The Unimog (English: ; German: [ˈʊnɪmɔk] []) is a Daimler Truck line of multi-purpose, highly off-road-capable AWD vehicles produced since 1948. Utilizing engine-driven power take-offs (PTOs), Unimogs have operated in the roles of tractors, light trucks and lorries, for snow plowing, in agriculture, forestry, rural firefighting, in the military, and even in rallying and as recreational vehicles.
Overview Conceived in 1944 in response to the Morgenthau Plan, former Daimler-Benz airplane engine engineers developed prototypes under occupation. The small universally-applicable motorised 25hp workhorse was designed to be able to fit over two rows of potatoes to work on fields like a slow agricultural tractor, but with four equal size wheels on portal axles, coil spring suspension, and many gears allowing it to run on roads like a truck. Unimog production started in 1948 at Boehringer in Göppingen. When larger production numbers were needed, Daimler-Benz took over manufacture of the Unimog in 1951, and first produced it in their Gaggenau plant, and the Unimog was sold under the Mercedes-Benz brand. However, the first Unimog to feature the three-pointed Mercedes-Benz star instead of the Boehringer bullhead was only introduced in 1953. From 1973, the more tractor-like sister product MB-trac was offered by Daimler-Benz before its production was discontinued in 1991. Since 2002, the Unimog has been built in the Mercedes-Benz truck plant in Wörth am Rhein in Germany. The Mercedes-Benz Türk A.Ş. plant assembles Unimogs in Aksaray, Turkey. Unimogs were also built in Argentina (the first country to do so outside Germany) by Mercedes-Benz Argentina S.A., under licence, from 1968 to 1983 (with some extra units built from parts in stock up until 1991) in the González Catán factory near the city of Buenos Aires. The first model was designed by Albert Friedrich and Heinrich Rößler shortly after World War II, to be used in agriculture as a self-propelled machine providing a power take-off with which to operate saws in forests or harvesting machines on fields. It was designed with rear-wheel drive and switchable front-wheel drive, with equal-size wheels, in order to be driven on roads at higher speeds than standard farm tractors. With their very high ground clearance and a flexible frame that is essentially a part of the suspension, Unimogs are not designed to carry as much load as regular trucks. Due to their off-road capabilities, Unimogs can be found in jungles, mountains and deserts as military vehicles, fire fighters, expedition campers, and even in competitions like truck trials and Dakar Rally rally raids. In Western Europe, they are commonly used as snowploughs, municipal equipment carriers, agricultural implements, forest ranger vehicles, construction equipment or road–rail vehicles and as army personnel or equipment carriers (in its armoured military version). New Unimogs can be purchased in one of two series: the medium-series 405, also known as the UGN (Geräteträger, or "equipment carrier"), or the heavy-series 437, also known as the UHN (Hochgeländegängig, or "highly mobile cross-country").
Etymology The name Unimog is an abbreviation of the German "Universal-Motor-Gerät", Gerät being the German word for a piece of equipment (also in the sense of device, machine, instrument, gear, apparatus). It was created by German engineer Hans Zabel, who made the note Universal-Motor-Gerät on a technical drawing. Later, this was abbreviated to Unimog. The shortened name was officially unveiled on 20 November 1946. Since 1952, Unimog has been a brand of Daimler Truck.
Features
Design The Unimog's characteristic design element is its chassis: a flexible ladder frame with short overhangs, and coil sprung beam portal axles with a central torque tube and transverse links. Having portal axles, the wheels' centres are below the axle centre, which gives the Unimog a high ground clearance without the need for big tyres. The coil sprung axles with torque tubes allow an axle angle offset of up to 30°, giving the wheels a wide range of vertical movement to allow the truck to drive over extremely uneven terrain, even boulders of one metre in height. Unimogs are equipped with high-visibility cabs to maximize operator visibility of terrain and when manipulating powered tools. The newest implement carrier Unimog models can be changed from left-hand drive to right-hand drive in the field to permit operators to work on the more convenient side of the truck. The ability to operate on highways enables the Unimog to be returned to a secure garage or yard at the end of a shift.
Equipment
Unimogs can be equipped with front and rear tool mounting brackets and hydraulic connections to allow bucket loaders and hydraulic arms to be used. Most units have a power take-off (PTO) connection to operate rotary equipment such as snow brooms, snow blowers, brush mowers, loaders or stationary conveyor belts.
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