2005 Unimog U500 - GXV's Original Camper

DLippke

Observer
Yet more photos - bed platform, underbed storage areas

I've added pictures of the bed area without the mattress showing the lift up panels that give access to three storage areas, the webasto air heater, and top access to two external storage areas.

The new pictures are at the very first of the "More XRV Pictures" album off the UnimogXRV.com website but you can get directly to them here.
 

dingodog

New member
Nice rig

By the looks of the photos it has no cab to cabin pass through. Is this true? Other than the complications with the table in the way what else would hinder a pass through been installed? One other question. What does this weight in comparison to the same size cabin built from composite walls?
Thanks for all the information and photos.
Linz
 

DLippke

Observer
By the looks of the photos it has no cab to cabin pass through. Is this true? Other than the complications with the table in the way what else would hinder a pass through been installed? One other question. What does this weight in comparison to the same size cabin built from composite walls? ...

Linz, there is no stand up pass through. The camper and cab windows do line up and slide in a compatible way, but only a very nimble person could scramble through without landing a foot on the air brake release, etc, on the way. Modification for things to be otherwise wouldn't be practical due to the control panel above the window.

I really am not sure what the weight differential is between this camper and the composite campers. My fuzzy feeling is that it is ~1000-1500lbs heavier than they are. On the other hand, I believe this camper is much stouter than the composite campers (e.g., trees fear me -- i don't fear trees) and decades of UV exposure will never mean much to it. For me, the tradeoffs favored the aluminum construction given that I still had substantial (9000 lbs) clearance between empty weight and max GVW. YMMV :)
 

dingodog

New member
Good point about the trees, the height of these rigs are often what prohibits getting too far off the beaten track here in BC. That and getting over the anxiety of hearing a tree scrapping the paint off the side. (Ouch) . will look at the photos again but in your opinion, could the controls be re-routed to accommodate a larger pass-through? I find a pass through very handy.
Thanks
Liinz
 

DLippke

Observer
... will look at the photos again but in your opinion, could the controls be re-routed to accommodate a larger pass-through? I find a pass through very handy. ...

I'm not going to say that it'd be impossible, but the amount of rework it'd cause seems extreme to me. In fact, I suspect you'd find that you would not be done until you'd completely remodeled the interior. There is just so much interconnection between systems coming together there, just below it, and to both sides below it. And with one thing leading to another you'd start pulling on those threads and find that, by the end, you'd wish you'd just started with a new camper!

Jan 7 edit: With all this talk I have been looking at this issue more closely and am going to change my statement a bit. What is not easily possible is a "standing up" pass through. However, the creation of a 32" high pass through where one essentially slides through in a seated position DOES seem possible with no impact to electrics or plumbing on either side.
 
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dingodog

New member
I suspected that looking at the photos. Re-running critical systems would be a huge job. What runs below the window in that area? Over all a very nice looking package at a very good price.
 

DLippke

Observer
I suspected that looking at the photos. Re-running critical systems would be a huge job. What runs below the window in that area? Over all a very nice looking package at a very good price.

Ah, you were replying while I was editing my post above. Basically, I have concluded that it *is* straightforward to expand the opening downward on both sides by about 12 inches. There is no wiring or plumbing on either cab or camper side in that space beneath the center portion of the window. As it stands, the window openings are ~20" inches tall right now and so adding 12 gets you to a 32" opening. It wouldn't be a "standing" pass thru, but would be a pretty simple sliding through on your rear assuming you are at least slightly nimble. You could cut yet further down in the camper -- the limiting factor is electronics and wiring in the mog's cab.
 

DLippke

Observer
What's the towing capacity?

With the installed Q21 pintle hitch the towing capacity is listed as 30,000lb for gross trailer weight. I see that there is/was a Q20 option which would result in a 45,000lb towing capacity but I don't know what that consists of.

In terms of weight on the tongue, as last weighed with about half fuel plus basic equipment (e.g., jacks, tools, flares) there was a bit more than 4600 lbs left on the rear GAWR and 4800 lb on the front GAWR. Additional fuel and water primarily load the front axle.

For electrics and brakes, there's a 7-pin hookup and trailer brake air just behind the rear "bumper".
 

ManleyORV

Rugged. Reliable. Ready.
With the installed Q21 pintle hitch the towing capacity is listed as 30,000lb for gross trailer weight. I see that there is/was a Q20 option which would result in a 45,000lb towing capacity but I don't know what that consists of.

In terms of weight on the tongue, as last weighed with about half fuel plus basic equipment (e.g., jacks, tools, flares) there was a bit more than 4600 lbs left on the rear GAWR and 4800 lb on the front GAWR. Additional fuel and water primarily load the front axle.

For electrics and brakes, there's a 7-pin hookup and trailer brake air just behind the rear "bumper".

Is it crazy I want to sell my house and fulltime it in this? Travel the continent going to shows and exploring; then boondock it outside the shop when I'm home. Sounds like the life!

Awesome rig; have you had much interest?

-Josh
 

DLippke

Observer
SOLD (details and notes within)

The vehicle is now SOLD into British Columbia and is headed for Asia.

The sales process has been an interesting adventure. For those who later search this thread up and contemplate selling a similar vehicle, I'll leave a few notes here on my findings.

First, deciding to sell from the West Coast turned out to be a very good idea. Almost all continental prospects were from Southern California, the Pacific Northwest, and western Canada -- and there were approximately two dozen of these. There were no queries at all from the mid west or east coast save one query from Florida.

There were a surprising number of queries from Australia (nearly a dozen) and one couple from New Zealand actually visited. For all those, once they become convinced of the impracticality of converting this particular vehicle to Vario Pilot or right hand drive, the process would stop. There was also a sprinkling of queries from South America, India, Africa, and so on.

The best sources for leads were this forum, unimog.net, and unimogshop.com and in that order. I did also post at TruckPaper.com, RVTrader.com, etc, but those generated very few leads and the ones they did generate were very poorly qualified. As well, I identified those as the sources for a tremendous amount of call and e-mail spam I received for brokerage offers, financing offers, etc .. all for a fee, etc, of course.

In terms of the actual prospects who contacted either for long phone conversations or actual visits, I was amazed at the number of people who strongly asserted that they intended to buy the thing only to eventually fade away. I also learned to cringe when people would call and say right away that they had been looking for such a vehicle for many years and this one looked like *the* one. But the past is a great predictor of the future and so the strong odds are that someone who has been "looking for years" will, after much discussion, ultimately continue on forward in their eternal quest for theperfect vehicle.

As for vehicle features being pluses or minuses, I did very much lose a number of serious folks over the lack of a passthru. For us, this was never an issue and we enjoyed the fact that the camper was a sealed, dust-proof, standalone enclosure -- nevertheless, the market clearly wants a passthru on this sort of vehicle. An equivalent vehicle with passthru and vario pilot would have well within a couple months. On the other side, the lack of an air conditioner and built-in generator (both of which I had removed from the original vehicle) were never an issue with any serious prospect.

In all, the vehicle was on the market for almost 5 months. If anyone now or in the future would like more details about lessons learned, etc, feel free to PM me and we can talk.

All the best, David

p.s. props to GXV for providing diligent support to all my serious prospects and especially the eventual buyer.
 

mhiscox

Expedition Leader
Congratulations, David, and thank you for sharing the information about the sales process. It was a very fine vehicle and I hope it has a good life subsequent to your use.
 

pugslyyy

Expedition Vehicle Engineer Guy
Congratulations, David, and thank you for sharing the information about the sales process. It was a very fine vehicle and I hope it has a good life subsequent to your use.

+1, I appreciate the insights on the sale process.
 

ExpoMike

Well-known member
Glad you finally got it sold. I know it is a VERY nice rig, even just looking around the outside. I tried to convince the wife to sell the house and everything else and hit the road but she wasn't having it. LOL :D
 

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