8110 - Unimog U400 General Discussion

[Pauger]

For Canadians, the Unimog costs CAD $249.99 here. According to this online Currency Converter, USD $199.99 equals CAD $190.23 and 138.78 Euros.

In norway the MSRP is 1699 NOK, which is the equivalent of 317,56 USD, 220,42 EUR or 302,19 CAD. Beat that

[frontier74]

Lego knocked $75 off the price, if I'm not mistaken that it was supposed to be $275.

Mighty good luck for us Americans!

But the downside is that we usually have to wait around a week to recieve items via Ground, which is already expensive enough. And Lego stores are spread so thinly here...

[flyz]

In norway the MSRP is 1699 NOK, which is the equivalent of 317,56 USD, 220,42 EUR or 302,19 CAD. Beat that

I can. In fact, the countries that got the worst of it is New Zealand and Switzerland.

399.99 NZD = 350.91 USD = 245.66 EUR = 335.92 CAD

269 CHF = 346.77 USD = 242.67 EUR = 332.09 CAD

Talk about a ripoff......

This is also why I'm surprised that Canada didn't get the shaft this time, unlike with every other set.

[Pauger]

Auch.

Americans have the highest average wages in the world as well as the cheapest LEGO. Damn capitalists

Edited August 1, 2011 by Pauger

[roamingstop]

Mueller Konstance (Germany) had about 10 of these on the shelf for around 170 Euro; but im not 100% sure on the price. Anyone in the area should pop down in the next few days.

[CP5670]

I was actually surprised that it was going for $199.99/$249.99, the same price as 8043. It's much more expensive in every other region.

The US pricing of the Unimog is actually more in line with other Technic sets of the past considering its size and piece count. 8043 was rather overpriced here relative to past sets (comparable to the European prices, which made it expensive by the standards here ), and this new set is definitely a better value.

The 16t clutch gear seems to have been altered slighty in that it now has a smooth end instead of having notched teeth the accept the old style half bush. Seems like a logical step.

I'm surprised it took them that long to do this. It was the only piece still left with the teeth, with the other toothed parts phased out over 10 years ago. The teeth here are actually useful for some purposes though since they allow you to stack two gears on top of each other.

[Arfman]

Well, finished the build today. Although I'm late to the party, here are my thoughts:

+very fun build

Built it almost non-stop, took me about 7 hours. When you need to build something twice, they let you build a bit differently the second time you need it. Makes the build less repetetive.

+numbered bags

When I buy a new set, I always build the A-model first. Having numbered bags allowed me to spread only the stuff I need on the table, sort it and build much quicker (less parts to search through). If you're a purist, no one stops you from ripping them all open at once and then sorting through them. Best of both worlds.

+big model

It's huge. Not as long as the 8258, but certainly a lot more impressive. The 8258 had a bit of an empty space starting after the cabin, but the Unimog seems (and is) packed with features after the cabin.

+color scheme

The orange is really vibrant and is a refreshing color to see after countless studs and panels of red and yellow.

+playability

Playing with the set is a joy. The winch works really well (much better than the 8297 Off-Roader from 2008), it can pull itself. The crane on the rear is powerful enough to lift my wallet (which is not as heavy as it was before I bought the 8110 :P) and is really working good.

-stance

The model tends to lean to the right (the side of the batterybox). Maybe that gets better over time, we'll see.

-steering

Steering the model is quite heavy and not very smooth. Nothing drives better (so far) than the good old 8421 Crane from 2005. I partly blame the yellow "crosses" (for lack of a better word) who take away all smooth feeling in steering.

The turning circle is really wide. Solved this by removing the 4 safety pins from the chassis, no one is likely to hit that limit.

-stickers

The are stickers that cover multiple parts! Shame on you, LEGO. I didn't put these stickers on the model, I really hate those stickers.

All in all, a very good and nice set. Looks awesome (IMHO) and very playable. Although having no remote control is a step down from previous flagships like the 8043 and 8275, it makes up with playability, sturdiness and general build quality. I rate it 8.5/10.

[Badger]

mines ALIVE !

[JaxPop]

Just ordered this beast from the U.S. site........... cant wait!

[Sokratesz]

-steering

Steering the model is quite heavy and not very smooth. Nothing drives better (so far) than the good old 8421 Crane from 2005. I partly blame the yellow "crosses" (for lack of a better word) who take away all smooth feeling in steering.

I have no idea why they decided to introduce these but they are terrible..and have appeared in almost every technic set of the past years >.>

[Jim]

I have no idea why they decided to introduce these but they are terrible..and have appeared in almost every technic set of the past years >.>

You mean the Yellow Technic Knob Wheel?

http://www.bricklink...tem.asp?P=32072

I suppose it has something to do with applied force. They seem to appear in place where more force is likely to be applied. Steering the Unimog for example takes a lot of force. Maybe when using a normal gear, there's a chance to break it.

Read this somewhere:

Knob wheels provide more surface contact than a regular gear, hence more torque (theoretically).

Edited August 2, 2011 by Gekke Ted

[allanp]

I have no idea why they decided to introduce these but they are terrible..and have appeared in almost every technic set of the past years >.>

I agree, I don't really like those things would prefere gears, at least in this case a 12t bevel driving a 20t double bevel would give the steering a bit of gearing down. I guess they are used because they are very difficult to make slip. But if regular gears would slip then the construction is too weak.

Edited August 2, 2011 by allanp

[Arfman]

Well, glad to see I'm not the only one who would really like to see those yellow knobs go away. Maybe, with a bit of modding, we can make the steering geared?

[Blakbird]

I suppose it has something to do with applied force. They seem to appear in place where more force is likely to be applied. Steering the Unimog for example takes a lot of force. Maybe when using a normal gear, there's a chance to break it.

The knob wheels have a few advantages over some of the other gears:

• Higher torque capability due to larger tooth size.
• Ability to function as a spur gear or a bevel gear.
• Because there are only 4 "teeth" at 90 degrees which match the cross axle, it can be used to easily make things align. For example, in the adjustable suspension on 8297 they are used to align the front and rear suspension on each side. If you used a "regular" gear, you would have to very carefully count teeth when you assembled it to make sure everything aligned.
• They can be easily disengaged and reengaged. For example, in a truck with a tilting cab you can use these for the Hand of God steering. It will easily reengage its mating gear when you lower the cab without ever jamming.

[Jim]

The knob wheels have a few advantages over some of the other gears:

• Higher torque capability due to larger tooth size.
• Ability to function as a spur gear or a bevel gear.
• Because there are only 4 "teeth" at 90 degrees which match the cross axle, it can be used to easily make things align. For example, in the adjustable suspension on 8297 they are used to align the front and rear suspension on each side. If you used a "regular" gear, you would have to very carefully count teeth when you assembled it to make sure everything aligned.
• They can be easily disengaged and reengaged. For example, in a truck with a tilting cab you can use these for the Hand of God steering. It will easily reengage its mating gear when you lower the cab without ever jamming.

That's a very clear explanation! Never thought about the alignment advantages, but indeed for the 8297 it's much easier to use these knob wheels.

Thanks

[tripletschiee]

Maybe, with a bit of modding, we can make the steering geared?

I did this already. See here my pictures. But the combination ist not strong enough. Turning the steering wheel when the Unimog is not moved and has the snowplug attached it might cause the gears to "jump" over the teeth.

Regards,

Gerhard

[jacobkristensen]

Hi everybody

I have been silence the laste few, days because I have been awaiting my Unimog. And this monday on my mom's birthday the mail delivered it:sweet:

Right now I am

[Taiphun]

I wonder if any of the Lego stores have this yet... might be a bad time to be visiting a US Lego store.

$199 to get it from the US, or pay $250+taxes here (Canada)?

Tough decision..

[Anio]

Higher torque capability due to larger tooth size.

Yes, that's the main resaon why they are used.

They can be easily disengaged and reengaged. For example, in a truck with a tilting cab you can use these for the Hand of God steering. It will easily reengage its mating gear when you lower the cab without ever jamming.

Strange. With only 4 teeth, it is IMO "harder" (well, no that hard actually...) to reengage knob wheels.

[legolijntje]

Yes, that's the main resaon why they are used.

Strange. With only 4 teeth, it is IMO "harder" (well, no that hard actually...) to reengage knob wheels.

But the tooths are round, so they slide easier in each other.

Edited August 3, 2011 by legolijntje

[Anio]

But the tooths are round, so they slid easier in each other.

But other gears are pointed. They do not need to slid when reengaged (at 90°).

[K9DOG]

Ok, guys..

I’ve been playing around with a set of the new Technic pieces included in the new Unimog and I found a problem on the “original” 8110 design if we would like to change the double 16t for 1:1 gearing to a 8t + 24t for 3:1 gearing normally used by TrTr builders.

As you can see on the pictures, the current design does not allow the usage of the 8t + 24t gearing combination as it does not fit. Bear in mind the 16t gearing is quite a tight fit already.

I try to use larger axels in other to solve the problem, but replacing the axels with larger ones, still resulted in a locked gear…

Did anyone try this mod on their 8110? I’m still have to wait for getting mine.

Hey you go…… a GOOD challenge for everybody to come up with a solution 

Regards,

Edited August 14, 2011 by K9DOG

[Jim]

Ok, guys..

I’ve been playing around with a set of the new Technic pieces included in the new Unimog and I found a problem on the “original” 8110 design if we would like to change the double 16t for 1:1 gearing to a 8t + 24t for 3:1 gearing normally used by TrTr builders.

As you can see on the pictures, the current design does not allow the usage of the 8t + 24t gearing combination as it does not fit. Bear in mind the 16t gearing is quite a tight fit already.

I try to use larger axels in other to solve the problem, but replacing the axels with larger ones, still resulted in a locked gear…

Did anyone try this mod on their 8110? I’m still have to wait for getting mine.

Hey you go…… a GOOD challenge for everybody to come up with a solution 

Regards,

I haven't looked at it very closely, but isn't it an option to not use the "Liftarm 3 x 3 L-Shape Thin" at all? Or would you lose a lot of rigidity?

[Erik Leppen]

What would hinder replacing the 3 x 3 L-shaped liftarm by a 3 x 0.5 straight one placed vertically? I mean, the gear holder part is closed at the bottom to this reinforcement seems kind of useless to me.

Higher torque capability due to larger tooth size.

Is this the same as "does not slip as easily"? Because I think the main reason for using knob gears is that they don't slip. For normal gears there would be enough play for them to slip because of the tilting cabin.

But the tooths are round, so they slide easier in each other.

Well, the teeth of the double bevel 12 and 20 tooth gears are somewhat rounded too. But indeed there is a big difference compared to the straight (spur) 8, 16, 24 and 40 tooth gears :) People owning 8865 (Test car) have probably experienced this Whatever the reason, I wouldn't want Lego to discontinue these parts as they have multiple good uses as Blakbird points out. E.g. in 8421 and 8053 they are used to align the left and right sets of outriggers.

Ability to function as a spur gear or a bevel gear.

To be honest I have never seen this actually used (at least not in an official set), and in my experience this is a very bad spur gear, because they frequently get stuck in one another. Edited August 3, 2011 by Erik Leppen

[imajor]

Did anyone notice that the second book of the building instruction is not available at the official site? Maybe they are changing something in it?