Hmmm.... LR fanatics need convincing that a Unimog is not a better idea? What a strange world ... On the other hand, having read the litany of problems in Karel's other post I am not surprised he is looking at alternatives.

I still think the bottom line is how much fuel you can load in the vehicle on departure and how far it can take you taking into account the weight of this fuel and engine efficienty required to carry that load. All the rest is bells and whistles. If you need a lorry, you are carrying too much unnecessary stuff. Am I right, Andras?

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Roman (UK)
www.polandrover.com

Came across some guys last year in Djanet who were in an ex German Army 4x4 truck - multi fuel. They drove the first 600Km from Germany on used oil from a fast food restaurant at their university!! Apparently there was a 1000m radius of fried fish smell as they went! They had EXTRA tanks for fuel and water of 1000 litres each! The two spare wheels they had each weighed almost 300Kgs. Top speed was 60 kph, and they wore ear defenders whilst driving. I thought it was great, but the Land Rover felt like a Lexus afterwards!

You can, it's whether you want to!!

Sam.

Kar el

There is a book available on how to convert the 404S from petrol into diesel. I bought it and think there is no big difficulty involved. The new parts cost about €1,500-€2,000 not including the motor. The only problem with the book is that it is in German. It is/was possible to buy it at Daerr´s (overexpensive) shop in Munich. I think it cost DM40 (€20)last year.

You could go one better and convert a 101. I met some Germans a few years ago in Libya with a 101, two SIII and a 110, all ex British army and all with Mercedes diesel engines.

Having taken a LR 101 FC from UK to Ghana I would say that there is no better vehicle. The combination of room, power and carrying capacity is hard to beat and the off road ability is awesome. Far better than any other Landrover even.
But do not take my word for it. Neil lawson took a 101 from UK to SA and his website makes very interesting reading. In particular look at the Mission Impossible feature at http://www.enableafrica.net/features/archive.html
where he was travelling in somewhat difficult terrain in company with a Unimog. I understand that the Unimog driver is now looking for a 101.

Malcolm

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Roman:
[B]Hmmm.... LR fanatics need convincing that a Unimog is not a better idea? What a strange world ... On the other hand, having read the litany of problems in Karel's other post I am not surprised he is looking at alternatives.


The problems mentioned in the other post were not with my Series. 90% of that kind of problems are related to bad preparation of the vehicle (LR or other)before you set off.
So that's definetly not the reason why I'm looking for a unimog : go with a bad prepared unimog and you will have problems aswell.
I'm still convinced that LR's are the better choice for the job, but (for me here in Belgium) looking at the practical (and financial) side of it, unimog wins.

LR-greetings,

Kar El

Hi; a few thoughts to throw into the discussion: The size of vehicle is a decision based on a trade-off between one's desire for creature comforts, how much you can afford and how desperate you are to go; there are those who will go without money or vehicle because the urge to travel is stronger than all else. Everyone is different.
Mog/LR: Take two theoretical candidate vehicles, ex-military; one a LR, the other a Mog, both have about the same age. The LR will have been treated as a car, driven hard, probably everywhere. A standard lwb LR with a load of armed equipped soldiers is already working hard, a 20+ year career even with regular servicing adds up to a tired vehicle. The Mog on the other hand cannot be driven fast, it just doesn't happen. If it's a troop carrier or a radio box it will never have seen its maximum load capacity exceeded, it may have a quite a lot of km on the clock but for the reasons above it should be less tired. Then there is the fuel question, besides the safety considerations, after how many kms does the difference in fuel price and consumption pay for the conversion? I did the sum for a pickup I have; for a £2000 conversion at 10p a litre difference I would have to drive over 130000km at 15l/100km before the saving is worth it!
Roman wrote "If you need a lorry, you are carrying too much unnecessary stuff."
Probably, but not necessarily; if you have a lorry you can take stuff to make you even more independant. More importantly if you have a lorry you can live inside it, rather than outside and on top as with a smaller 4x4. A TLC/LR or equivalent prepared and loaded for an overland trip will be close to its maximum load and thus work harder than a lorry which should have load capacity to spare (unless you overdo it; look at the motorhomes section of http://www.robgray.com :0 )
If one only wants to do short "raids" it's another argument altogether.
This might provoke a debate about "goldfish bowl tourists" but it is sometimes a relief to shut out the harassing sales people and the "you, you, you, you" (no countries mentioned) and still have room to breath.
These are thoughts I have been chewing on throughout my search for a vehicle in which to escape, for a long time.
Luke

Hi all!

Just seen a 'auto motor und sport' on VOX tv
on sunday,and a was amazed with a GEOCAR ALBACO,what a beauty!A bit silly from the back side,but it looks as it's from a sience-fiction movie(wich is wery good,er,not a case with saharan bandits,thay will love it too! don't u think?)

Enyway check it out(just in german)http://webplanet.lion.cc/venus/390088/

seeyaa

jondoe

Few thoughts on the whole truck argument. Driven across Aus and across Africa in LR110, now thinking about truck but positive: can create far greater fuel capacity, overland trucks going uk - cape spent less on fuel for a truck carrying 40 people than we did in a LR because they could fill up at the cheap countries and not bother in more expensive places. 2) we had to take dodgy fuel in a remote part of chad because even with 240 litre capacity, we couldn't go all the way from ndjamena 0 Khartoum on a back route without taking it. Had 10 days of hardwork as it gunged up the fuel system. Ended up needing a new fuel pump. A MAN 4x4 truck came though, looked at some dodgy fuel and just turned it down because they had 1100 litres capacity and could do with out. 3) can carry toys as well - kayaks, rafts, inflatable boats, motorbikes, paragliding rigs, dive gear (even compressors), etc.
Downside - rocking up in a LR or Landcruiser already makes you rich in the eyes of the locals. To rock up in an actionmobil US$500,000 8 wheel conversion puts you in another world. Heard of a guy in Libya who was on a practise run before taking his US$300000 creation to India where he hoped to park up and live in a village and get to know the locals - from his fully inclusive vehicle including plumbed in washing machine, etc. To a certain extent, the compromise must be between extended range, capability and comfort v even more of a target for crime and even more removed from the local populace. Given one of the major enjoyments of travel is meeting the locals, this can be a major impediment.

Speaking as another 101 owner I love them

They are a good compromise between size and carrying capacity and manoverability. Mine also has the added advantage of a diesel engine so is relativly economic aswell. For expedition use the out and out off road prowess is not normally the issue so you can easily compare 101's to Mogs. For someone based in the UK 101's make sense as they go thru on the ferrys as High cars whereas a Mog would be a truck so attracting alot higher ferry costs.

For more info try the mog groups on yahoo groups (www.groups.yahoo.com) - they are very helpfull even to a Landrover owner :-) when I was looking for mog tyres and wheels for my 101

Have you also thought of other 4x4 truck options - Ex British army bedfords are cheap and diesel (and lhd), man trucks from germany or daf 4x4

I will dig out an email address as the guy I bought my tyres from did have a diesel 406 he was selling.

I think the engines are fairly easy to change in a 404 mog for a merc diesel. Remember also that mogs are more complex to work on (on a 404 the gearbox is installed before the body in the factory so its a pig to get to the gearbox)

There is a fully equipped expedition bedford for sale in my home town for 5500 UKP so that shows how cheap they can be



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Rich
LR101 300Tdi Ambi 'Tiggurr'

interesting literature, the mission impossible incident. You don't want to happen that when travelling alone.

I did not sort it out yet, but now that I have my Series back and drove it again, it's a hard choice.

And, thank you Sam for trying to put me back on the right track concerning Mogs and Landies : it started me thinking (again).

Kar El