Ultimate Overland Vehicle Setup - Mercedes Unimog Rig Walk Around

[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] so [Music] so [Music] it's now been eight months on the road and i get asked at fuel stops and campgrounds uh on ferries and in grocery store parking lots what is it what is this thing all about they of course are inquiring about what has now become affectionately known as the big orange puppy dog and like our smaller furry friends this beast attracts a ton of attention and of course i'm referring to the mercedes unimog and the custom-built overland expedition trailer that's in tow behind it today i'm going to answer what this ultimate overland slash van life monster rv setup is all about and go behind the scenes and take a closer look at the inner workings of this very special machine my name is michael ladden i am currently driving more than 220 000 miles around the world in my 1979 mercedes unimog and custom-built overland expedition trailer this is my story [Music] [Music] all right today in part one of my overland expedition rig setup i'm going to talk about the vehicle side of things now in my case i am driving a 1979 mercedes unimog u1100 416 doka whoa what does all that mean well let's back up a little bit and say and answer a couple questions that people ask all the time what exactly is a unimog well mercedes started producing this particular vehicle in 1948 and they still make it today in 2021 and there's a couple features that kind of make a unimagina unimog the chassis portal axles their coil sprung they have torque tubes underneath to protect the drivetrain high visibility cabs it's a cab over design uh ptos to run all sorts of things because municipalities would buy one truck and it's kind of a tractor but it could drive on the road and it does you know street sweeping uh backhoe plows snow blowers uh work on uh train track infrastructure all sorts of stuff like that and that's kind of what a unimog was now i bought this particular truck 15 years ago and in its former life it was um avalanche control unit up in switzerland i brought it over from europe uh and over the years i've done a bunch of modifications on it to bring it into sort of what i'm going to call the 21st century of technology-wise in the cab but most importantly i've turned it into what i consider to be one of the ultimate overland expedition vehicles and today i'm going to kind of show you a bunch of features that i've changed upgraded and set up so that this truck has the capability pretty much to go anywhere and go anywhere anywhere around the world let's hop up inside the cab and take a look at some of the things that make this truck unique now from the factory unimogs are pretty spartan and inside can be awfully loud so over the years i've put a ton of insulation in it carpeted it put custom recaro seats the center console has features such as satellite radio sirius xm the cb and an aviation headset unit and through that unit you can listen to your regular radio satellite radio cb or even your cell phone engine noise has been reduced in the cab through a custom engine tunnel cover and ample amounts of insulation throughout you'll notice that the inside of the cab is kind of using the aviation slash nautical theme the cab is finished with tiger maple wood and overhead there is ample amounts of marine grade lighting i made a custom mount for the arb refrigerator behind the seats and it's a quick grab to get gatorade or water while you're on the run on the heads-up console in the front i've got an ipad i've got the rear view camera and the garmin overlander so you can do your navigation conveniently located behind the passenger seat is the mppt controller for the solar panels on the roof as well as the 24 to 12 volt dc converter and the fuse blocks for both 24 volt and 12 volt for advanced cellular communication i have a reboost antenna um and it typically boosts the cell coverage you usually buy one or two bars no matter where you're at there are 16 usb ports located uh conveniently around the cab for plugging in phones and various other electronics and a quick little story on the seats i actually drove 8 000 miles across the western sahara and africa in my old land rover with those seats and i found that they were so comfortable i decided to put them into the unimod the truck has a 2300 watt military grade inverter for producing 110 current while on board i custom designed a overhead switch panel and those mostly control the exterior led lighting uh and the auxiliary lighting on onboard the vehicle [Music] here you get a closer look at the cb radio and the aviation headset unit you'll notice all the mounts that i use inside are from a company called ram mount and they're all adjustable on track so you can slide things back and forth add or delete as needed i made custom mounts for the recaro seats and they do have the ability to slide front and back as well as have lumbar support and this unimog comes with a 24 000 pound hydraulic winch and these are the levers here that control the operation of the winch in the back there's a valuables safe on board and under the rear seat is a diesel-powered uh auxiliary heater which actually heats the cab the battery box and the engine block little features like led puddle lighting enhance the interior [Music] one of the first things you'll notice is the massive tires on this beast they're continental 365 80 r20 tires and the stand 44 inches tall the truck has onboard air for inflating tires and running air tools the core of the electronics setup comes from the dual battery system which features a blue c battery cut off and shutoff system and it also has a battery tender so when you're not using the truck you can plug it in to maintain both the house batteries and the start batteries our custom steel framed aluminum skinned rear storage body gives you ample room to store both camping gear and the 82 gallon water tank the truck has its own hot water shower system with an instant on hot water heater pex plumbing and an outdoor shower that can also be used as a car wash or to set up uh for an outdoor sink [Music] also if you're off the grid this truck has a 24 volt pump system that can draw water from any fresh water source such as a lake a river or a stream there are secure mounts for two on-board 20-pound propane tanks as well [Music] and the house batteries on board the unimog are two lithium-ion battleborn batteries a massive 24 000 pound hydraulic winch is mounted on the rear of the vehicle all exterior lighting has been switched to led including the headlights uh all the auxiliary work lamps and all of the interior lighting as well [Music] also note the custom brush cage which we designed to mount the lighting solar panels and various antennas and accessories there's 110 watts of solar power on the roof and this is great for running the refrigerator and any other auxiliary equipment on board the vehicle for those moments when you really need a horn this truck is equipped with probably the loudest air horn system in the world i custom designed a 60 gallon diesel tank so it increases the range of this truck to probably right around 700 to 750 miles on the diamond plate roof of the rear of the truck there's four thule bike mounts a storage box and the mount for the solo stove on the front of the truck is a storage box where i keep all my tools and fluids and the box is easily removed if you need better approach angle while off-roading this truck is equipped with a mercedes workhorse diesel engine it's the om 352 in-line six-cylinder turbo diesel it's 5.6 liters and produces about 175 horsepower one of the interesting things to note about this engine is it's actually somewhat easy to get parts and to get it worked on around the world because its prevalence of use in both marine applications and in generators [Music] i had j couch of couch off-road and engineering in denver colorado upgrade the turbo system on this truck about five years ago and in order to do so we lifted the cab by about two and a half inches underneath the vehicle you can see the portal axles and torque tubes and the coil sprung chassis this truck has what they call super fast axles i swapped out the gearing in both the differentials and in the portal axles for slightly higher gearing which is better suited for the road but certainly doesn't take away from any of the off-road performance this unimog has six forward speeds two reverse and it has air actuated four wheel drive as well as an air actuated front and rear locker system all right folks that is a wrap on the walk around portion of the mercedes unimog but stay tuned because i am going to give you an in-depth look at both inside and outside the overland expedition trailer in part two i'm going to leave you today with a couple user submitted questions because i get a few of these on the road quite often so i'm going to answer them right here and now does it float um no it does not float uh it can't go in some deep water but it's not a duck boat miles per gallon i get asked this question quite a bit the answer is about 12 which is better than a lot of rvs and certainly big trucks out there uh what is the top speed top speed with super fast axles in this unimog is about 65 miles an hour um realistically with the tire size and everything else i am pulling the overland trailer i would say i average between 45 and 55 miles an hour most of the time why is the winch in the rear and not in the front of the vehicle quick answer to that if you get this thing stuck you best be going backwards how deep have you gone hmm roll the video [Music] is it comfortable inside the cab on the road uh quick answer to that it has air assisted brakes it has power steering uh and it has coil springs so it rides okay the seats are recaro they're comfortable i'd give it a not bad for a 42 year old truck last question how high is it the answer 11 foot 8 inches and no i know sometimes you look at it and i get i get this a lot from people thinking it's too high to get under bridges and whatnot uh typically uh in europe and and in america 13 feet six inches is about uh truck height or maximum legal limit it's well under that [Music] until next time thanks for watching and stay tuned for part two the overland expedition trailer [Music] [Applause] thanks for watching this video if you like what we're doing be sure to subscribe to our channel by clicking on the truck and tree symbol to your right once again thanks and hope to see you soon

Channel: Drive The Globe

Views: 562,608

Keywords: overlanding, how to, adventure travel, 4x4, vanlife, unimog, mercedes 4x4, overland bound, camper build, building a custom camper, drive the globe, rv life, off road trailer build, off road, living off the grid, off the grid, water system, camp shower, off grid living van, camp shower system, overlanding setup, van life, diy off road trailer build, diy, rig walk around, unimog doka, expedition vehicle, van tour, van life build, overland expo, bug out vehicle, vehicle build

Id: JIzJT5PF3tU

Length: 16min 5sec (965 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 16 2021