These videos are extremely educational and very entertaining. And I'm working very hard to hopefully build the Unikat of my dreams one day. One suggestion I have is to include more diagrams, pictures, and videos to help us better understand these different systems and components. Just a suggestion. Great job, nonetheless
Do either man or merc do stabilisers that can be hydraulically locked like Land Rover? So you can have best of both worlds on / off road and also with air suspension when parked will allow levelling in both directions?
For me if you want long lasting and reliable suspension on your truck and safer ride, just stay stock until it breaks. Because after market suspension may fit to the truck, but they may not yet tested to the specific truck or that heavy load capacity. MAN trucks and their parts are tested to match every possible extreme situation, in short they are heavy duty parts. Who wants to travel in the remote areas then end up stuck because of the broken modified suspension? 😁It's better to stay with the original suspension and have peaceful mind that you can go back home safe.
I'm thinking of putting a decent sized garage / maintenance bay in the back of mine. What would spares package would you take besides maybe normal servicing oil and filters?
UNICAT Expedition Vehicles haha, very true but experience tells me there's usually common weak points you always try to stock in a box somewhere. Thinking about it further, I guess the answer depends on the truck purchased! Sounds like tyre repair plugs maybe one good option. But then "sods law" says the sidewall will rip 🤣🙈
I’ve seen builds with hydraulic jacks under the chassis which could lift the whole truck about 20cm off the ground, used for levelling and changing tires, but I guess it could very usefull with large pads when stucked? Is it complicated/expensive and reliable?
You don't need it. The living unit of a Unicat truck levels off automatically (it can move independently of the chassis). At that point, you would have an extremely heavy, space-wasting, complex hydraulic system just to change the tires. A job you can easily do with a jack.
Hello, What about the Hendrickson suspension offering that is available in the USA on International Trucks? Like the HV613. Are they good for an expedition vehicle build? Thanks.
That's an air suspension. He talked about it. Can work, but it is pointless. Expedition vehicles have set weight. No need to go with air if you don't have to.
I wonder, because that’s all I can afford at the moment. If you got a truck with read air suspension and front leaves could you make a haberdashery and lessen the leaves to one and also have the air as well inserted. That way there wouldn’t be any special supports or holding brackets needed to make it work but the bulk of the work cold be done by the air? Just a thought. I’ve never had air suspension so I don’t know law smart it is or how easy to modify if at all possible. Just thoughts. Does any body think it would work?
I'm thinking about building an expedition vehicle on a used Actros 3340 6x6 chassis... However, I'm a bit worried that the suspension (leaf springs all round) will be too hard, considering my total weight will only be about 16 tons... Is there any way to easily address this? Can leaf spring suspension be modified to make it softer? Can individual leaves be removed? Alternatively I assume the whole leaf spring assembly could be changed with that of a model with lower GVW, but this would be expensive... Or perhaps is this not a big problem? In your video you considered mostly the driver comfort, but I'm worried about excessive vibration damaging the living compartment, and perhaps reduced wheel articulation when driving off-road...
Yes, you can remove leaves from the system to make it softer. In fact, it is recommended with many older military trucks. But, you should probably find a mechanic who knows what they are doing so you don't go overboard.
