# Tool Talk > Wheels >  Unimog short video

## Jon

A nice 3:23 video of the Unimog.

1:48 - Attachment options for riding train rails, farming, and snowblowing.
2:19 - Steering wheel slides across dash to switch between right-hand and left-hand drive.
2:25 - Equipped with three mower arms.




One famous Unimog feature that the video doesn't mention: portal axles. With portal axles, not only is ground clearance increased, but there is a reduction gearbox in the hub. This reduces torque on the other drivetrain components, which means the drivetrain can be built lighter. It works like this:





Previously: Autobiography of a Jeep

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blkadder (Apr 18, 2018),

Moby Duck (Oct 22, 2017)

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## Moby Duck

Love the sliding steering wheel, but I wonder what they do about the foot pedals that are left behind when the wheel is slid across. 
My wife has an old BMW, sold new by the factory as a Right Hand drive, but obviously designed as a Left Hand drive and rather annoyingly the blinker stalk is on the wrong side of the steering wheel, as it would be in the sliding Unimog example. Small things such as the bonnet/hood release catch, also end up on the passenger side and is unreachable from the drivers seat. Took me a long time searching under the dashboard on the drivers side before I found that one. Wiper blade sweep has the full clear arc in front of the passenger and the driver gets the chopped one. I wouldn't buy another.
My memories of the Unimog military truck version is that the back tray is very high, about 6ft, which makes them hard to get in and out of in a hurry, and it also makes them difficult to load anything heavy. In the early 1970's it was very common to see them broken down on the road side in Singapore and other parts of Asia with their propeller shafts lying one end on the ground.

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## Jon

1987 military Unimog backhoe. $20K on Craigslist. Comes with hydraulic chainsaw and power hammer.







More: https://honolulu.craigslist.org/oah/...782716123.html

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baja (Jan 2, 2019),

blkadder (Sep 11, 2020),

KustomsbyKent (Jan 2, 2019),

PJs (Jan 2, 2019),

Seedtick (Jan 1, 2019)

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## CharlesWaugh

If any reader wants to buy it for me, feel free to do so! 
It would be very helpful on my three acres and fun to romp around in on the weekends.
:-)

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## bruce.desertrat

A kid I knew in HS (mid 70's) had a Unimog (just the pickup version, not this one) He primed the gossip mill by announcing a week or so in advance of getting it that he was going to be driving his Mercedes to school soon :-)

Fortunatey I knew exactly what he got when I saw it because as a much younger kid, I had the Matchbox version...

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PJs (Jan 2, 2019)

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## mbshop

This is an example of overloading a unimog. When the us army tested them they kept overloading them with bad results. Mercedes kept telling them there were limits but they didn't listen. Then the army rejected them though they still use some. Funny how they worked for everyone else.

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## mbshop

Ps, the cost of parts are insane. It's why I decided to not get one in 94.

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## NortonDommi

NZ Army started getting them in the mid '80's and a lot was made about the ground clearance with the way the diffs were rotated, The drivers wiped a lot out on rocks that they would have driven the old RL Bedfords over without a problem.
Mid-size Unimogs are great farm vehicles though but as mbshop said the price of parts is insane. Perhaps if you knew someone in Germany?

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## Jon

Belgian Army Unimog.

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baja (Sep 24, 2019),

high-side (Sep 24, 2019),

lastgoodusername (Sep 29, 2019),

Midwestern640 (Sep 23, 2019),

Seedtick (Sep 23, 2019)

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## jdurand

Where's the video of the guys shooting each other while panning sideways?

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