Unimog u1300 gears plus#
Unimog u1300 gears series#

But, with the ratios so closely stacked, this happens every few seconds. When a new gear is required, it feels like a strongman is running around the gearbox moving atlas stones of ratios into place the clutch disengages, you rock back, wait a few seconds for him to do his work, then jolt forward as the clutch kicks back in. If youвЂ™re used to the lightning magic of PorscheвЂ™s PDK or a decent ZF automatic gearbox, swapping cogs in a вЂmog is like going back to the Ice Age. That enough gears for ya?Д«ut the way these gears change is an event in itself. So, in reality, thereвЂ™s a maximum of 24 forward ratios, and 24 reverse. ThatвЂ™s good for all you ploughers out there. But, if you really love gears, you can get techy by speccing additional crawler or working gears, a torque converter (so you can pull up to 1,000 tonnes along rails) and hydrostatic drive for infinitely variable speeds up to 25 km/h. You twist the right-hand stalk into drive (in the same way youвЂ™d put some Mercedes Benz wipers on) and the masses of torque (811lb ft) shunt, hop and jiggle the вЂ™Mog into movement before munching through the gears. But with the release of the satisfyingly stubby nub of a handbrake, a prod of the accelerator (coughing a hefty black plume out of the vertical stack exhaust), itвЂ™s time to find out. But вЂ“ most excitingly вЂ“ thereвЂ™s a ball knob steering wheel to wind in and out monstrous amounts of steering lock.ДЇiring the 286bhp straight-six diesel into life, you worry thereвЂ™s not enough grunt to get the goliath rolling. ItвЂ™s a simple cockpit (especially in the UHE which comes with a porthole in the roofВ for extraction or to house a massive machine gun) primarily because the steering wheel, instrument panel and pedal cluster can be changed from left- to right-hand drive on a whim. As theyвЂ™re nearly 10 feet tall, you have to climb hand over hand and summit into the cabin before hopping into the overly sprung seat. What are they actually like to drive? Well, the proportions alone make you feel infantile. And from there you have over 1,000 permutations of Unimog you can build thanks to all the implements. The second two digits of the model number indicate the horsepower.

Unimog u1300 gears series#

This goes from 200 through to 500 Series and from 10 toВ 16 and a half tonnes. These models are then recategorised further by the series number that signifies its weight capacity. So itвЂ™s probably not hard to gauge my child-like excitement as I rocked up to a car park in the middle of England to find a hive of them circled around like they were at some sort of utilitarian watering hole. Like anВ automotive Sasquatch or vampire, they only operateВ in the depths of night or in the remotest of places, buried in dense forests cutting down trees, underground cleaning tunnels or sewers, or chugging along on the nationвЂ™s 10,274 miles of railway. When, in fact, there are more Unimogs in the UK than the Focus RS. Yes, nearly half a million Unimogs have graced planet Earth. At its first agricultural show in 1948, 150 people coughed up orders for them, starting a 70-year production run thatвЂ™s now nearing half a million units.

Unimog u1300 gears plus#

With 25bhp, a top speed of 50 km/h, coil-sprung axles withВ вЂ“ wait for it вЂ“ damping, a two-seater cab with a folding roof, fold-down windscreen, padded seats,В heating, plus an advantageous weight distribution for difficult terrain (two thirds on the front axle, one third on the rear, it was nothing short of futuristic. The first prototype was built in 1946, and when people saw it, they stood agog at this other-worldly big-wheeled beast. They bashed their heads together until utilitarian engineering genius spilt out in the form of principles that hold true to modern day Unimogs four wheels of equal size, four-wheel drive with front and rear differential locks, all-terrain portal axles, front and rear power take-offs (for a great variety of attached and mounted implements) and a small platform for carrying loads and equipment. Bamboozled, Albert brought his former colleague Heinrich RГ¶ssler on board to come up with a concept.