Unimog Club UK

I've spotted a few of these old models up for sale recently and they fall closer to my budget than a round cab. Trouble is I know very little about them! How good are they off road compared to say a Defender 90? And do they have the power to run small but modern implements from the PTO like a chipper or flail mower?

 i like the little 411's, but they are like a little series 1 landy (sorry brian) they are great fun but no realy a working truck anymore. i'm guessing your looking at buying a mog?? would it be a working mog (for a business) or a personal toy?

I'm a landscaper by trade so like to think I could make use of one. I do some tree work, run my own towable wood chipper and heat my house with wood so it would certainly be helpful even if a lot of it's use would be for personal benefit. It would have to be able to run a 6" chipper at the very least for it to be worth having though - if I'm going to spend the money I would like it to earn some in return.

I like the little 411 because it's cheap, but I've always had my heart set on an ag spec 406. By todays standards even they are low on power but it's good enough to get by doing what I'd like to. The square cabs are just too big - I wouldn't have anywhere to park it for a start!

well i'm in the same busineess as you. i do a fair bit of tee work with a turntable 6" on the back and she is happy as larry with it. i know someone who runs a 9"/10" in his u900. You can tweak them as well to about 110hp (brian or moose's area) i've run a 6ft topper as well off it.

i bought an old snow blower and have put on PTO and linkage at the back. (there are some pics of her on here)

The fuel side isnt to bad. my defender 110 will use more loaded than the mog will. i recon she runs on 20ltrs a day when i'm out chipping with her.

you certainly can fuel the 900's up but id always take it to an official unimog dealer cause if you do it wrong it can be seriously expensive. we dont do it ourselves, we get it done by the pro's.
800's are getting harder to find these days as not many people wanted them because they only have 72 bhp rather than 88.

the reason it doesnt use a lot when its running the chipper is because there isnt a lot of load on the engine. Ive spoken to dad about this and he says its like driving up hill, the more load the more fuel used. hense with the chipper the fly wheel does all the work for the mog, so even though its revving its not having to work to hard.
when driving we get around 18-20 mpg. B)

congrats on the proposal  that 20 quid could go towards your mog! 
the mb tracs are awesome machines but a mog would be more practical for you, with a body and chipper etc...

As an admin i cant comment on any dealers, whether used or new.

Regarding the mog in holland, be careful, buying a mog thats cheap can often be an expensive choice, as it can cost a lot to repair them.
also find out what the specs are first, such as hours, disc/drum brakes, linkage, pto's, gearbox etc...
i might do a buying guide soon for the 900's.
also, front linkage looks good, but a din plate is much more practical. this is because with linkage the weight is moved foward a lot, where as with a din plate the implement is mounted right up to the front of the mog. like this



Note how close the Mulag mower is mounted to the Unimog, with linkage this would be much further forward. also with din plates you can get linkage kits that mount to them (although not so easy to find for 900's but could maybe make one :working:  ), giving you a wider range of implements to fit. plus with linkage the pto rotation is wrong for any implements that are usually on the back, so you would have to get a reverse drive box aswell.

But i would say to find out more info and if it sound likes its worth it and you can afford it then go take a look at it it'll be a holiday at least

cheers, Brian   

EDIT: click the pic to view video.

yay 100th post on the site!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

sorry i am a big kid lol 

These din plates... Are they the same as Schmidt plates? I'm assuming that's perhaps just one of many manufacturers of what is essentially the same thing?

How do you go about mounting tools on there? I have to consider the fact that I will want to mount and remove the chipper each time it's used and I don't have any other means of lifting that sort of weight.

I don't know if you keep a regualr eye on the vos website but I fell in love with the green U900 they had a year or two back. It was near fully restored and came with pto's, 3 way tipper and rear linkage for £8k+vat. It seems like they want nearer £15k now and that just can't happen in my world. Having just bought an Audi S4 I spend most of my money on petrol!

I did think about having the chipper front mounted. Only because with half a ton or so of chipper hanging off the back and a chip box full of chip (over 5m3 if I'm not mistaken) that's going to put a fair load on the rear axle? I figured it would handle better if it was loaded more evenly?

All this is just a dream at the moment. My savings were over half way towards getting a sensible on but I spent most of them on the car. It'll take me another year to build it up I'd have thought, but as they're so rare it doesn't hurt to keep looking around to see how the market is running. The annoying thing is that I would have saved a good amount of money by buying that tidy one from Vos on finance - I had no idea the prices would rise so fast and it would have easily offset the interest and then some!