudville scenario back in August 2010 here in Springfield, Il. I had stopped short at a stoplight behind a Dodge Caravan...about 25 or 30 feet short. As I was closing up the gap, at the last and worst possible instance my foot slipped off the clutch during declutching, and being in low gear, there was no way the brakes would stop the Unimog with its low axle and transmission gearing..... By the time I got her stopped, she and I had bumped the Caravan at less then 1/2 MPH.....!!!
Fortunately, no one (other then that @#$$%%^&% Caravan) was hurt, and the cop's reaction was interesting to say the least. Long story short, when my insurance adjuster called that night or the next night, they said it was covered, and when I took my truck to the shop for repairs, they had sceduled a rental car... The reaction was priceless when I told them the Unimog was already fixed! A little sanding and a $5.00 can of Rustoleaum* Forest Green camo, and it's running. If you wonder why I prefer my Unimog (and I wish i could keep my M35A2....but no thanks to Illinois), they are eaasy to fix, easy to repair, and built like (you guessed it) tanks! I am the most cautious driver in the world, and likely I shouldn't have closed up, but around here in traffic the car drivers are apt to get irritable if you don't.....
They want to use ever inch of space if they can....

Gotta Love that Mercedes Benz Unimog, though..... Another good reason to NEVER buy a Caravan!!!!!!

Have a safe and Happy Holiday Season!

(and I wish i could keep my M35A2....but no thanks to Illinois)
What did you mean? There are quite a few of us in Illinois w/deuces. You having a problem that I am not aware of? Always want to stay on the good side of the LEO, sooo,,,,,,,,
Sorry that you are having problems here, but then again, most of us in Illinois have problems with Illinois! UGH!!
God bless,
Tony

Thanks for sharing this post my friend. You just gave me the added ammo to get rid of my wifes' '06 Caravan. I've been trying to convince her to get a 1999 or earlier Diesel Suburban and a CUCV for winter driving My argument is all the plastic and lack of any good sheet metal on the Caravan.

marchplumber said:

(and I wish i could keep my M35A2....but no thanks to Illinois)
What did you mean? There are quite a few of us in Illinois w/deuces. You having a problem that I am not aware of? Always want to stay on the good side of the LEO, sooo,,,,,,,,
Sorry that you are having problems here, but then again, most of us in Illinois have problems with Illinois! UGH!!
God bless,
Tony

Click to expand...

My guess is his problem with IL is to license and title a Deuce in IL is expensive . You need commercial plates ( Antiuqe plates are good for 8000 pounds MAX . And some insurance companies want commercial insurance . My guess is Kyle is like me . He drives his truck to a lot more than car shows or parades , and he wants to do it right .

Why does the Unimug have Texas plates? Are parts easy to find?

Hmmmm, I guess,yeah. It ain't cheap here in Illinois.
God bless,
Tony

Don't feel bad. I had a similar experience in my old 404. Was creeping up to my garage door to park the truck for the night, right as I went to push the clutch in my foot slipped right off (uncoated pedals!!!), I hit the brake which didn't do anything since it was in 1st gear, and by the time i got my foot back on the clutch it had already pushed the garage door in a few feet.

Oops.

December 5th, 2010.

Gents:

All jesting aside.... I used to use my deuce about 4500+ miles a years as it was registered as a 10,000Lb capacity pick up truck. As that is the way the title came down from Colorado, I just paid for total loaded weight (Tare plus road capacity according to the dash plate). From what I can see and a great deal of what I have heard while here, Illinois regards any vehicle over 13,000 or so lbs as requiring a CDL to drive, private vehicle, or not. In West Virginia, Texas and a lot of other states, they agree with the Federal Licensing requirements which say that a conventional drivers license allows one to drive a vehicle up to 26,000 Lbs total (truck or truck and trailer) non commercial hauling, private truck. Now if my friend the LEO above would be so kind as to point me to what type of drivers license I need or can get in IL that isn't a CDL for my truck, I would be indebted for the kindness. I don't normally plate my trucks as anything less then a conventional pickup or equivalent plate, as I do want to be able to haul my own stuff and go anywhere I can legally take a truck of the given size.
The reason the Unimog has Texas plates is that I have yet to establish a permanent residence here. Given that I have been moving from Hotel to Hotel while looking over houses, most states do not accept a PO Box as a legal residence for such purposes.......! However, I hope to be into a house by mid month (December), and so I will get to figure out the inanities of the Illinois DMV and licensing system. I may wish I was back in Texas, even without a job, before this is all over. Even the S404.114's, with their 80HP gas engines, are very powerful little trucks when in low gears, and mine does not have the auxilliary 6 or 8 speed ultra low range gearbox attachments, wich give her a ground speed in Low/Low of about 456' per hour. Figure out what she could rip out or crawl over with that and the locking differentials....! However I do love to jerk the Hummer and Land Rover owners around as to climbing and pulling abilities... When they get stuck,, I get them out or they lose a bumper or pintle, there's no two ways about it.
I really do hate to lose the M35A2 as she has been an exceptional truck, and someone's gonna get a really well upgraded machine for cheap, particularly if they keep it in Texas....
N.B. Parts aren't as common or cheap as with an M35A2, what with the US $ to Euro exchange rate, but, the word with the S404.114's is, if you take reasonable care in operations and maintenance, they run about 3o years, then rebuild them and go another 30 years. Mine is a 1963 with about 22-23,000 original miles on her, and I have run her about 12,000 or 13,000 of those with few problems other then bad fuel in Texas and worse (Ethanol laden) fuel here in Illinois. NO S404.114 was ever intended to run with any amount of alcohol in the gas as it eats the tank linings, fuel pump rubber parts and hoses up quicker then ----!

and may you all have a Safe and Happy Holiday Season,

November 8th, 2011.

The Unimog Story continues.......

Well, I finally got the Unimog to where she will behave herself on regular gasoline and sometimes ethanol -10% Gasoline 90% fuels. All the problems with the Unimog since last January (2011) was that the Ethanol in the gasoline here ate three new MB fuel pumps in three months, with about 100 miles between failures! The mechanic, being a M-B rocket scientist, replaced a low pressure high displacement mechanical pump with a high pressure low displacement 24 VDC electric pump working through a pressure regulator....
The truck got to where it wouldn't go 40 feet without stalling.... After going around and around with the guy, I pointed out that the fuel filter glass was full on starting and half empty in about 10 seconds.... and if the truck ran at all the gas in the filter bowl was bubbling and it wasn't air. They had mounted the pump to the side of the oil pan, probably the hottest place on a Unimog on the road other then the exhaust manifold. The result was vapor locking in the carburettor. Contrary to some other Unimogs, this one would run in 104-106*F heat at 50 MPH all day long, stopping for only fuel.
After changing the pump and moving its location, the truck is back to running as reliably as any other 48 year old Mercedes Benz, which means it generally runs 99.98% of the time.
I still have the M35A3 in Texas, and I do hope to get back south before I sell her, but they want $500+ for plates here per year and two inspections, in Texas $200.00 per year and no inspections.... you gotta love Texas when it comes to FMV's! And the Unimogs will grow on you as far as former military vehicles go, real FWD and factory lockers.

Have a safe holiday season!