Unimog Club UK

I've just had Ken Day out for a couple of days to sort my mog. What a fantastic bloke! I managed to spend the day with him yesterday and he talked me through a lot.

He's changed the front clutch and brake flexi hoses for me and made up some metal pipework. He also did the slave end of the clutch and the front wheels and adjusted the hand brake as a temporary fix. It needs new cables as they're a bit frayed but he didn't have them in the van. I may have a punt at that myself. I rebuilt both the rear calipers myself which was nice as he could get on with the more technical bits that I didn't fancy. He showed me how to split them and take the adjuster mechanism out to service it, then I got it all back together with new parts after a couple of pointers. It's got new pads all round too.

Whilst chatting he talked me through the problems that I could have with the speedo and how to check it over. I've now had that apart and it turned out to be the little box thingy (I forget the name) between the gearbox and the cable, so I've removed that completely for now as he said it should give me a pretty accurate reading without it.

Another lesson learned is to never buy cheap aftermarket parts. The brake service kits that I had bought took me an absolute age to get on and in some cases I just couldn't do it. The genuine merc ones that Ken brought with him... less than two minutes to get each seal seated perfectly. I'm very annoyed with myself after saving about a tenner per set. It's just not worth the battle!

After completely draining down the brake system it's proving interesting to bleed, but it's pretty good. It's been suggested that I drive it a little bit to see if I can get the last of the bubbles to settle in one of the bleed points. I'll do that at the weekend. I can get full tank pressure on the brake pressure needle so it will stop ok, but the pedal can hit the floor if you really stand on it which I'm sure it didn't do before?

All in all I'm very pleased. I haven't had the bill yet but I think it's going to be worth it just for the experience I've gained and to get the thing shifting again. Now it's time to do the bodywork!

Good lad :-) by the time ur a mile down the road u will have forgotten all the problems

Good lad :-) by the time ur a mile down the road u will have forgotten all the problems

I won't forget. It's just so loud in there that I can't hear myself think!

I hate to say it DG, but I think that time may be approaching.

I took it out for a drive today. What a difference it's made having the brakes done. One of the trailer valve bleed screws had long been sheared off and I think (as Ken pointed out) I might have a bit of air trapped in there, but it still stops very well. More to the point it moves so much more quickly. It pulls right up through the gears now and will hold 2800rpm even on a steady inline! It's like a different truck!

Short drive first - two or three miles, then came home and checked it for leaks, heat etc. All seemed fine so I went a bit further - about fifteen miles and all the hubs were still cool when I got back. I changed the oil in the hub that over heated as suggested - it came out looking a bit black but with no signs of metal in it.

The speedo also works, but it's not accurate I don't think? It was reading 100kph when I was running flat out... At 2800rpm with 12.5's I think that's a bit much to ask?