Out of interest, when using mega-tonners for overlanding what do you do when you get stuck? Can you recover a Tatra with anything else than another Tatra size vehicle?

In my limited experience in the sand, self-recovery is the same procedure of as a car, it works fine but just takes longer if you can't reverse out; if nothing else then when deflating and inflating huge tyres through an ordinary valve. But in a car a quick push from a few people works fast - I would not even consider this in a lorry.
Aas in a car you soon learn to use your brains with tricky terrain ahead and recce on foot or find another way to save possible effort. As can be seen in the Unicat vids, with low tyres and enough poke in the dunes you can have your cake and eat it!

Elsewhere (mud) where winch-free self-recovery is not so easy, from what I saw of a friend's slides through the Congo basin the other day (plus other tales and the Unicat vid in the Moroccan river), trying to recover anything much heavier than yourself is bad for your vehicle in the long run. That's why Congo matey in an old 60 did most of the trans Af triop alongside a pair of Mogs!

I get a feeling the 8x8s are for a big, long payloads more than extreme terrain, no?

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...more useable chassis, which is ultra stiff and doesn't need a fangled flexible mount system for the box because of the central tube transmission.

Remind what that means/how that works again Luke or anyone? I got it once but have forgotten.

Ch

I remember reading a little about it a while ago on the army rumour mill website in the context of a new fleet of man trucks that was put forward for a new vehicle tender. As I understand it a flexible chassis is replaced with an ultra stiff one, the ability to have all wheels on the ground is then massively reduced unless suspension travel is greatly improved. As far as I remember the leaf spring set-up was replaced with huge travel coils, similar to the rangerover/defender difference but on a massive scale. There was also something clever going on with the axles in that they could articulate independently on either side of the sump, I can't remember what this set-up is called though. I'll see if I can dig out the thread

here's a bit of information regarding the MAN truck the army were trialling

British Army Rumour Service > > Forums > > General > > The QM's and MT (logistics) > > MAN Support Veh

Quote:

There are 2 types of chassis; HX, which is a Meduim Mobility and SX which is a Improved Mobility. The main differences are the SX has a fecking thick rigid chassis with coil springs all round and a torque converter gear box and the HX has a chassis that twists "a bit" with leaf springs and a semi/auto gearbox. The main users for the SX variants will be Cdo and Air Assault type people. But after driving and seeing the HX, that will get you over places a Daf or Bedford would dream about

the most amasing piece of information on that thread is that the new MAN trucks cost the army £288k each!

thought of this Luke?
 

In coastal humid regions the water evaporation method doesn't make a difference. Ideally I'd like to cover the entire roof of the vehicle with solar panels, enough to run an aircon like the new Webasto 24v truck unit. But a good static aircon generally needs a generator, which IMHO ruins the ambience of where you've made such an effort to get to (not to mention how environmentally unfriendly it is)

Webasto England. Haven't found out the cost yet, but the spec sheet shows consumtion at 15-150 W max. Apparently.....
", using a benchmark of 40 percent outside humidity, company tests concluded that at 86 degrees outside, NiteCool could achieve 72.5 degrees in-cab – and at 95 degrees outside, 79.8 degrees in-cab. NiteCool TCC-100 is powered by the truck’s battery and uses minimal electricity, and the 7-gallon water tank must be replenished with every 10 to 20 hours of use. The fan speed, cooling function and on-off switch are operated via an in-cab control module with accompanying remote control."

Certainly a better bet than aircon.

So have you (finally!) made the Tatra plunge?

Best

Q

grp ply box wieght
 

Thanks for all the replies, I am still considering all options, I have found a grp ply Luton box from a ford transit. it looks like it might fit but I am a bit worried about the weight. Does anyone have any idea how much they weigh, or the weight of the grp per m2, the I could work it out roughly.

Graeme

weight grp box
 

Hi Gray im in same posistion cut original back of my 40.10 last week and am looking at bt body. I have found a guy that has the all the time and only wants 100 quid for them. HE SOUNDS LIKE A RIGHT STAR AS HE WILL LET YOU USE HIS RAMPS TO BOLT ON BOX OR YOU CAN CART AWAY USING STRAPS, GIVE ME A BELL ON 07980 5868 22. HE SEEMS TO THINK THAT THEY WEIGH IN ABOUT A QAURTER OF A TON SORRY ABOUT SPELLING FOLKS NOT MY STRONG POINT NOR IS TYPING AS YOU CAN TELL. ARE YOU USING TORSION SYSTEM OR JUST GOING FOR THE SIX ORIGINAL MOUNTS, NOT SURE MY SELF ANY ONE GOT ANY IDEAS.


THANKS MARK:helpsmilie:
MARK

Hi Mark, the Bt box is too short for mine as I have the long wheel base model. As for mounting, I am not sure what way to do it yet. As I am not going to be in many situations where I will suffer with chassis twist I will probably just use the original mounting points, I want to do the least amount of work as possible. I am thinking of using an old fridge box as it will be light and insulated. I am also still looking for a caravan but it has to be the right one to work.
My flat bed has two rails on top of the original chassis, the flat bed is then bolted to these rails. I think the BT boxes will fit in a similar way.
let me know ow you get on, as for price £100 seems about right.

Graeme