new M656 owner first impressions

[sangamon]

My M656 was just delivered yesterday to my place in Blaine. I haven't had a chance to spend much time with it yet (I'm "on call" at work in Seattle for the next two weeks.) So, far, I couldn't be happier.

The ride is much smoother than my Unimog 416.163 firetruck. I suppose that's partly due to the four extra tires, and partly due to the extra five feet of wheelbase.

I'm not ordinarily a big fan of automatic transmissions (I greatly dislike the one in my Chevy Colorado). However, the shift action on the M656 is very nice.

The power steering is great. Of course, there's no way to turn four wheels by hand, but they did a good job setting up the "correct" amount of force needed to steer. I am, however, going to have to get used to purposely turning the wheel back to center, to center the wheels again. It wanders a LOT less than my 416 firetruck.

Is it big? You bet. But, it's smaller than a lot of motor homes. The nice straight sides will help a lot to keep it where it's supposed to be.

I'm very glad that it's still very original, with no mods or bling. My Mog firetruck is the same way, even to the original firepump.

Well, I have a few hundred more pages to read in the manual, so I'd best get on that. More later.

 

[steelsoldiers]

Welcome to the site, Sangamon! I'm glad the 656 went to a good home. Keep posting back with your impressions and definitely with pictures!!

 

[sangamon]

pix on Wednesday next (21st)

D'oh.

 

[BFR]

welcome to steel soldiers! glad to see it found a good home.

 

[clinto]

Welcome to the site, Sangamon. It's a great looking truck. We look forward to seeing your adventures with it.

*cough* the Ga. Rally is next week *cough*

 

[Stalwart]

Now you know why it was dubbed the "Mover", it just plain moves out for an old truck. Only place I found it unplesant was on severe washboards on hairpin turns, nothing is nice in those conditions and it did much better than the jeeps or the deuces.

 

[cranetruck]

Congrats and welcome to the site, looking forward to discussing the "little things" about our machines.

Right off the bat, I can tell you that properly maintained, the steering will return to straight forward, when you release the steering wheel. I posted a bunch of info on this a couple of years back and the steering ball joints will have to be restored to normal. They were built for a 20 year life span without maintenance required, so they were sealed and permanently lubed.
The power steering may hide the fact that the joints are not moving smoothly. I'll get back to this when you are ready, but the stiff joints will stress the steering gear...

 

[srodocker]

congrats!

 

[Stalwart]

He's only driven it off-road at under 20 mph, I don't recall having to turn it back to center but then again, I drive so many different vehicles I may have forgotten.

 

[sangamon]

Right, I forgot to mention that piece of the situation. I didn't notice any problems the other day when I went for a ride on the road. Since I have a deep creek bed as one of my boundaries, I'm aware of directional control!

Here's a picture of the M656 from my webcam. The red truck behind the M656 is my Unimog firetruck.

 

[Stalwart]

That is so cool Brad, you can check on the toys by remote, me LIKE!!!!

 

[joeM62]

nice 8x8, did anybody get the one that was on GSA?

 

[mog1218]

Glad to here my posting of Stalwart's ad for the M656 on the moglist served a fellow mogger and ss member mutually. Sangmon you need to drive the 416 into the back of your new baby to keep an eye on it with your web cam . If you bring your new toy to mogfest it would be great to get a photo with a mog in the back of the M656 with the Mog holding a Haflinger holding a quad holding a childrens offroad truck toy!!!

 

[srodocker]

whens mogfest? i love mud

 

[mog1218]

3rd weekend of August. Usually not much mud that time of year. But the fire department came by and filled a portion of the obstacle course in years past and made it interesting for those that wanted to get their truck's muddy. It is a great family event and truck owners are encouraged to let others drive their trucks. It is a very rewarding experience.

 

[srodocker]

nice do you go out mudding a bunch?