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Equipping the Overland Vehicle Vehicle accessories - Making your home away from home comfortable, safe and reliable.
Photo by George Guille, It's going to be a long 300km... Bolivian Amazon

I haven't been everywhere...
but it's on my list!


Photo by George Guille
It's going to be a long 300km...
Bolivian Amazon



Overlanders Handbook - everything you need to know, available NOW!

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  #16  
Old 27 Apr 2012
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Here it is from Jane's Military Vehicles for the MAN 8.150:
length 5.92m
width 2.245m
cab height 2.68m (my rooftop height on the camper is 3.4m; 3.8m counting unmounted spare tires)
track 1.8m, like my Unimog, way more than a (narrow) Landcruiser thankfully considering the center of gravity
They make a 9.150 with GVM 8.99 ton
Chassis cab weight is only 3.7 ton so there is great load carrying ability.
Of course you need an RHD version to permanently register it in Australia. Like an idiot I forgot to order VarioPilot (switchable controls) on my U500 when I ordered it in 2005.
I wouldn't worry about the track, what keeps a bigger truck off narrow tracks in the forested parts of SE Australia (i.e. the Victorian Alps) is camper box height and overhanging trees. I had no problems going out to Rudall River, I heard different stories about really big MANs on the Canning: so-and-so had 20 punctures, someone else had none.

Charlie
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  #17  
Old 8 May 2012
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Man fits container?

m37charlie you've made my day!

Those figures mean the MAN 8.150 can easily be made to fit inside a high cube shipping container.

I just need to clarify one point.

I recall reading some website where Jane's was 'reported' as saying the height was just over 3 metres.

Is your quoted height of 2.68 metres taken from the actual book of Jane's Military Vehicles? I mean have you seen it in print ... I just don't want to get too excited too soon.

By the way, I've been told MAN only made the 8.136/150 in LHD, so to
register one downunder it would had to have been built 30 years prior to
my planned date of registration.

Thanks again for your help.
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  #18  
Old 8 May 2012
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Is it the 4wd?

m37charlie, I think I've unfortunately found a flaw in your figures.

It looks like I might have overlooked the important letters 'FAE' which denote the 4WD version of the 8.150.

Are you able to check Jane's for the cabin height of an 8.150 FAE.

I knew things seemed too good to be true.

Cheers.
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  #19  
Old 10 May 2012
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There is no flaw in my figures, I got them directly out of my copy of Jane's Military Vehicles 2004-05, p.468. Unlike some web denizens these days, I do have and read real books, it comes from being an old fa*t.
It does of course refer to the FAE version, pretty much all the trucks listed in the Jane's are all wheel drive.

Charlie
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  #20  
Old 12 May 2012
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As one old fa*t to another, that's terrific news.

But while I was awaiting that info, I was dealt what could be a fatal blow by the local registration authorities where I live.

I was told by an engineer that I could register a LHD vehicle as long as it was built 30 years prior to the date of registration. The other day when I rang the authorities to confirm this, I found-out that only applies to vehicles under 4.5 tonnes GVM ... all LHD vehicles over that MUST be converted to RHD.

I know that Unimogs cost around 4,000 pounds to convert in Britain... not
too bad given the purchase price.

While this question is 'way out there', would anyone know of a reputable firm in Europe that could convert the MAN, and the likely cost of doing so.

Who would have thought buying an old truck would prove so hard.
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  #21  
Old 13 May 2012
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What!
How about all those LHD Soviet bloc trucks people own in the UK?
I thought registering a LHD vehicle of any size was easy in the UK!
That cannot be right. I know for a fact that Stephen Stewart has a recent model MAN 14 ton truck with a Bimobil camper that is LHD, and he lives near Milton Keynes, and I'm 99.9% sure it is registered in the UK.
You could buy a Unimog U500 like mine, but with the VarioPilot option with switchable controls. Last price list I saw it was 3999 euros for the option. Of course a new truck would cost about 162,000 euros with all the right options. Before VAT.

Charlie
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  #22  
Old 13 May 2012
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Looks like I caused a little confusion with my reference to Europe.

I actually live in the mountains of N/E Victoria, Australia, but if I bought a Man from Europe I'd most likely have the RHD conversion done over there.
Hence my reference to England.

Oh to have the UK's registration freedoms.

It's a beautiful place down here with the immense physical freedom that open space provides, but bureaucratically the nation has become anally retentive ... every day a new rule and a fee to be paid.

It has reached the stage where the pollies and the police actually believe they're in control ... the fools! How did we cope before they came along.

What's that dear, stop the ranting and come and take my medication.
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  #23  
Old 14 May 2012
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Ah, yes; my Mog just spent almost 2 years in Australia. I could have registered it in WA or perhaps somewhere else but for the LHD, hence my regret at not ordering VarioPilot. But if I had done that I would have have forfeited my carnet, ~$120K.
Australia has become EXTREMELY bureaucratic, the change between the early 90s and now is quite remarkable. If you want to register a truck at home, it must be RHD.

Charlie
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  #24  
Old 18 May 2012
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Gusgus you know some older Mogs in the UK are RHD anyway? So keep an eye on what comes up for sale, then the previous owner will have paid most of the conversion cost?

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  #25  
Old 18 May 2012
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Have you considered All Terrain Warriors offerings? They will build a camper to order on any chassis, though they prefer Isuzu and especially Fuso. They do have experience with MAN. Actually "relatively speaking" new MAN trucks in Australia are semi reasonably priced (?twice their price in the US if we were lucky enough to have them, which we aren't). Certainly a lot cheaper than a newish U500 Mog with VarioPilot.
ATW are great people, John Marano who is their tech/sales person is super helpful, I know him personally.
In my decision making I quickly gave up on container sized vehicles and once I had decided on roro the horizon of choices greatly widened. You can do roro from Australia to Europe or US west/east coast; Pt Klang in Malaysia. And of course across the Atlantic, which is surprisingly "inexpensive". Transpacific is NOT cheap!!
I was going to ship from Perth to Malaysia, then spend 8 months travelling and seeing the countries and people of Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Yunnan, Tibet, Sinkiang, Inner and Outer Mongolia, and Russia. Then maybe Israel, Egypt, back to Israel, Turkey, Caucasus, Central Asia, back to Europe and US. But my wife came down with ALS (neurologic disease) so I shipped back to US/Alaska after truck spent ~2 yrs in Australia. Certainly saw a lot of your country.

Charlie
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  #26  
Old 11 Aug 2012
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Trying to come up with a plan for a box to go on the rear of a MAN FAE 8.136. I've seen one overlander with a box 4m long x 2m high x 2m wide.

I don't want the box to look out of proportion to the vehicle, so what is the height to the top of chassis, so I can work out an overall height, and relationship to the cab roof?

Thanks.
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