[QUOTE=ClassicCruiser]Thanks for all the help in choosing a truck chaps - after pestering you for information on the Man/Vw 8.136, and after travelling over 3,000 miles during the Xmas break to view all posssibilities, I finally bought a Mercedes 917 just up the road in Oxford!

9 tonner, 170hp, permanent 4wd with diff locks, and it's a 4 speed AUTOMATIC! - very quiet (less noise than my old 609 Merc van), and the missus can drive it. 60,000Km ex fire brigade rapid response vehicle. Will post progress.

Thanks once again chaps [/QUOTE

Steve this is the truck I have though mine started out life as a bus in Germany. After 18 months of ownership and quite a lot of work I've come to know a fair bit about them so if need any info etc send me a pm with a contact number.

Good choice; though I hope you've got longer axle ratios than mine had!

Q

Hi Quintin, pm sent with phone number

Hi Quintin

what about some info on the work you have done and maybe some photos - before, during and after/now

What/where do intend taking the truck ??

Chris

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ChrisC

Saw this link on ebay. Depending on condition, could be a good base for an expedition vehicle. One of the lighter duty mogs but should be more than capable of anything on an expedition.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/UNIMOG-100L-19...QQcmdZViewItem

now thats the daddy!!

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1990 Landcruiser H60. Full rebuild completed 2014

Hi Chris
Haven't got any photos of the work I've done and anyway I'm hopeless at re-sizing piccies to fit the site's attachment size. Help gratefully received!

When I got the truck (which used to be a bus in East Germany) the main problem was that it was geared to run at 70km/hr before hitting the red line on the rev counter. Anyway, after much searching for advice/technical help (and that I got here from Luke amongst others was far better than Mercedes could provide) I ended up changing the axle ratios at a cost of about £3,500-outrageous. This has improved the mpg from 13 on a run to about 16 but it's also made the truck much quieter and easier to drive. I've put on a 450 litre fuel tank (from a DAF truck) and I've also completely rewired the leisure side (no fuses), fitted a 120W solar panel, 2x170a/hr batteries,Sterling battery:battery charger etc etc. I've also installed a 2kw generator mounted on, bizarrely, the back bumper and covered in a thief-proof stainless steel cover, installed a purpose built additional stainless water tank under the entrance steps (total capacity now about 300 Litres). I've built a spare wheel carrier between the back axle and the rear bumper which is hinged about the front edge so that it can be hoisted up and out of the way-neat design by the way-and I'm about to fit a further spare wheel on a box frame which runs up from the rear end of the chassis to the top of the box. The wheel is raised and lowered using a small detachable electric winch mounted on the top of the box. I also use this to raise and lower the Solex moped (!)we have on the back.

The truck was very well equipped (shower, Truma hot water/hot air system, gas oven, fridge etc) when we got it and for surprisingly little money but the layout wasn't very well thought out. We've changed quite a bit inside but without ripping everythig out and starting again there's nothing more we can do about that. The inside is rather like a shrine to pine-think IKEA/Swedish sauna-but at least it's light and airy. I'm in the process of putting netting on the windows that open and am installing some Seitz roof vents as I reckon it will get very hot inside once we get down into Africa. The truck is known in the familly as Group 4 for the simple reason that with 4 windows down each side it looks like a prison van!! Sadly without a decent 3-point body mount it can't do serious off-road work though.

The plan is we're off to West Africa in October for 3 months with no particular agenda or fixed plans though we'd like to get back to Mali to see old friends and maybe get to Niger where there are some musican buddies I'd like to catch up with again.

If someone can tell me how to re-size attachments I'll post a photo of the little dear

All the best

Q

[quote=ClassicCruiser;116416]Hi Guys, first post so go easy!

hi the place to get these 4x4 vw man trucks is in germany ,they come from a company called vebeg they are on the internet

Seems a very popular thread this, so some may be interested in impressions, pix and movies following 10,000kms in my 8.136:
http://www.overlanders-handbook.com/MAN/index3.htm

Saw a 9.150 FAE down in Djanet also being used for bike tour support. Around a metre longer, spare tyre underneath and full height in the back, but matey said there are only 10 in Germany. 8.136s are easy to find as we know.

Chris S

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Morocco Overland 4 pre-order for Xmas • Trans Morocco Trail

Excellent write up Chris, glad it all worked out ok. Impressive fuel consumption! I'd better get on and make/fit the living mobile back to my merc ready for the autumn.
Steve

Chris,

Enjoyed the trucklette write up very much and am now thinking that I too may buy one and use the back to live in for more extended trips! Much more space than a Defender , cheaper than rebuilding one but with the downside of higher fuel costs (in the UK) and not so good for nipping down to the shops or chippy. How do you think it would cope with bigger dunes?? Can you get spares like shocks etc fairly easily?

I work in HGV transport and MAN's in their larger incarnations (16-44 tons) always struck me as having superior build quality over other makes such as Merc (esp later Mercs) and DAF/Volvo/Iveco. This was borne out by the fact that even at 900,000 km everything worked as original and nothing had fallen off. They all had very smooth and free revving engines. Actually we used to use 30 foot 3 axle 24 tonners for going to the chippy so as a standby runabout a small 7.5t truck could be a goer.

Will be interested to see the future camper body mod.

Presumably a truck like this would be ideal for something like the Gilf trip...?



Andrew.

Hi Andrew, glad the report was useful.

How do you think it would cope with bigger dunes??
At a bar and a half no worse than a regular 4WD but it's a bit more work to dig out unless you can reverse out. The Admer crossing is a pretty long and steep and it managed fine once I worked it out. Later on were worked our way through smaller, 20m-high dunes in the Taghera region to make a short cut. Getting stuck to the axles on a downslope here was frustrating (the 80 did too) but all you can do is dig, deflate and keep sandplating. Or better still, walk ahead to mark a firm route as we eventually did.

Can you get spares like shocks etc fairly easily?
Depends where you are I suppose - dont know the RTW range of MANs. As you read, I got a 15 year old clutch seal in Hassi M by just reaching out my arm and in the UK Matt has no trouble getting the usual wear-out bits just down the road, including a new slave cylinder. Shocks look pretty standard and anyway dont work hard coz the leaves do.

.... and MAN's always struck me as having superior build quality over other makes such as Merc (esp later Mercs) and DAF/Volvo/Iveco.
That's what I hear too but I'm coming from a knowledge base of zero. In Algeria any HG smuggler worth his salt runs a MAN.

Actually we used to use 30 foot 3 axle 24 tonners for going to the chippy so as a standby runabout a small 7.5t truck could be a goer.
It will be a doddle to park but still carries a lot of chips. Which reminds me, must get down to Macro for a pallet's worth of veggy oil.

Will be interested to see the future camper body mod.
We only have a back-of-fag-packet design and I've been looking at all sorts of designs on the web and have a good idea what will work best. IMO to live in an 8136 you need more space than the flatbed floor offers so moving the spare and all that stuff there needs to be done to extend the body forward - and then a bevel angling up off the back about a metre will add 4 feet all up. My plan is to have the module demountable like Thunderbird 2 so in between trips you can return it to flatbed mode to take a cow to market or do a bike tour.

Presumably a truck like this would be ideal for something like the Gilf trip...?
Apart from the getting there, yes, if not a bit OTT. A regular 4WD is absolutely maxed out on a typical 2200km Gilf run. For my 2008 tour I'll probably run mine in flatbed mode with no sheet and a couple of oil drums in the back; the payload won't be any more than I carried for the bikes in Alg. The problem might be the other cars will think it's a general purpose load carrier and tow truck!
And with a truck, the good thing in the Gilf is that it's so arid there are no oueds or run-off channels to speak of which makes cross country progress comparatively agreeable compared to oued-riddled central Sahara. And I'm already taking bets I'll get up the Aqaba Pass in one go!

Chris S

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Morocco Overland 4 pre-order for Xmas • Trans Morocco Trail

Hi Chris,

Thanks for the reply. I've been hunting around for an 8.136, Leavesleys have run out and maybe having some in soon, and Jacksons have loads but a price. They also have loads of spares apparently and offered to make me up packs...Found Lots in Germany/Denmark etc but prefer to get one from here. I like the demountable idea, makes good use of the truck when not in desert mode, no doubt people will want things shifted, dumped etc so it can justify it's keep more.

We parked next to a German 8.150 camper in Carrefour Algeciras. It looked like one of these ex mil jobbies with the mil type bumperettes and cab roof rack, and has a camper body as you described - about 3 foot taller than the cab, swept back at the front and kicked up at the rear with about a 3 foot rear overhang. On the back there's a frame with an off road bike and 2 canoes/kayaks. Has the 14 inch wide tyres you mentioned and a 450 litre fuel tank... Does look big and top heavy though in contrast to yours and probably not a demountable. Did you say that yours came with a thermal tarp??

Just found pics of this truck on their website:

Startseite



Andrew.

... and Jacksons have loads but a price.
Which says it all. I am sure they quoted me 12k for one on the road last year!

They also have loads of spares apparently and offered to make me up packs...
Handy to know.

Found Lots in Germany/Denmark etc but prefer to get one from here.
I think by the time you get there, look at it and bring it back it must be £1000. Much easier for rego too if it's been brought in to the UK already with VAT paid. The price as we know can be the same as in Europe.

We parked next to a German 8.150 camper in Carrefour Algeciras. It looked like one of these ex mil jobbies with the mil type bumperettes and cab roof rack, and has a camper body as you described -
The FAEs are all ex-mil, no?
Yes, that what I have in mind, but starting from above their red side bits - just a box sat on the bed. I wonder if they built a whole new back chassis to lower it.

Has the 14 inch wide tyres you mentioned...
Actually, to be precise I'm told the tyres needed could be 14.5 R20 (but definitely 365/80 R20) - a smidge bigger than the 12.50s but it ought to turn them. Its got to be that exact size - even .../85 is much bigger.

Did you say that yours came with a thermal tarp
Yes

Ch

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Morocco Overland 4 pre-order for Xmas • Trans Morocco Trail

Hi..I hve read a number of the posts re vehciles that people have been trying to buy etc.
I am from Cape Town , South Africa. I am a disaster management volunteer fighting the large blazes we have in the informal settlements, peri-urban areas and large nature reserves. I urgently need assistance with securing an off-road fire / resucue vehicle (preferably sponsored by someone)- if anyone can help or point us in the right direction this would be apprecited.
Thanks
davin
davinc@icon.co.za

Too late I'm afraid, but take a look at:

http://man.lauerbach.de/wiki/view.do?page=Galerien