Here is my build thread. I've been meaning to put it up on pirate for more than a year. These pictures are over the last 3 years, and I have gone through several stages of this build and rebuild. At this point I figure I have had every nut and bolt taken out and put back in at least once and most of them several times. This is my first unimog, but i have several years of experience working on other custom or unusual builds. This is a V8 Doka cab unimog build. I will do my best to answer questions, but as time has gone by some of the specifics about dimentions and what not may have slipped my mind. Hope you all enjoy. I will update the thread with more pictures as I continue to make changes.

My mog showing up at the house for the first time. First pic was taken 3-13-2008. btw This is the first time that I've seen it.

How did you spend your birthday in 2008? Found out the motor was shot, got really drunk, ran a backhoe and started tearing it down for a rebuild.

"So after much debate and some cost vs. power vs. usability. I decided I was never going to be happy with the original six cylinder. Having done a few non-typical engine transplants I started to look at a few Engine options. I was looking at the ford 300 six and the ford 302 v8 but Ended up choosing the v8 for a few reasons. The main two were how narrow the engine is and that performance parts for it are readily available and I just wanted it.
The first thing that I needed to address now was what Clutch disc to use. After much research I decided that in the long run it would be cheaper if I had the stock input shaft of the Unimog transmission resplined to the common 10 spline input shaft for the late model mustang. I also shortened the shaft 2 ½” to move the engine further back for weight. I was able to do this because the mustang has a smaller diameter input shaft. The plan was to end up using all the clutch components and pedal assembly from the 5.0 mustang. It’s a cable style linkage so pedal placement would be easy and all the components are designed with the right pedal ratios to work with the mustang clutch. By doing this enables me to run off the shelf clutch kits. Built an engine cradle to mount motor to the original six cylinder front mount.
Built an engine cradle to mount motor to the original six cylinder front mount. This was done to maintain the factory frame flex issue, it also should prevent the bell housing from cracking. (note: since doing this I have had it on the road nearly two years and have had no issue with that, and I have jumped it...) For power steering I decided to go with a ford 2WD F350 steering box. I modified it for counter rotation, and add needle bearings. "

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Brakes, wheels, air locker cylinder: I converted the mog axels to disk brakes, I used corvette calipers and Chevy rotors. Thanks Kabuki for the help on that. Went with 12 bolt hummer wheels with a modified rock ring to serve as a step to get into the cab. I used air cylinder actuated lockers and somewhere in here I decided to make it a Doka cab too.

Freshly mounted 42" IROK's. First time outside since work began. Rear springs are out of an expedition rear suspension. Front springs are original unimog 404 springs. Due to rust in cab replaced rusted out corners with structural steel in anticipation for a cage.

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Finished tin work for cab… Heater vents, dog house, rear floor, cab corners.

Roll cage build. This is the cage I came up with trying to keep original unimog styling and usability.

I decided this thing is going to need to be able to swim so I came up with this snorkel. It works… seriously.

Here are some miscellaneous shots of tin work and brake assembly. I did the brake assembly this way to maintain maximum foot room. It’s a fox body mustang pedal assembly with a dodge pickup master cylinder and brake booster. Wish I could add specific tech info but I forgot the diameter of the master cylinder. Rear bench seat... $25 score out of Volkswagen van.

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ok… tear down, blasting, and paint. Here are the pics of chassis build pre putting body on. Decided to go with stock speed density motor. Nothing special… yet.

its like a unimog-beer bong!

keep the pics coming!

Thats really cool. I am planning on doing a Doka conversion at some point also.

Do you still have the drawing of the transmission bell pattern for the mog side? I am doing this same swap with a 300.

http://www.turbododge.info/unimog/the-unimog-project/

Also, did you have the transmission input shaft out? How big of a deal is that?

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and more

even more

Remounted cab. Picked up lots of momentum at this point. Seeing it together really made me want to drive it. Lost a lot of the pics from this time so a big time jump in time here.

Tis' the night before Northwest Mog Fest 2009 and I am going!!! Only 60 miles of highways and byways to get there. Handled flawlessly. To cruse on the highway at 55+ is a blast at 3600 RPMs. Drove it like this through the summer, then I needed mud flaps.

few more

The rain is here. Hunting season would have been better with a roof…. Commence hard top build. Sorry not a lot of pictures. Built a mold, took it to a local fiberglass who gel coated, and sprayed the glass on. Somewhere in here mounted a winch up front.

more and more

Took the mog out to test the winch and new hard top. As luck would have it I blew the rear main out of the 302, due to a plugged vent line… so time to take the cab back off. No snow runs this year.

Taking the cab off is no small effort. Decided since I was going through all the work to get back to the motor time to build the one I would have liked to have in the beginning… a 347 fuel injected ford… and upgrade the exhaust (built headers)… and the intake (modified intake)... and converted over to a mass air and tweecer fuel injection set up.

more engine

Got the new motor back in, took it for some test driving / jumping. Went to northwest mog fest 2010. Finally got the new motor bugs worked out, and tuned to run. Bring on the snow.

The night before Thanksgiving 2010 saw the first snow and it was magnificent, and cold. No windows makes for cold driving experiences. Next upgrade… door tops.

Started door tops. Made a metal frame work, and had it covered. The heater now works awesome!!!

I will continue to update this thread, but this is how it sits as of the beginning of the year.

This is awesome Do you have any more build pics of the top?

Thats really cool. I am planning on doing a Doka conversion at some point also.

Do you still have the drawing of the transmission bell pattern for the mog side? I am doing this same swap with a 300.

http://www.turbododge.info/unimog/the-unimog-project/

Also, did you have the transmission input shaft out? How big of a deal is that?

Unfortunatly that one of the files that I lost! Been debating about redoing the converson to add a AA ranger overdrive. Wished I still had the data. Thinking about finding a spare tranny to remeasure,

As for the input shaft it was kinda a pain to get out since the trans was still in the chassis.

This is awesome Do you have any more build pics of the top?

Not anything good. Lost a full memory card during the build. The pics of the white box on the cage are of the exterior of the mold. Wish I had a pic of the inside to share.

Where to you live?

Wow :eek:you do nice work.

VERY well done.:smokin: I've always wanted a Unimog (hence the reason my XJ has portals) but it's still not the same. Again, nice job!! Love the top.

Where to you live?

I live just east of Salem Oregon.

Figure I would start getting this thread caught up to the present condition.
These pics are from Newyears Day. We went up and messed around in the snow to cure the raging hangovers. Didn't air down even for the virgin snow. Second pic, Flexing out where my buddy got stuck.

January 16,
There was no new snow so we went over to a freinds property and did alittle wheeling. Manage to get the frontend about 2 feet off the ground trying to jump it... Came down hard, but drove fine. Found out later that I bent my front locker air cylinder on the bell housing. When I checked for clearance when building I didn't have the air cylinders in.:shaking: Still manage to fully compress the spring and bump stops and also dented the oil pan. Well there clearanced now.

Also when I jumped it I manage to over compress the front coil springs took a few more trips to realize the springs were now shot... More on that later.

Feb 18,
Fixed the air Cylinder, Nice to have my front locker back working. Went up to play in the snow and test out my new rock lights. Don't know how I ever lived with out them, but they were almost worthless in the close to 3feet of new powder. Only aired down to 12psi.

Awesome truck!

I've seen it at the last couple of Mogfests and wanted to chat with you about your truck but you never stayed in one spot long enough.hehe :D

Wow awesome rig,Good idea on the fiberglass top.

fuckn snazzy

Thanks,

Last couple of years it has just been day trips to nwmf but this year I'm planning on camping over atleast one night. Hopefully we will be able to meet up.

Took allot of pics sometime in February. Going to post some of them with a few details of parts I used.

First series are pics of my gas tank. Knowing that I was going with the ford fuel injection and that I didn't want anything hanging off the side of the frame were the requirements. I soon found that a fuel tank out of a 1998ish ranger standard cab fit perfectly so long as the factory locker rods were not used. Not to mention it has a fuel slosh baffle around the pickup and that is also a heavy wall poly tank. Only problem is its only about 16 gallons so range is limited. Plans in the works for another aux tank.

This series include some misc pics.
I used the rear wiper motors out of a Chevy van, had to modify the gear box on them slightly, for more throw and shorten the wiper arm also. As for fitting them I just drilled the main shaft hole out and had to tap the back side of the window frame for an anti rotation screw. Also had to lathe up a fancy little aluminum spacer.
The rest are misc pics of the top and window frames.

This series are of the pedal assembly and drivers area.
Pedal assembly is out of a early 90's fox-body mustang. Knowing that I was using the bell housing clutch assembly from a mustang is was a simple choice. Sure some people might argue why a mustang clutch. My response is have you seen the aftermarket clutches and clutch linkage available for the mustang. Currently running a ford motorsport clutch and it seems to be holding up. Pedal feel seems to be fairly light and easy to operate.
Also notice that the steering column has a u-joint on it, this was because I had to shift it over a couple of inches. There are plans for a different steering column in the works will post when I do it with more details.
Not the master cylinder location. Its out of a dodge PU can't remember if its 1.25 or 1.125 diameter.
Yes the foot room is a little smaller than stock. Had to move the engines wall over 3-4 inches and relieve the inner fender with a 5lb sledge.

This series are misc. of the interior.
Spent some money on the front seats, rear seat is a $25 score from pick-apart. Plans are in the works for a new dash area....

Another series.
Going with the v8 I decided I was going to run a radiator that I knew would work. A buddy gave me this 3core unit out of a Granada or Thunderbird, unsure. It works great with a flexalite shrouded fan. The radiator placement also meant that I couldn't use the stock hood latch so plans were made for the hoop pins on the fly. Kinda embarrassed on how they look but just haven't got around to fixing it yet.(out of sight out of mind)
This is where I placed the computer (planning to change it). With the new motor I changed to mass-air from speed density fuel injection. Note the bbk mass air meter. On another trip to the auto wreckers I found my intake plumbing. From the snorkel to mass air meter came out of a ford v10 van throttle body area, and the portion from my mass air to throttle body came from a v8 explorer. Just had to plug a couple of holes.
Yes it is a tight fit and I wished I would have made the dog house differently for easier plug removal. Plans are in the works for a dog house modification.

Misc. pics of chassis.
I severely modified/made the headers from a set I had laying around then sent them out for coating. Original plans was to run a crankcase evac system but that has since change hence the plug.
Front spring here are the original rears, note how there now sagging due to jumping it what do you expect from 51 year old springs. Front shocks are RS9000xl 12.75" stroke. Severely bent the factory tie rod right after going with hydraulic assist. New one is 1.75 dom .375 wall, had to bend it for clearance. My tubing bender was working pretty hard on those bends. Currently have a 8inch ram still 3/8" from the stops at full lock, going to switch to a 9 inch and trim my stops and add a double shear at the tie rod ends. Some of you might have noticed that during final assembly I decided to paint all the lube locations red for an added touch.
Rear springs are ford expedition rear. They bolted right in and seem to do pretty good with my weight. Rear shocks are RS9000xl 14".

Drain plugs are located threw out the interior for easy wash out. A 2 3/8" hole saw was used for cutting the holes and the plugs are early 80's ford rear cab mount covers. They fit perfect before linexing the floor, little tight now but still work.
Few more pics of exterior.

Bed series,
Since mine came with the radio box and I made it a doka it was easier just to build the bed from scratch. Started with 2x4 tubing and went from there. To cut down on weight I went with aluminum diamond plate for the floor. Sides were made to resemble the factory sides as best as I could. Had some simple latches lazered out, they seem to work pretty good. Made the bed so the rear and the sides fold down and removable.

Well I live in Oregon and it rains... Mud flaps were in order so this is what I came up with. They are completely removable by pulling the pin and slipping them in then out. To make them last I sandwiched the truck flap between two plates. There big but make me legal. When off they have also helped out as something to lay or kneel on.

Snow trip February 26,
Fun day in the snow First time airing down to 7-8psi worked awesome. The snow was kinda shitty real dry and didn't pack well. Had to use a little more speed and momentum to get through it. Which resulted in everything running warmer at slow speeds. Ended up blowing a air line that went to the gages. Made it up the hill but when we stooped the lockers disengaged. Used some bailing wire to hold them in and made it home with no problems. Kept bottoming out the front end tho...

Here's a vid from febuary 26th snow trip.
YouTube - ‪uni-moging in the snow‬‏ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXaOozJZSSE)

So I got tired of not being able to see at night and I hated the way the fiberglass top looked in the front so I decided to make a light bar.
After much thought and noticing that it doesn't say unimog anywhere this is what I came up with. The only problem is I had to make a custom 1" dia die with a 2.5" radius for the bender to make the bar look right in my opinion. Eventually I will swap out the halogen lights for LED's but these lights where cheap and work.

March 5th where were you... Sweet home mudfest
Got really muddy blew out my quick airline fix. But I had made some cool little spring things just in case it happened again will post a pic at some point of them.
Kept bottoming out all day so I took it easy. The front springs are now shot.
Shitty thing is it took me 3 days to clean and I manage to get some shit in the gas take from the steam-cleaner.:mad3: Another thing is mud got into my clutch cable extension and hardened took me awhile to figure why the clutch started to slip. Cleaned it out good as new. Only got one pic of the unimog that day and that was in the line to leave.

To fix the Front spring issue I decided to try a set of rear expedition springs on the front. Figured it would lift the front end an inch higher then the original spring before the jumping. Ended up lifting it 1.5", 3"over the shot springs. The mog now sits with a 1/2" rake forward, and the ride seemed just a little stiffer but that was compared to a worn out 51 year old spring.

March 13th
Went to the snow again ran awesome off road but is really squirly on road measured the caster When I got home it was 7.4 degrees negative.:shaking:
Hit a huge hole and started running like shit. Thought I got the computer wet, ran like shit all the way home. Heard a clunk coming off the hill didn't think any thing about it.:shaking: The snow was really wet and well just a shitty trip period.

March 20th
Hills had got some new snow, decided to go up with some Friends. I had water proofed the computer again. Figure I would tolerate the caster till snow season was over and do a tear down then. It was a great trip aired down to 6-7 psi went wherever I wanted it to. But I should have stayed home...
Just as we started going down of the hill I noticed the front end binding.:mad3: Knew that clank I heard was coming back to haunt me 3+ miles from a tow-able area. It was getting late so I just limped it in, 4 wheel drive with the lockers engaged seemed to keep the tires rolling. Got to my buddies trailer and it died.:mad3: Wouldn't start so I pulled the engine cover and found one cooked coil... Ends up thats why it was running like shit the week before. Since then the coil has been relocated out of the dog house. In hindsight that probably wasn't the best place for it above the valve cover. So for only the second time since I got it my mog got trailered. (First time was to 2010 mogfest because the motor hadn't been tuned yet)

Here's a vid from March 20th tripYouTube - uni-mogging (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIGZ70zewls)

Well, this thing instantly takes my "Favorite Unimog Ever" award! Damn fine job!

WOW, I am putting my mog on the trailer and droping it off in your driveway. Let me know when it's all done.

Nice work! Last i saw pictures it was still just a torn down chasis.

Fantastic looking truck there dude.

That is one bad ass unimog, gettin the wheels spinning in my head.

Do you have a section on the underhood wiring around the fuse blocks and junction blocks by chance? I'm fighting some electrical gremlins and wanted to see what you ended up doing.

Do you have a section on the underhood wiring around the fuse blocks and junction blocks by chance? I'm fighting some electrical gremlins and wanted to see what you ended up doing.

Sorry wish I could help but I ended up scraping all the mog wiring and went 12volt. That area got cut out and replaced with my pedal linkage. Here are a couple pics of what I did.
The wiring use to look way better but I've added a lot of stuff and just haven't made it look good yet and I have plans for a big wiring change soon.

Ok I left off with the mog on the trailer, got it home and didn't touch it for a couple of days. Spent my birthday tearing the front end out only to find that I sheared off all 6 driveline bolts. which in turn took out my u-joint and torque tube. Figure this was a great time to rotate the housing ends back 10.4 degrees and fix my caster along with freshing up the seals. Ended up having some water in one of the boxes so it got all new bearings along with a new drive shaft and torque tube. Driving it now is so much better, it tracks awesome down the road you can steer with one finger even with the soft suspension. Note: This is also the first time I have had either axle torn down beyond just the portal box.

BTW Thanks Expedition Imports for the quick parts shipment.

Before putting the front end back together I decided to check the amount of angle the driveline could take before binding, it was 18 degrees. A closer look I notice it was actually binding on two of the driveline fasteners. So I decided to re drill the drive shaft to allow me to use four more fasteners and two dowel pins. With the original two bolts that bind removed the drive shaft picked up 5 more degrees of travel. We figure the reason I sheared them was a result of the new springs giving me more droop binding the ujoint, stretching the fasteners till they failed.
I fixed this issue with a Differential mounted limiting strap. Had about 8-10 trips since then with no issues.

April 10th
Got everything back together and the coil replaced and relocated to a cooler area, hope this works. This snow trip was sweet everything worked flawless. On the way home we manage to hit highway speed with ease and it tracked sweet.

Here's what my buddies bronco with 3 1/2" lift and 33's looked like in my ruts, he was pushing snow all day.

So I had been kicking around the idea of a sway bar for awhile, Came across a thread on here of someone doing it so I decided to look into it. Sorry forgot to take pics before installation.

While at my buddies auto wreckers I found a torsion bar out of a 2wd Toyota pu. So I got it and both sets of ends not knowing which way I wanted to go with it. After a few beers I decided that I wanted to be able to have the arms unbolt able to adjust, looking back I wished I would have just welded the spline portion into my arms with multiple holes for adjustment.

The bar is 35" long overall and right at 7/8" dia. my arms are 17" long. As for bushings I made them out of 1.75 inch dia. black Delrin. It bolts right behind the skid plate right up to the frame and clears the steering with room to spare. Links are 1/2" hiems with removable pins for disconnecting.

With the sway bar in driving the mog is a lot more forgiving in the corners. Body roll was cut in half and no more rocking feeling after taking corners. Defiantly not a corner carver but no more motion sickness.

April 23rd

Had a raging hangover but the snow was calling. First trip out with the sway bar. Ran with it hooked up half the day, over little obstacles didn't even notice it. Unhooked it and it flexed like normal.

Everything went well till I got almost home. The front axle ate its seal on the driver side and destroyed the axle bushing. Upon disassembly notice the axle had been fixed previously with a sleeve over the bearing and seal surface. This sleeve had cracked and did the damage. Getting better at taking the portal box apart 3 1/2 hrs. total time. You can see the axle sleeve in the pic of my broken mog parts.

Here's a Vid form April 23rd, the snow is starting to suck, heavy, wet, and icy.


YouTube - ‪uni-mogging‬‏ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADVL_EX_w88)

May 1st.

Went for a drive and ended up finding a sweet RTI ramp on a friends family property! Pics are with the sway bar connected could have gone higher but the passenger wanted out. The ground is uneven so its just for show.

Wouldn't be a trip if I didn't break something, Hooked a small tree between the bumper and the fender and guess what got bent.

Finally I've caught this thread up to the current time. Sunday got a wild hair to finally fix my fender/bumper issue. Started with the plasma cutter and did some bumper trimming. Still need to plate the bottom side.

Been working on the fenders this week. Had to build a bender die to get the radius I wanted. Ended up making the fenders frames out of three pieces of tubing and a couple of simple plates to mount it. Still need to skin it with some sheeting probably either 12 or 14 gauge.

I'm making these fenders flush with the bottom of the front of the cab and there 2 1/4" narrower than stock ones. I wanted to keep the so they are the same width as the rest of the cab and bed. This is where I'm at as of right now, planning on finishing them this weekend.

bit of thought went into this mog! one of the better 404's iv seen well done mate.

Incredible. You fixed every reason I never bought a 404.
Let me know when you want to sell it :D
How much power are you putting through that trans and how is it holding up?

Thanks for all the positive commets!

Incredible. You fixed every reason I never bought a 404.
Let me know when you want to sell it :D
How much power are you putting through that trans and how is it holding up?

I like to say that I'm putting out a solid 350hp but I don't have any dyno numbers. I know from another persons engine build that this same motor at 306 cubes put out right at 350hp. Mines a 347 cube so I like to try to underrate it at 350hp cause I really have no data besides the comparison.

I did convert the trans to an 8 speed along with polishing the shifter gates. I do have a problem with the tranny running on the warm side. It has hit 210 degrees Fahrenheit a couple of times on hot summer days, but it usually runs about 150-170 degrees with it 70-80 out. When I had the front end out recently I tapped the trans case for some cooling lines, inspected the gears and added Redline MT90 gear oil. The synthetic oil seems to run about 20 degrees cooler. I do have plans to run some sort of gear oil cooler in the not to distant future.

Besides that the trans seems to be doing alright. It has seen several 5000 rpm clutch dumps on asphalt and all the gears looked great as of a two months ago.

I love mogs cool rig keep up the good work

Fenders are done! Skinned, painted and mounted there pretty solid not sure how functional they will be. Will find out soon.

Finished installed fenders.

Went wheeling last Friday bounced off the rev limiter a couple of time on a hill and by nights end the trans was having a small issue.

The trans started making a hollowing sound in 2nd and worse in 3rd high range. note: Stock trans that would be 4th and 5th. Got it home in one piece.

Pulled the pan and no chunks fell out, always positive. All the gear face's look used but good, what do you expect from a 51 year old trans. The gear backlash felt a little sloppy only on the counter shaft. Upon further inspection we found that the front Countershaft bearing was shot, but still intact. Allowing the countershaft to have an end play of .025"to .030", it was hard to measure. The only spec I can find on this is .25-.1 mm (.0098"-.0039") for end play. We believe this was the reason for the hollowing.

Scoped out the rest of the bearings and saw no serious wear so the plan is to clean out the trans the best we can, replace the bearing, and shim to the proper spec. Along with a magnet or two in the bottom plate.

When I built the adapter plate I left the underside relatively open which enabled me to pull the front bearing out having to remove any of the larger components. Had no reason to do it at the time but now I'm happy I did.

I know this is only going to be a band aid. Planning on doing some tranny changes in the not to distant future, would like an overdrive. Should be driving again tomorrow! After all I got to go test these fenders out.

I took a bunch of pics of your rig at NWMF 2010. AMAZING work. The nicest 404 I've ever seen by far... Cant wait to see it again in August!

Ryan

Love the hard top and door window tops!

Nicest mog ive seen!

Thanks,

Got the new front counter-shaft bearing in bringing it back factory specs. Seems to shift a little better now. Taken it out on a couple trips now, second gear (4th stock) no longer has any gear whine but 3rd gear (5th stock) still whines/hollows a little. Going to keep an eye on it hopefully it will quite down and last through the summer. Looking into a possible tranny swap now maybe something a little different for a unimog!

The new fenders work great! Had it out the other day in the rain with the door tops off and didn't get wet from the splash kick up so long as I drove conservatively. Did manage to break a brake-line fitting and soak my coil with water to the point it started missing, Accidentally washed all the dielectric grease off when I cleaned it last.

Been busy haven't done a lot of work on it recently but I did manage to install the S10 column that I shortened back in March. Decided to go with the Chevy column because of the simplicity of wiring, tilt, self canceling turn signals and delayed wipers switching.

I shortened the column around 12" and had to relief cut the backside for the steering shaft. I used a couple of shaft collars From McMaster carr for the mount, tried to keep it simple. Still need to finish the wiring and Install some sorta panel to protect the switches. Overall I like having the smaller steering wheel and the tilt really helps with getting in and out along with easier access to the dog house area. Need to figure out a new horn button.

Need to get back out to the Shop, Have a lot more to do!

More Pics

Took it out to my uncles on the fourth and tested the new steering column out. Don't know how I ever lived with out tilt and a smaller steering wheel. Getting in and out was far easier then before and Steering feel felt awesome on and off road. Did manage to break something so the tradition of taking it out and breaking something is still going strong. Caught a branch that pushed the brake-line into the cv cutting the hose. Tilted the pass front end into a tree blow down that was overgrown and hidden got a couple more dents. Lastly coming out of the canyon I manage to lean the top into a tree and gave the top it its first crack.

So I mentioned in another thread about how I'm planning on ditching the current transmission/transfer-case unit in favor of a Nv4500 Atlas 4speed combo. My plan is to build a cradle the atlas will fit within that will support the torque tube suspension forces. Couple that with a similar engine cradle like I'm already running but with the feature of being able to drop the whole engine/tranny/transfer out from under the body once the front-end is removed.
Since its going to be 6 to 8 weeks till I get the transfer case I'm not planning on starting the tear down till mid September or when I break. Then the mad rush will be on to finish before the snow arrives again.

Did a lot of research on different transmissions and transfer case's but here's some charts of the gearing that I decided to go with. Basically I will have the nv4500 5speed with overdrive coupled to the 5.44 4speed atlas with 7.56:1 axle gears. Notice how closely the nv4500 and the atlas's 1:1 and 2.72:1 compare to the stock mogs gear ratio's not to mention that the 2.0:1 will be a nice splitter and the 5.44 will closely double the original lowest gear. Should be a clean compact and lighter setup along with a lot more user freindly shifter locations.

Will update as I make progress.

So is the plan to build torque tube adapters for the atlas? That seems like it wouldn't be too bad to do. Really the only portion that would be difficult would be cutting a cup for the transmission side of the ball and socket joint. I imagine you would reuse the OE outer half of the joint.

Yes the plan is to build torque tube adapters that mate up to the atlas and a sub-frame. Since the atlas was never designed to have suspension forces acting on the case requiring the building of a sub-frame and cradle. As for machining the cup there is no need since the cup is a separate part that index's on the mog transmission and torque tube collar. Item# 2 in the pic. I will use all the factory Mercedes parts in the pic but the front torque tube will be lengthen roughly 5" along with the front drive shaft and the rear torque tube will be shortened roughly 12" along with the rear drive shaft. As of right now the plan is to replace the drive line ends with 1410 joints both front and rear. Since the new setup will not have the gear oil present from the trans for u-joint oiling. Bringing up a whole new problem of having to disassemble the ball socket to grease the u-joint.

Since the U-joints are still encased, why not non-greasable spicers.

Good point. The only research I have done so far on u-joint selection has been on maximum angles. I hadn't even looked at the possibility of getting a none grease-able joint but that seems like it would work best for this situation. Thanks for the suggestion.

With the idea of getting as much done as I can before the tear down I started with making the transmission adapter. Got it all modeled up and machined it last Friday at a buddies house. Since I'm using a cable style clutch the Advance Adapters adapter will not work for me due to the cables bell housing being longer.

Here's the NV4500 transmission and Ford 5.0 bell-housing mated together.

Super build dude! Your fab skills are top notch and you don't blindly throw shit together, works out well.

Neat to see your so close too. Wasn't your city the one that got hit my that tornado this spring? (iirc)

Can't wait to see the progress on the transmission swap!

awesome build.

do you plan on changing that steering wheel? Its just to ugly to go with the rest of your mog

Super build dude! Your fab skills are top notch and you don't blindly throw shit together, works out well.

Neat to see your so close too. Wasn't your city the one that got hit my that tornado this spring? (iirc)

Can't wait to see the progress on the transmission swap!

Thanks! Yes my town was hit by that tornado. I was home during the whole thing and didn't even realize it till afterward when someone called. Very unusual to have a tornado around here!

awesome build.

do you plan on changing that steering wheel? Its just to ugly to go with the rest of your mog

The current Steering wheel is only temporary. Got one already picked out just waiting to place my next summit order.

im right around the same area, on silverfalls hwy between the 22 and the fire station, i didnt even notice until it was in the newspaper.

Yeah I had to go check out a Friends house shortly afterward that was within a block of tornado's path. Took me an hour to get in and out of the area due to roads being blocked, Should have drove the mog over there.

So I decided to change a few things up before going to NWmogfest this year.

One thing I have been putting off was fixing the Plug in the front tire and replacing the Rubber bead-lock inserts in the H1 wheels to pvc inserts. Doing this I manage to drop 19.5lbs per wheel. Really felt the the difference in weight in acceleration and high speed braking.

Also I was planning on removing the hard top so I had to fix it before I removed it. The crack was only a couple of inches long so the fix was easy and I rigid a pulley system up in the shop for easier future removal. Here's a few pics.

NWmogfest 2011 was a blast, got there Thursday the 18th played it safe the first day, had friends showing up the next day.

Friday had Some issues, got a small power steering leak which was a pain in the ass to fix ended up having to remove the bumper and skid plate to reach the hose with the issue. Got that fixed only to put her on its side. :) Turns out there was a 3-4foot drop off hidden under some taller grass. Destroyed the snorkel, put a nice size dent in the pass fender, racked the windshield frame and light bar, all fairly easy fixes. Everyone was Ok cage did its job and is still perfectly square. Lost a little fluid, had to gorilla tape the top of the K&N back on but was up and driving in couple of hours.

Did have a problem with the front locker not fully engaging turns out I got some dirt in the air solenoid switch and I destroyed the winch fair-led. :shaking:

Here's a few more pics. Its not use to being on a trailer but I wasn't going to take any chances with the transmission the way it is. Another mogfest down already looking forward to next year.

So I decided to build another Mog... Went to toys-r-us for squirt guns and came home with this lego kit.

I have manage to get some actual work done on the transmission conversion. Upgraded the NV4500 to a 29spline output and powder coated the bell housing and output housing. Trans is all ready for the atlas now.

Not to much damage considering. It'll buff out ..; )

Did you ever weigh your mog? I can't remember the number if ya did.

What atlas gear ratio did you decide to go with?

Sorry if I missed this..

Not to much damage considering. It'll buff out ..; )

Did you ever weigh your mog? I can't remember the number if ya did.

What atlas gear ratio did you decide to go with?

Sorry if I missed this..

Last time I weighed it was right at 6000lbs. but that was before the winch, toolbox and top. Will be weighing it agian before the tear down.

Decided to go with the 5.44 4speed atlas.

So time has come to begin the tear down. During this period I plan on changing alot of things with this MOG! Trough out the last couple year I have come to like and dislike certain things about vehicle so I plan on doing some drastic changes to the current set up. I know I'm probably going to piss off alot of people with some of these changes but I don't care.

Here's a few of the changes I plan on doing.
1. Transmission Swap with atlas 4 speed to use the factory torque tubes.
2. Shift as much weight back and down to get a more balanced chassis.
3. Drop 1000lbs. Already dropped 78lbs of rotating mass with the PVC inserts.
4. Move and change gas tank to 32gallon right behind the rear axle incorporating a receiver hitch into the tank mount.
5. Move air tank perpendicular to chassis with air chuck fittings on either side of frame for easier fill ups.
6. Lower the body back down 1 1/2" to factory height.
7. Lower engine 1-2" and shift back about 2" and clearance oil pan for max compression clearance for shorter bump stops.
8. Change exhaust to a true dual setup
9. Rewire engine compartment and dash area.
10. Rebuild the dash area to lift the gages for better visibility, add a switch panel and redo the defrost ducting.
11. Change the upper intake for more leg clearance.
12. Redo the dog house for more passenger leg room.
13. Wire in sub and amps.
14. Fix the roll damage and change the snorkel design to use an encapsulated filter air box cold air style.
15. Redo the front bumper, winch mount and skid plate.
16. Building a shortened dovetailed bed out of aluminum.
17. Clean and repaint areas where needed.


I might have forgot a few things but this is the bulk of the work that I plan to have finished before thanksgiving.

So the Brown truck dropped off a long awaited part Tuesday. Got the Atlas. Though it took 8weeks to get here I am impressed at how well it was packed and the overall quality of all the components. Think Im going to be happy with this setup. Here are a few pics of kinda showing the concept with the destroyed torque tube from last winter and one of it mated to the NV4500. Wish the case was powder coated to match the NV parts.

Started to notice last spring that the factory transmission mount allows the transmission to shift side to side. Not sure if stock MOGs have this problem, the only reason I noticed it was because my shifter leavers started to rub the floor. Looked at the factory mount and noticed that it had shifted to one side. Since then it has shifted back, it appears there's nothing really locating it.

After much debate on whether to modify the stock part for this conversion or build a new one I choose the later. Started making the transmission mount similar to the factory Mog trans mission mount the other day. Started with some UHMW 3.5" tubing, bored it out to fit the factory mog cross member diameter. The new parts are similar to the factory pieces but a little more heavy duty since I plan for these pieces to take the suspension forces. I'm also planning on having the ability to pull the motor out the bottom after removing the front axle. "I've gotten removing the front axle by myself down to an hour."

These parts will be the foundation for building the engine cradle. Planning on welding permenent tabs to either side of the factory cross member to keep this new mount from siding side to side.

Here are the parts all laid out and how they go together to make the mount. The tube in the middle is there to represent the factory cross member. Notice how the Your able to remove the front portion and leave the rear portion still attached to the cross member did this to enable the removal of the engine from the bottom.

Here's the mount set up on the old bike fixture rack that I'm using to build the cradle. The tubing for the cross member is the OD of the UHMW bushing and is being used just for mock up.

Wow that is some amazing work!

I have always thought that it was mounted that way so that the frame could flex around it and the engine. I've never heard of it sliding a whole lot from side to side like you describe though. Will be interesting to see how it feels once its mounted up.

Uhh, hate to tell you, but the stock mog cross member should have a little pivoting bracket that keeps the crossmember located side to side. You must just be missing it.

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c93/dokatd/0042e1e4.jpg

Yeah I'm missing that part. Never had one on when I got it. With the new setup I'm actually going to weld a shouldered piece to the cross member.

Went and weighed it this weekend several times with and without the driver here are the results.

Also Manage to make some chips with the lathe this weekend. This part will be the indexing spacer for the Atlas tail-shaft into the mog torque tube mounting flange weldment. Hope that makes sense if not more pics will follow and clarify.

Spent the evening machining again, got the two main suspension mounting collars lathed out. Still need to add the bolt patterns but I couldn't wait to test fit the parts. Here are some more pics.

So here is how it goes together everything fits great. Still waiting on my laser parts for the cradle portion. Will update as parts come in. Yes I am using a broken front torque tube as mock up and a 406 torque tube collar.

Here's a pic of the factory trans torque tube mounting surface and a few of my adapters mounting surface. I am going with the a non-flange u-joint because of length issues.

Here's more pics. The the torque tube maxed out at 25.9 degrees which works great considering the 1410 u-joints max between 28-37 degrees. No more having to limit the suspension droop so the u-joint doesn't bind.

EDITED:

sorry bryan i couldn't resist this is zeph. Looks great. Cant wait to see how it does this winter.

Made a lot of progress this week! Removed the snorkel to get a good view of the roll damage. The corner was caved in about an inch and a half. The windshield frame and light bar shifted to wards the driver side but looks like it will be fairly easy to fix.

Pulled the majority of the dent out Tuesday night. Still need to do some serious hammer and dolly work but the shape popped out relatively easy. Had to take one last picture of the factory shifters, don't think I'm going to miss them. The blue tape is where the NV4500 shifter leaves the case, planning on doing some shifter lever repositioning to come up closer to the factory shifter hole.Got a Friend to bring over his fork lift and made short work of removing the body. Took about 3 1/2 hrs to unhook everything and get some critical measurements and only 40 min. to take the body and bed off and get everything staged in the shop.

Got a little bit done this weekend. Here's the start of the transfer case cradle/torque tube mounts/ engine cradle. Pics show the rear tube mount and start of the front mount. Still needs to be welded.

Here's some pics of the front mount it's starting to come together. Had a few small issues mostly dealing with the fact that I forgot to put some drain holes in the t-cases bottom support.

Here's the start of the engines cradle. Hoping to get the cradle finished and mock up installed by end of this week.

WOW!! Great fab..........

That is some SERIOUS fab work man. I have always wanted a MOG. I watch this one..

Are you using the torque tube for a crossmember??

Are you using the torque tube for a cross member??

The torque tube will be mounted to the cross member via the cradle assembly.

Been forcing myself to get into the shop every evening. Making progress, the cradle is alomst ready to get mocked into the chassis. Hopefully it will happen tomarrow. Still have a few more supports to install along with finishing the welding but will wait till after the chassis mockup.

Also got the frame stripped, motor pulled, cleaned and removed the springs and shocks. Its now a low rider kind of want to see it with the body on at this height.

Wow!

I really like your implementation and the quality of your fab seems pretty decent, but I gotta ask...

Is there a reason you are not putting in an auto?:confused:

I ask because the feature I most often find myself wanting on my mog is a torque converter so... When I see this build I keep thinking, "WOW! This would be the perfect time to add that."

I hope this comment doesn't become a turd in the punch bowl I just don't understand, that's all.

I really like your implementation and the quality of your fab seems pretty decent, but I gotta ask...

Is there a reason you are not putting in an auto?:confused:

I ask because the feature I most often find myself wanting on my mog is a torque converter so... When I see this build I keep thinking, "WOW! This would be the perfect time to add that."

I hope this comment doesn't become a turd in the punch bowl I just don't understand, that's all.

Besides the fact that I like to wheel with a stick the length was a large factor. But the further I get along with the build it looks like an auto in the conventional layout might have issues with the width and the torque tube hitting the tranny oil pan because of having to run the atlas at the 38degree angle.

Here's the chassis all ready for its new setup, boy it looks so small now. The cradle went in without any major issues. Knew that this oil pan was going to need to be modified for locker clearance but it fits over the diff a lot better than the previous. I have a lot more up travel in the suspension now and the motor already an 1inch lower and back further than before.

Here's some close ups of the oil pan clearance, going to wait to modify it till after I get the torque tubes built. Hopefully that will be next by next weekend.

What size U-Joints are you going to use, From the pics it looks like a 1410 flange? Will that fit into the torque tube? How much you lengthing the front torque tube?

Oh, Your doing a great job cant wait to see it in action.

What size U-Joints are you going to use, From the pics it looks like a 1410 flange? Will that fit into the torque tube? How much you lengthing the front torque tube?

Oh, Your doing a great job cant wait to see it in action.

Running the 1410 u-joint. It's actually smaller than the stock u-joint.
The Front torque tube was lengthen 7 inches.

Got into the shop a few nights this week. Managed to machine up the slugs for the torque tube welding fixture. Ended up shortening the Rear tube by 12 1/2 inches and lengthening the front 7 inches.

Torque tubes mounted and the chassis is on the bumps with the motor in its finalized location. Motor ended up 1 inch lower than before and 1 3/4 inch further back. Also the bump stops were moved 1 inch up to the factory position for more up travel.

Had to modify the oil pan still need to modify the front locker air cylinder mount for max clearance. Everything clears but still need to redo the hard brake lines and axle vent location but this is just mock up.

Got the front motor mount fabricated today. Still need to add gussets but the motor is now in its final location, everything clears great.

such a sweet build, i love the crewcab/doka mogs. i think i need a new project!.
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i do NOT need another project! :beer::beer::beer:

Took me two nights and a Saturday but I got the new exhaust finished! Just needs cleaned and painted. Decided to go with a X-pipe and Flowmasters this time, it should sound good! Had the plasma out today and made short work of removing the old shock mounts also. Here's some pics to Enjoy!

And more!

its turning into a real beast now.

This is a great build (as I have stated before) but with so much modification to "fit" the Mog frame - why not just fab the whole thing and put 404 axles and the Doka cab on a fully fab'd frame/chasis?
Just seems like a lot of custom work to make it work with the existing Mog stuff.

Thanks! I have thought of ditching the factory frame but decided against it. When I'm done with this swap/rebuild it will probably be the last major change I will do, anything more and I feel like I lose what makes a mog unique. So I'm planning on building a mog buggy eventually to thrash!

Got out to the shop for a couple hours this evening. Manage to relocate and mount the air tank in its new location.

Also manage to almost finish the new pan-hard/track bars. After noticing it was binding at full compression I pulled the old ones out to see the bushings were all shot so decided to upgrade them with some 7075AL bars and hiems. Still need to machine the wrench flats and misalignment bushing though.

Looking realy good, Like the flomaster x pipe. I do anything to swap out my OM352 its a real dog on the street. You wana build another set of panhard bars for my 406 mine are binding up also. Where would I be able to find some 7075AL and where u get those heims are they metric.

Snow Mog

If you manned up and started working on your 352, you would have more diesel power than you would know what to do with.

Puffy the vampire slayer :flipoff2:

Was sitting at home thoroughly fucked off (combination of things)
and it was great to see a well done truck, with vids.
Took me away from my probs for a while
Thumbs up M8
Thanks
RR

Looking realy good, Like the flomaster x pipe. I do anything to swap out my OM352 its a real dog on the street. You wana build another set of panhard bars for my 406 mine are binding up also. Where would I be able to find some 7075AL and where u get those heims are they metric.

Got the aluminum at onlinemetals and the rod-ends are 3/4inch QA1's, going to machine a high misalignment bushings for the 14mm axle fasterns.

Got some more parts from the lazer Friday, here's a few pics of the new rear shock mounts decided to keep them fairly simple a stock looking although there 3inches taller.

Been working on the new dash today got all the old wiring pulled out, dash stripped and the new gauge clusters and panels fitted. Been looking forward for along time to redoing the dash and cleaning up the wiring. Hoping to have the dash completed by Tuesday, Here's a teaser pic of new rear, doing away with the pintle hitch.

Spent a few hours in the shop today, manage to make some progress on the dash/command center as a friend put it. Here's more pics to enjoy!

One of my reasons for redoing the dash was for a better defrost, so I'm building a full width defrost duct for better distribution of the air. Winter wheeling in Oregon a good working defrost is a must.

Amazing!

I love to see how much this truck changes with every new post from you!

Man, I can't believe I didn't read this thread earlier - this is *exactly* what I'm about to do with my mog. I have the Atlas (2 speed) and NV4500 sitting here next to it being measured up. I'm going with a jeep I6 4.0 though - got to convert it to right hand drive and I need a narrow engine due to the diff locations (plus they're pretty cheap and plentiful here).

This is crazy - I get to see how to do it before I start!

So 38 degrees is what gave you the right horizontal spacing between the outputs of the Atlas to keep the torque tubes pointing straight? Worried about any oiling issues with the Atlas at that angle?

I don't suppose you still have any diagrams you did for the parts that needed machining?

Great thread, keep it coming. Cheers, Al.

Man, I can't believe I didn't read this thread earlier - this is *exactly* what I'm about to do with my mog. I have the Atlas (2 speed) and NV4500 sitting here next to it being measured up. I'm going with a jeep I6 4.0 though - got to convert it to right hand drive and I need a narrow engine due to the diff locations (plus they're pretty cheap and plentiful here).

This is crazy - I get to see how to do it before I start!

So 38 degrees is what gave you the right horizontal spacing between the outputs of the Atlas to keep the torque tubes pointing straight? Worried about any oiling issues with the Atlas at that angle?

I don't suppose you still have any diagrams you did for the parts that needed machining?

Great thread, keep it coming. Cheers, Al.

Thanks, Great to hear someonelse is doing this type of swap.

As for the oiling issue Im not really worried about it because advance adapters does offer it in a 38degree option. To get the right width if I remember correctly it has to be 38.4 degrees so I had to slot the factory holes ever so slightly and add a half moon shim.

I do have all the drawings, been debating about offering the parts as kit form since I have had a lot of positive response about the system. Will see if that happens after I get it running and throughly tested.

Got the dash done finally. First pic is of the new defroster air diverter ducts I'm using to fix the problem of the window fogging at the sides. Using air diverters out of 90's Chevy suburbans for defrost air direction control. They allow for precise air placement and also enable me to completely stop airflow. Need to make a Pick-a-Part run cause I only have two of them right now! Still need to finish welding it up and paint.

More Pics with windshield in place, Everything clears and duct placement looks good, doesn't look so monstrous with the windshield on. Only had to slightly trim the current doghouse ever so slightly. Might have to run this doghouse for a couple of snow trips because snow time is coming up fast!

Made some headway today. Finally got the last of my parts bent for what I'm calling the rear skid plate, step, Gas tank, Track bar, License plate, Turnbuckle , trailer wiring and Receiver Mounts! The new gas tank is a 32gallon RCI unit, This will close to double my previous tank and it shifts alot of the weight back. The new skid plate sticks down 2 1/2" and weighs the same as what was removed. Plans to rebuild the bed are on hold till after the new year so I couldn't completely bob the frame yet. Still needs a few more parts and completely welded and paint.

A couple more pics with the tank sitting in there.

You don't hang around, do you?!

Do you think it necessary to slot the Atlas holes for 0.4 degrees? I guess the play in the bolts is more than that, and the horizontal component of that rotation is very small?

I'm just trying to make sure I get it all - let me know if I'm wrong on any of this:

1. the torque tube mount at the original gearbox ONLY locates the end of the tube laterally and fore-aft. The tube is free to pivot round and/or swing from that point?

2. originally, these forces are transferred to the cylindrical middle crossmember (and to the chassis) via the rear part of the gearbox (which is structural)?

3. Because the Atlas isn't structural you've made a cradle for it that is, and this cradle replaces the structural aspect of the original gearbox and transfers the loads to the crossmember.

4. Can you explain the need to make your own crossmember in that case?

5. what is your thinking behind the tubework cradle for the engine etc? Obviously the original didn't have it, and if you've made the Atlas mount structural, why is this different?

Anyway, its coming on nicely. I wasn't sure about the dash at first, but in context with the rest of the cab it looks great.

Looking forward to more! Cheers, Al.

"You don't hang around, do you?!

Do you think it necessary to slot the Atlas holes for 0.4 degrees? I guess the play in the bolts is more than that, and the horizontal component of that rotation is very small?

I'm just trying to make sure I get it all - let me know if I'm wrong on any of this:

1. the torque tube mount at the original gearbox ONLY locates the end of the tube laterally and fore-aft. The tube is free to pivot round and/or swing from that point?Yes

2. originally, these forces are transferred to the cylindrical middle crossmember (and to the chassis) via the rear part of the gearbox (which is structural)?Yes

3. Because the Atlas isn't structural you've made a cradle for it that is, and this cradle replaces the structural aspect of the original gearbox and transfers the loads to the crossmember.yes

4. Can you explain the need to make your own cross member in that case? Made my own cross member mount because the factory stamped one would have been a headache to model in, along with the fact that it would of needed to be extremely modified. By starting from scratch I also made it so that I could leave the rear portion attached if I wanted to pull the engine assembly side.

5. what is your thinking behind the tube work cradle for the engine etc? Obviously the original didn't have it, and if you've made the Atlas mount structural, why is this different? The tube work was made to reinforce the whole motor transmission assembly along with enabling me to mount the engine off the front because it wasn't designed to from ford. This was done to retain how the original motor mounted in the chassis to allow frame flex.

Anyway, its coming on nicely. I wasn't sure about the dash at first, but in context with the rest of the cab it looks great.

Looking forward to more! Cheers, Al"



Thanks,

About the 0.4 degrees, They offer the case in the 38 degrees as a 2-speed, mine bolted up at a max of 36 degrees so thats why I slotted them. Sure the horizontal offset would have probably worked but it was easier for me to design everything with it dead on.

Got a lot done, lots of little stuff. Here's a few of the finish skid plate gas tank assembly, still need to fab the tank straps. Sucks that I have to run my existing bed for awhile, can't wait to bob the rest of the frame back to the cross member bumper.

Dash is all welded and got the new front shock mounts done. Drive shafts are done and its ready to tear down for final welding and paint.

This may be a moot point but...

Is your trailer hitch receiver directly inline with your gas tank? If a hitch is over inserted or you forget/break a pin(pretty unlikely) is your hitch going to punch your tank?

I dig the panhard mount.

Yes the hitch is in line but I added a piece of flat bar to protect the tank. Left it open on the top and bottom for drainage and mud removal there is also a 1/2" between the receiver and the tank. Here's a couple pics of it.

So this is what I came up for to solve my problem with the cross member shifting side to side. Made to simple half round collars and welded the to the factory cross member, nothing to extravagant just simple. Also welded up the new solenoid mount.

Everything tore down for final welding and paint. Got my girlfriend to help clean and paint both the bottom of the cab and frame, It's going to cost me. :D Still waiting on a few Items, hoping to have the body back on by Tuesday or Wednesday.

Going to have this rig done for snow wheeling this year?

Not going to be done by thanksgiving! Work has turned into 10-12+ hr days, 7 days a week till the Christmas hiatus but I'm hoping to have it ready for a New Years day trip.

Have manage to get a few things done though, got the drive-lines back and everything clears the 1410 u-joint. Ended up going with the spicier non-serviceable joint. Changed the clutch out for a spec stage 2 unit while I was at it. Also finished the engine cradle and got the engine, transmission and atlas installed. Things are coming together but now a lot slower than I originally wanted.

Man this thing is so clean

Very nice setup , clean fabrication skill and top of the line components selection

suscribed

Works let up so I manage to get out to the shop and start some assembly. Got the front and rear torque tubes and driveshafts mounted. Everything clears and moves freely.

Here's some more pics of the front driveshaft assembly and the finished unit.

Got the rod end spacers machined and installed the new track bars. Fit awesome and look great. Also thought I would post a teaser pic more to come soon.

Been bouncing all over the place with this assembly, should have all the fittings now! Manage to get the exhaust mounted, Transfer case shifters assembled and the fuel tank internals plumbed. Besides that I just been putting on random parts to gain shop space. Here's some pics of the progress!

Great job, Caint wait the blow my POS OM-352 engine to start on something like this.

I had an X pipe on my 5.0 Stang....man did it sound good. Quality work man. I like it alot!

Air bags are installed now and the suspension cycles nicely. Looking forward to see how it it rides. here's some cycling pics.

Worked on plumbing tonight. Manage to get most of the hoses made, still need to attach them to the frame.

Been working a lot on the mog but keep forgetting to update! Here's what I did for the dash.

Bodies back on really digging the look of running on the bumpstops.

Everything starting coming together this last weekend. Manage to finish the wiring almost, 4 wires left. Everything is plumbed Should be starting it tomorrow, Still have a few things to finish before starting.

Also manage to get the shifters installed really looking forward to driving it now, this trans shifts so smooth and no more reaching for the gear levers.

That looks very nice, but doesn't it feel weird to be shifting next to you instead of in front of you (well, not directly in front, but you know what I mean)?

Still, very cool Mog!

Amazing Build!! I can only hope to become as good a fabber as you and your attention to detail and work ethic on this build are top notch.

i can only hope to build a mog like this someday. Seriously sweet fucking rig man. This has 'go anywhere and do anything' written all over it.

I'd build a mog way before a buggy. Maybe it's just the snow that get's me but that thing looks like a blast. :smokin:

Been following your build , lots of time dedication money knowledge and skill going on there.
Im new to this scene although Had pick ups for years and on my second mog, great to see and learn from these projects , Keep up the good work hope it all goes snag free and speedily Froggie

Would have to be the best Mog going around by far.. Awesome job buddy.. :smokin::smokin::smokin:

Everything on this has me drooling except that god awfull steering wheel lol.

That looks very nice, but doesn't it feel weird to be shifting next to you instead of in front of you (well, not directly in front, but you know what I mean)?

Still, very cool Mog!

Thanks

It actually doesn't feel to bad. This shifter is only temporary. Plans to change the shifter to a short throw and relocate the handle when I lower the body back to stock height.

TODAY WAS GREAT!

Took it for the first drive late tonight! It was only down the street and flex out through a 2-3 foot ditch. Feels completely different, rode real smooth and shifts so easy. Weired not having to mess with multiple levers to get reverse. Its going to take some time to get use to the new shifters. Looking forward to driving it around some more tomorrow.

Planning on its first snow run Saturday! Have a few things still to do, Need to adjust the new clutch quadrant for a better release height, bleed the brakes and a few other minor things.

Barely slept last night! Really excited to go play in the snow today even though it's shity snow. Have a couple things left to do, mostly with packing supplies and tools.

Drove it about 30 miles yesterday, mostly on the road. Still have a few tweaks to make but this thing is running sweet. No more gear whine and 5th gear rocks. Gets to 70 really quick. Not sure what my weights are but it feels way more balanced. Hell even managed to lock up all four tires testing the brakes skidding to a stop. Before never got the front to skid before! Going to try and get some vids today.

By the way it roasted the iroks on bare pavement. Before it always wheel hopped, now it just squats and lifts the front end.

Time for the snow!!!

Left at 10am yesterday morning in search of the elusive snow.. 30 minutes later this is what we found.. As you can see it's not much snow but it was fun!!! First time in snow with the new set up and it was pretty sweet...

Everything worked great. Still getting use to the shifters. Biggest problem I had was getting use too how to shift into 4wd, not as easy as the last setup of pulling the lever and letting the spring pop it in. Toward the end of the day the shifters became easier to move and it slips into 4wd easy. Never kicked in the aux gearbox all day.

The snow was dismal but we did find a great play area that usual is covered that allowed us to play around and flex it a little bit. No good pics of flexing tho. Made it home safe with only a couple of small issues to address. Fuel gauge went to full and stayed there and the atlas dripped some oil out the speedometer hole looks like its not fully seated and clamped down, had a 2" dia puddle this morning.

So far I have close to 190 miles on it and everything is working great! Wished I would have gone this route from the beginning it would have saved a bunch of cash. Driving to the snow was so nice cruising at 2700rpm and doing roughly 60mph. I'm finding the NV4500 shifts so much smoother and shorter throw than the stock setup that power shifting and down shifting is a breeze. If I change the main handle it will be forward Little and down but for now I'm just going to leave it.

I'm finding that I changed so much that I'm having to relearn where the limits are. It rides so smooth now and the weight seems to be really balanced. cant wait till the new bed, bumper setup and lowering the body so I can re-weight.

Here some pics enjoy!

Have some vids will post them soon. Here are a few more pics!

Great to see it all works nicely. You've convinced me that this is the right way to go.

That is probably the nicest 404 I've seen now. Really nice build, and thanks for doing the testing for me!

Al.

Been busy Hoping for a snow run this weekend weather looks promising! Finally found a video to post. Nothing special just playing around in a rock pit that is usually covered in 6+ feet of snow. Been making small changes but nothing great.

Still taking it easy hoping to hammer it this weekend! Here's a video sorry about the other trucks and sound. Yes I did kill it! This clutch is so soft compared to the old one and I'm still not use too it.

V8 Unimog Playing in the snow! - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzB1McTiYUU)

Looks Awesome! Great to see the hard work paying off.

great work.

thnx for all those pics. Hopefully one of these days my Mog will be as badass as yours. I plan on doing basically the same except for the motor. I am going to use a strocked 4.0 Jeep motor. Thank again.

Been beating on it as much as I can. Everything is working great, getting all the little things done now. Here's a pic and vid from the snow trip February 18. Didn't air down at all that day, its the same rock pit as before just a little more snow. Enjoy!

V8 Unimog in the snow! - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MT_wribltEA)

Went up Sunday to a new spot, got into some of the best snow of the year. Aired down to 7psi and went where ever I wanted. Things are performing great with the new setup. Have about 800-900 miles on it now and everything is working flawless. Here's some pics. Enjoy!

Here's some vids from Sunday.

V8 Unimog Snow tow - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98WO4cuu8nk)

V8 Unimog Breaking trail in the Snow! - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDDrFzqu0vk)

V8 Unimog and some Snow. - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jzyd46cWT0E)

I guess im a little late seeing that you posted videos. But that was a very fun day in the snow. It was fun to see how well the mog did.

One day maybe i'll be able to keep up ;)

Incredibly nice build. Being a newbie to off-road (and cars in general, don't even have my liscense yet), this build inspired a lot of my interest in fabrication and mechanics. It's been fun following along, can't wait to see what's next!

How long is the bed, exactly? looks to be about 5 feet.

Thanks,

The old bed is 6ft and the new one is going to be 62 1/2". Still working on it.

Since last update I have been abusing it quite often. Everything is working great. Made several more snow runs heres a few pics. Manage to find some deep stuff on my Birthday the picture of the front is with the airbags blowen up 3/4 of the way.

I have made it out to the shop a little lately. Here's a few teaser pics of the new bumper I'm planing to install this weekend. Houses a M12000, moved the winch down 5 inches and back close to 6 inches. Ground clearance is 1 inch higher than the stock skidplate and this one is heavely reinfocred. Will post more pictures after the install.

Hey i have a similar truck as yours just not as nice haha. A Doka with a ford 300 inline 6 in it. I was wondering what your radiator came out of im having no luck cooling mine with whatever is in there. Any help would be appreciated i have a big trip next weekend and this is the only thing holdin me up. :)

Awesome mog I'm local to you, hope to see it around sometime!

Hey i have a similar truck as yours just not as nice haha. A Doka with a ford 300 inline 6 in it. I was wondering what your radiator came out of im having no luck cooling mine with whatever is in there. Any help would be appreciated i have a big trip next weekend and this is the only thing holdin me up. :)

Nice!

The radiator I've been using is a three core unit out of a Ford Granada. It is the same size as a lot of aftermarket fox body Mustang ones. To use it I had to do away with the stock hood latches. That's why I have been running hood pins. Also I had to notch the top of the passenger frame rail for clearance. With the previous motor I had just a fan on the back of it and it worked fine but with the current set up I had to switch to a shorauded fan so I'm using one of the 3500 cfm flex-a-lite fan along with a 180 thermostat, a 16lbs cap and a fan controller that starts at 170 off at 160. It actually cycles on and off now. Also with the last build I cut the inner fender out of the passenger wheel well. Made a huge differance on underhood heat although I have yet to test that on a really hot day.

Went for a nice drive yesterday with the top off in mid 80 degree weather the temp was 182 allday except on this long hill climb where it hit 190 for a few minutes. The hottest I have had this new setup was 200 working in some deep mud. The mud actually stuck to the fan and created a horrible vibration but the was easily fixed with cleaning.

Also still needs its overflow bottle hooked back up.
I hope this helps you.

Got the front bumper wired and mounted this weekend but it took me till today to whine the new rope. The winch worked great loading the rope on a 10-15 degree slope. Halfway through building the bumper I came up with the idea of mounting one of the new rock lights at the end, it covers awesome.
Here's some pics.

Few more pics,

Yeah i can never get the winch cable to spool
Good. Its tempting to just leave it the way it came spooled from the factory ..

This thread makes me want to get a mog.

One of the coolest builds I've seen , your skills are crazy impressive . The rig sounds great too, love the videos .

this is just....inspirational....absolutely stunning build!!! MAD SKILLS!!! 2 things please sir:
more information on the disc brake conversion
and what suspension set up you running?

Nice!

The radiator I've been using is a three core unit out of a Ford Granada. It is the same size as a lot of aftermarket fox body Mustang ones. To use it I had to do away with the stock hood latches. That's why I have been running hood pins. Also I had to notch the top of the passenger frame rail for clearance. With the previous motor I had just a fan on the back of it and it worked fine but with the current set up I had to switch to a shorauded fan so I'm using one of the 3500 cfm flex-a-lite fan along with a 180 thermostat, a 16lbs cap and a fan controller that starts at 170 off at 160. It actually cycles on and off now. Also with the last build I cut the inner fender out of the passenger wheel well. Made a huge differance on underhood heat although I have yet to test that on a really hot day.

Went for a nice drive yesterday with the top off in mid 80 degree weather the temp was 182 allday except on this long hill climb where it hit 190 for a few minutes. The hottest I have had this new setup was 200 working in some deep mud. The mud actually stuck to the fan and created a horrible vibration but the was easily fixed with cleaning.

Also still needs its overflow bottle hooked back up.
I hope this helps you.

Thanks! that helps alot I found a aluminium circle track performance rad off ebay for 200 which looks like it may fit between the frame rails gonna try that if that doesnt work grenada rad it is.