Instead, I drove the truck home (not far) and used the Mog's crane to pick up the entire pallet of blocks and put it into the Mog's bed. Then I drove the Mog to the side of their fenced yard (there's an access path) and craned the whole pallet over the fence and into the yard, fairly near the work site. Cool! (I had done this before for a coworker, so I knew it would work.)
I doubt it was any faster than just hauling blocks by hand, but it was way cooler, and a whole lot less work. It also offered great entertainment value for the kids. (Us, too!)
I had to pick up a 3-day trip permit for this as the Mog's license had expired some time ago. $24, but I got the guy with the blocks to give me $20 to make his problem go away. (He was going to split the $80 license fee with me, but that didn't work out 'cause it'd only be good for a couple of weeks if I licensed it right now.)
Unfortunately I noticed that the RF axle is leaking oil down onto the tire. Not good. I hosed it off with brake cleaner before the trip. The LR tire is also looking rather aged. Sigh. The neighbor also reported that the right-side lights weren't working. Earlier this year I'd backed that light into a tree. I found and glued back together most of the lens, and I'd tested the lights at that time, but obviously something's not quite right yet.
Anyway, I get it all going and go off to meet him at his work (and my former place of employ). The Mog was making weird intermittent crunching noises, for which I couldn't see any cause, and it even started pulling to the side a bit. I'm trepidatious, but had made a commitment and decided to finish the job, though slowly. We got the units loaded (easily, the crane didn't even seem to notice the weight of the battery cabinet). On the way to the guy's house he noticed that my noisy wheel had a camber problem. (Much easier to see when you're watching the thing drive than when just looking at it statically.)
Great, that explains a lot. The oil leak at the axle must be because the wheel bearing is shot and has allowed the axle to chew up the seal. The noise is explained as well. I wonder how long it's been like this, and what it'll cost to repair? I kept the speeds very low on this trip, and it made it home in apparently no worse condition than when it left. But it's grounded now, for sure.
Oh, and the booty? A FerrUPS FE3.1KVA, and a Powerware CAB-N battery cabinet, supposedly filled with 8 8-month-old 75 AH sealed batteries. (I haven't looked.) The new price for this gear is something like $5000, though the big capacitor may be going out on the UPS as its power quality is suspect. Its former owner has saltwater aquaria, and needs reliable backup power. The 6 kW unit (with a 12-battery cabinet) should run his entire house through the night, during the days he can replenish with his 20 kW Ford/Onan genset.
Military dump trailer. Pintle tow, heavy duty. 40's vintage? 6×9 foot bed, 16 inch sidewalls, hydraulics all work but needs a motor. This trailer is full of bricks and dirt and ugly!!!!! No title, not stolen (bought from a family friend). Lights and brakes?? Air in tires and towable is all I can tell you. That's why it's $300.00 o.b.o. and not thousands. Thank you. Call James for questions please. 208-691-3526Very interesting! I've been wanting a military-style trailer to go on the Mog since I got it, but I'm not willing to pay a lot for something I don't really need. Will mull it over.
Very heavy, it was full of rocks, bricks, concrete, wet dirt, etc. It wagged the truck pretty good but we drove slowly and there was no real problem until I got to the hill to our house where it started to slip and lose ground going up the hill. I think as the not inconsiderable weight rocked back it tended to lift the rear of the truck off the ground. I grabbed 4wd and no difference. Oh yeah, manual hubs. Forgot about that... Brakes wouldn't hold it, we were rolling on gravel BB's by then.
We shot off the road backwards down a steep incline, the truck stopped with one wheel still on the road. The trailer popped its latch and the bed was straight up in the air. That load of crap was dumped all over the place. Miraculously it seemed that there was no damage to anything, we'd even missed the big trees. A ball hitch would have been ruined, this pintle didn't even notice. My 5yo son and I walked the rest of the way home. Dejected, embarrassed, etc.
After a lot of angst and messing around a neighbor came by and we decided to try to just pull it all straight up and back out. (Now that it was all unloaded.) I chained the Mog to the truck, and we put the Chevy in 4wd low. The neighbor piloted it and I the Mog, which I put in 4wd and locked the differentials. It just walked it right out of there, didn't even slip.
After all that I think I'm going to keep the trailer! Looks like crap, but if it isn't even dented (more) by a trip like this it is just the kind of thing I need.
We were lucky. I just hope that neighbor isn't too upset at the load of rubble I inadvertently dumped there. Sure don't want to pack it out one bucket at a time! Will at least police the worst of the junk, like the broken lawn furniture. But first I have to find a spot to park the trailer so I can return the pintle hitch.
The hydraulic line from the brake drums is cut off up near the tongue and is very rusty. Looks like it's never been part of this particular trailer's gear. I hate to think what I'll find if I opened the drums up! Another project, of course. The trailer has a differential, so it's definitely homebrew of some sort.
I chocked the wheels with some of the rubble, then I got my other winch-based camper jack out (one is on the boat trailer's tongue) and used it to lift the trailer off the pintle hitch. No problem. I drove away and the truck felt normal to me. I parked everything back where it belongs. The trailer is actually pretty well balanced when empty, I can lift the tongue fairly easily by hand. I set the tongue down on a cinder block.
So it cost me an extra $6 to keep the pintle hitch a second day, I think that so far the cost of my stupidity has been pretty low.
For some reason the front metal panel of the bed has been cut away. There was some nasty 2×6 wood and metal strapping in its place. Open like that, as the bed level is well above the tongue, I suppose it's possible to carry some very long material in the bed. The trailer needs some serious love with the welder to be nice again, and a heavy sandblast and painting session. Don't know when/if I will ever get to it, but it's not going to get much worse waiting. It would probably be best if I could put a hinged front panel on it like the tailgate. (Which itself needs some repair.) Someday!
...I saw your military trailer [picture] and just wanted to let you know that what you have is very probably the back end of an old Chevy 1.5 ton dump/cargo truck of the G506 chassis series, in particular the G7106. The beds on those were about 9' by 6'.and
I [attached] two pictures. The first truck has 2 extra side angle supports and the second just has the 3 straight supports. Oddly enough the bed at 6×9 feet is the same size as the newer (since some time in the 50's) single axle military 1.5 ton trailers. I have one of those on which I changed the pintle eye to a standard 2" ball surge brake setup. Even with 5,000 lbs of sand in it you can't tell it's back there when braking. I tow it with a Chevy 3/4 ton van with 6.5 diesel engine.
Schmidt Snow Blower for Unimog 404, U500 or other models. Good condition, single stage PTO driven. Hydraulic chute controls, used very little, still has paint on the drums. $5,000.00 O.B.O.It turned out that the guy lived some distance out of Vancouver (where we were at the time), so going to see it today was impractical. But we chatted on the phone about it for awhile, he'd had a couple of other calls from Spokane (where it was also listed, besides locally), but nobody else had come to see it. I made a provisional offer of $3500 on it, based on the pictures and conversations with him and my brother. He accepted, we are to make the transfer tomorrow. I stopped by the bank today to get the funds, because tomorrow would be tight time-wise. This could be cool! Though it lacks the front mounting plate that should be a solvable problem. Even if it doesn't work out (too big, too small, not enough horsepower, not a low enough forward gear, lack of a two-stage clutch, inability to mount correctly, etc.) I should be able to turn it over and not lose anything. Easier in Spokane than in Washougal, anyhow.
I'm not always in cell phone range so leave a message!
Pictures:
Anyway, it looked good (enough) to gamble on, so I bought it. We used his trackhoe to load it into my truck. That took awhile. We'd not come prepared with tiedowns and such, but he threw in a bunch he had so we could secure the blower. It fills the truck bed, so the (disconnected) chute had to be strapped onto the top of the blower. Then we were left with getting all of our crap, which had filled half the bed in the first place, tucked into the corners and/or wedged into the cab. Somehow we managed. There was also an in-cab electrical control box that went with it, he was able to find that. That's good too. No manual, nor even a discernable model number on it.
We left, slowly, and took it easy. The chute shifted once, and we popped a strap, but I stopped after the road got a little better to re-tightened everything and it never moved again the entire trip home. It's actually lighter than the camper, so it wasn't really hard driving. We got a number of interested looks on the trip!
————
Curious about the availablity of other Mogs to complete my stable, a
few days ago I had enquired of Classic Unimogs, the people
from whom I'd bought this one:
Hello, A few years ago I purchased the Hiab 950 crane mog from you, the one that needed paint. I've enjoyed it so far, though it is sick right now with a dead front wheel bearing. Or worse. Anyway, if it should turn out to be necessary, are front axles (or whatever would be appropriate if the gear housing/assembly was ruined) available? If so, how much? Would shipping be stupid expensive, or could it ride over in the bed of the next Mog to go to Tacoma? It's been broken awhile now, I could wait longer if I had to.The reply to my query came today:Other questions: We've had a really bad snow winter this year, and last. Do you get those snowblower Mogs come your way? If so, how much? Ditto on the front loader/backhoe combinations I've seen. My perfect Mog collection, besides having mine, includes these other two. (OK, and maybe a little 411 softtop job...)
I'd better quit before I get too silly here.
Thanks!
Sorry to hear that your Unimog is sidelined. What exactly is the problem? Maybe we can help there. Honestly, the prices of Unimogs have skyrocketed over the years. The clean ones with low kilometers and hours have become hard to find. Of the "classic" Unimogs there is just a lot of junk left, or you pay premium prices. The ones ones with the back hoe/front loader you can almost forget. Folks like them because they were hardly used in the military (and well maintained). We sold our last one (with the back hoe removed) for 18,000 Euro. We could not get another one at that price. There are probably only a few left in the military and when they are auctioned off, bidding wars drive up the prices. We had 5 or 6 of them over the last few years, but I do not know if we can get any more like it. There are a few around in private hands, and if they were to sell, they will probably cost upwards of 23,000 – 25,000 Euro.OK then, fix it it is! (I was going to, certainly.)The clean snow blower Unimogs—with the Panorama cabs—are also from the military and the last one we bid on also went sky high. My recommendation would be to fix your Unimog. I cannot remember if yours has hydraulics, but you could temporarily remove the crane and put a plow on the front. There are Schmidt plows in the US.
Best Regards,
Ziggy and Lisa
Classic Unimogs
Internet: www.classicunimogs.com
E-mail: sales@classicunimogs.comTel.: +49 6894 9906367
Fax: +49 6894 9906368
Mobil: +49 175 7730731
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