Chryslers grandson wants to save the brand

[BackRoad]

Wouldn't it be great to have that vehicle to "educate" all the squids on the road that can't drive worth a crap.

Plow forward the slow drivers who "park" in the left lane...
Drop the trencher on the tail-gaters...
Pull up behind the clowns driving 35 in a 55 - and then just run up over them...

Ahhh, I but dream...

 

[Too many Kubotas]

Sounds like you're overestimating their road manners.

To me, 35 mph is about as fast as you want to go in a Unimog FLU, even though they'll do 55 and change.

Please keep in mind that they're tractors that can be driven on roads, not pickups that can be driven off the pavement.

 

[BackRoad]

Yeah, I kind of guessed they wouldn't do the Interstate very well.

But you could sure put the fear into the tailgaters trying to get around you!

 

[Renze]

To me, 35 mph is about as fast as you want to go in a Unimog FLU, even though they'll do 55 and change.

My old neighbour keeps some concrete kerbs in the back of his 406 and still 35mph is about the max hes comfortable with. His has the detuned engine, 5.7 liter six pot at only 56hp

Unimog 406 - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Please keep in mind that they're tractors that can be driven on roads, not pickups that can be driven off the pavement.

The other old neighbour (which means: my parents neighbours) is in gardening and landscaping, is on his 3rd Unimog since starting the business and has a fairly new 290hp one. That is more like a truck than the old 406 series.. he had a 406 with the OM 352 first, then an U1000 and now a 405 baumuster U300

Unimog 405 - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Hes got a big Hiab 22 meter crane on it with safety gear so he can use it with a manbucket. Its quite a rig.
Previous Unimogs had a torque tube suspension which made them swerve quite a bit at speed. The 405 series was the first series to use reaction arms, greatly improving its high speed stability.

 

[Too many Kubotas]

My old neighbour keeps some concrete kerbs in the back of his 406 and still 35mph is about the max hes comfortable with.

It's definitely not a lack of weight that limits my comfort speed to about 35. All three FLU 419 versions are listed as weighing about 16,000 lbs.

For on road use the forklift/crane version (HMMH) feels like a sports car compared to the loader/backhoe (SEE).

The stout loader bucket hangs out quite a bit from the front axle and the Case 580 raises the center of gravity a lot. With the forklift tucked in tightly on the front, and the HMMH's crane probably weighs much less than a backhoe in real life, so it makes sense that it feels better going down the road.

Not that I normally drive any of them on the road, but I have tried.

 

[Renze]

For on road use the forklift/crane version (HMMH) feels like a sports car compared to the loader/backhoe (SEE).

We in Holland just grin when we see all those multipurpose jacks of all trades but master of none. The amount of TLBs sold here on an annual basis can be counted on one hand. But mini articulated loaders and mini excavators are sold by the truckload, and they all come standard with quick attach and several buckets and forks.

They even spit on 4 in one buckets here, they are called 4 times none buckets. Germans other hand, are very keen on 4 in one buckets !
We have been using bucket quick connects on loaders and excavators since the 80s and since the mid 90s you'd be sent off a large construction site if you showed up without it. Since about 10 years the same goes for a tilt-rotator: working as a subcontractor you are expected to bring a tilt rotator as standard equipment or you wont be called again.

 

[Too many Kubotas]

In my case, not working commercially, a quirky machine like the FLU 419s works quite well. True, they don't excel in anything, but then neither do I.

If anything, them being harder to operate than dedicated machinery forces me to become a better operator. I like that.

 

[Hay Dude]

It's your lucky day. The dozer/trencher is for sale now.

Just don't forget to sign up for attending Burning Man.
View attachment 1966189View attachment 1966191

That thing looks like a Bull in a freakin China shop if I ever saw one.

What is it with the Germans? The Ag equipment designs & equipment they build is simply amazing. Between Fendt & Krone, they might just take over the world in Ag equipment. Oh and there’s Claas and Deutz, too.

At least an American company bought Fendt.

 

[Renze]

What is it with the Germans? The Ag equipment designs & equipment they build is simply amazing. Between Fendt & Krone, they might just take over the world in Ag equipment. Oh and there’s Claas and Deutz, too.

At least an American company bought Fendt.

Deutz Fahr is owned by Same, an italian company that builds all sub 120hp models for them.

Fendt is bought at the time they brought their halo product, the vario transmission to the market. Before that, they were a small manufacturer with a price tag for excellence that they could hardly warrant for any longer: 8000 tractors a year just wasnt enough to keep in the race. Agco bought them and used the vario in MF tractors, and financed the spread of vario drivelines over all product series of Fendt so that it could be offered for competitive prices, generating enough sales to warrant that pricing (chicken or egg story)

I admire Agco founder Robert Radcliffe:

If you want to know what leadership sounds like, hear Radcliffes speech from 27:15 onwards, how he motivated White dealers to forget past misery and step boldly into the ring

 

[Too many Kubotas]

That thing looks like a Bull in a freakin China shop if I ever saw one.

What is it with the Germans? The Ag equipment designs & equipment they build is simply amazing.

Well, all the attachments (dozer blade, trencher, loader, backhoe, forklift, and crane) are American. That's a Vermeer trencher, the backhoes are Case 580s, and the forklifts are by Cascade, for example.

The "FLU" in FLU 419 stands for Freightliner Unimog, but it seems like Freightliner only oversaw the modifications. I'm not sure what outfit(s) did the actual work.

If it wasn't for the shape of the toolboxes, all the rear mounted stuff is basically interchangeable. Well, the trencher has hydrostatic drive in addition to the standard 16-speed and putting the trencher on the back of another version would make it go too fast for the task.

Up front, the blade, loader, and forklift, are all interchangeable.