[yarr]

It looks like another custom built project by Merex.
I just bumped into it in one of Mog's videos.

And here at 3:20 is the shot.
Now I remember Truktor has mentioned something about it while back.

 

[TRUKTOR]

Yes, looks to be from a branch of the Zetros Cab / UNIMOG chassis things I saw driving around Worth. It grew a Snorkel on the passenger side, the "UNIMOG" side.

 

[opewein]

The Krauss-Maffei Wegmann Dingo All Protected Vehicle, of which more than 1,000 have now been built for the home and export markets, employs a UNIMOG 4x4 chassis, while the 6x6 version is used for an export krogerfeedback customer for the Nexter Systems CAESAR 155mm/52 calibre self-propelled artillery system.

 

[yarr]

Sorry but that's not Dingo.
Take a close look.

 

[TRUKTOR]

A couple more shots of the Silver one, and a different Black one running around. The badge on the grill has changed from 'ZETMOG 13.0' to 'ZETMOG 14.5'. While the regular Zetros cab has an integrated A/C system, this one has the rooftop air nailed onto it. It also has an odd panel hanging out on the passenger side roof , visible in the head-on shot.
The Zetros cab is mounted on the UNIMOG chassis, but apparently they went with the rooftop air for testing, rather than getting into retrofitting an in-cab A/C system.

The UNIMOG UHN grill has additional slots added across the top. This isn't new, the photos are from a few years ago.
Also note the code / test numbers on the windshields - F 437 V55 (Silver) and F 437 V56 (Black). The red blocks look like payload weights to me.

 

[TRUKTOR]

Before the rooftop air was added, no red blocks yet, and before the bumper was painted.

 

[TRUKTOR]

When you look at the actual ZETROS nose, it is obvious that the ZETMOG has its own fantasy going on from the cowl forward.
The flat hood with the strap hinges, the two latches per side - it seems like it is just cobbed together in order to cover the engine.

The exercise is interesting. by installing the Zetros cab, they are sliding the cab and driver's position rearward, making it essentially a conventional cab, and changing it from the UNIMOG's Semi-cabover layout . The UNIMOG might be better described as a 'Short Hood conventional cab'. The Zetros cab does not help the forward visibility at all, while it is excellent with the UNIMOG.

So, it seems to me that the two things that they are buying here are a wider, roomier cab, and a snout. This makes me wonder - are they just experimenting with the larger cab, considering it for future UNIMOG series ? Or, are they also after the snout, which buys them room for a physically larger engine ?


EDIT - research intervenes here - So the above is off track...

That is the sort of stuff I was pondering... then I zoomed in below the ZETMOG badge, and it appears to read :
Based on FGA 13.0. The next one, naturally, reads 'Based on FGA 14.5'.


The thing is, the FGA 12.5 , FGA 13.0, and the FGA 14.5 are the bare UNIMOG chassis that were developed for the DINGO armored vehicles, and other military applications. The FGA 14.5, for instance, is the basis for the KMW heavy duty version of the DINGO 2 HD.

More on this later, as my research is on my phone, and it'll be a lot easier for me to find the same information on the laptop and post it from there.

Now, I think that the existence of the ZETMOGs might come down to this - While the various FGA series are essentially UNIMOG chassis, they are altered for their ultimate destinations , which are not as UNIMOGs. We have photos of the bare FGA 14.5 chassis, and I suspect that in that form, it was not fitting into the UNIMOG bodywork. Since there are apparently dimensional differences, primarily in the engine bay with the size of the radiator required and the rest of the packaging layout, then it may have been easier to plop a Zetros cab on it and build the Frankenstein snout on it than it was to try and make the UNIMOG bodywork fit over it.

I think that the ZETMOG had little or nothing to do with developing future UNIMOGs, nor with the ZETROS. I think it was a test mule for the FGA chassis, destined for non-UNIMOG military vehicles, and they could performance test the system by loading up the weight blocks to simulate the weight of armored bodies and so on. If you look at the profile of the DINGO 2, and the length of the hood, it looks pretty close to the snout on the ZETMOG. The FGA specialty package is configured to fit into a regular cab profile, which the UNIMOG is not, of course. Enter the ZETMOG, whose duty was (I'm saying) to serve as a test bed for the DINGO ( and other) military vehicles which would be using the FGA chassis.

Note that the number code on the radiator is the very similar to the one on the Black ZETMOG - U 437 V 56, instead of F 437 V56, and it looks like the 'U' may have been taped over the 'F'.
Maybe.

That is my theory. We'll see.

 

[TRUKTOR]

355 amp Alternator !
These chassis are part of the process that previously involved UHN cabs sitting on dealers's lots in Germany, as well as pallets of take-off DINGO axles all over the place.

These FGA represent the solution to those sorts of gymnastics.

 

[TRUKTOR]

The ZETMOG, in short, was a quick way to make the UNIMOG into a long hood conventional cab for testing the FGA chassis, which was destined for that configuration in the DINGO 2 and other military applications.

 

[TRUKTOR]

Wild Speculation.

 

[TRUKTOR]

Here is a Spanish armored vehicle, the IBERO, which is built on the Mercedes FGA project chassis. Very similar to the DINGO in concept and proportions. The same basic hood proportions, which are not at all UNIMOG-like, but do reflect the ZETMOG layout.

I'm convincing myself, bit by bit, that being the test mule for the FGA chassis was the true purpose for the ZETMOGs.

I'm trying to fix a possible malware issue which is preventing me from opening certain PDF's, so I don't have a good image of the FGA chassis profile, but even this small version shows the large lump of equipment in the engine bay area, which would require a long hood of a conventional cab.

 

[ACAD_Cowboy]

So a cobbled design and engineering mule that just happens to attract our :ahem: proclivities? I'd be willing to buy that based on what I've seen from the Germans in terms of development mules and shoveling large amounts on new tech into old bodies to minimize interest etc.

 

[TRUKTOR]

 

[heiko_mog]

Funny enough no tech specs on the engine in the documents above. However, on the drawings it clearly seems to be a 6 cyl as opposed to the standard 4 cyl engines of the U5000/5023 series.
reminds me a lot of the U5030 by Hellgeth that has a 6 cyl OM936LA engine which I bet is the same in the FGA chassis. The U5030 also has permanent 4WD and if I am not mistaken the Allison Automatic gearbox to handle the immense torque. The UG100 and the smaller axles of the U4000/4023 would not handle these forces so there is only a U5030 with the Allison box and not a U4030. Maybe the FGA is a win win product based on the Hellgeth design…

 

[krietpiel]

"Allison Automatic gearbox..." Ooooh ! Now, that would be nice

 

[TRUKTOR]

Some Blurbs, with the engines mentioned. OM 926, 225kW, 1200Nm torque, but other engines can be fitted in the FGA series.