Saying good bye to my BJ73

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nikalex

nikalex

Joined
Oct 27, 2006
Threads
5
Messages
31
Location
Sunny Tsawwassen
Sad to say that I bid my BJ73 good bye.
She is now cruising in Bellingham Washington (on BC plates)
I have replaced her with my first love (sorry to all the loyal Landcruiser fans)

It's basically the same vehicle but the German / Austrian version.

I now have a 1985 250GD Cabrio. This is a G-Wagen with removable hard top and hydraulic lockers front and rear. Their awesome!
It's a 5 speed manual turbo diesel and it meets all my requirements.
Dare I say that it might be even better than my Landcruiser was....

Thanks to everyone on this forum for help and advice.
Cheers,
Roman

email: stoibers@dccnet.com
 
Oh well..... but that Mercedes sounds good.

Please post up where you bought it. I would love a G wagon too. My Mercedes car is everything my cruiser is...rock solid and dependable. But sadly rotting away.
 
The g-wagons are sweet.
I doubt anyone here will mock you for one.
I certainly won't. I would love to own one at some point.

Post some pics of it.
I would love to see.

Cheers,
N.
 
Congrats, Roman! I'm looking forward to seeing your new ride.

Gord
 
SORRY to see you go, the G wagons are great our military went broke getting them hehehe! have fun would like to see some pics?
aaron
 
nickw said:
The g-wagons are sweet.
I doubt anyone here will mock you for one.
I certainly won't. I would love to own one at some point.
Click to expand...

Life is good with a G until you have to source parts for it... and find out where all the weak areas are. :eek::eek:

If you want, I would be pleased to mock you endlessly - I have done a considerable amount of work on a GD300 that was the same vintage as my HJ61. There are lots of engineering differences between the two - although I like the boxy shape of the G, i would not own one unless I was paid to.

I'm sorry to read about the loss of your BJ73. I even sorrier that you bought a G.
 
G wagen pictures coming soon

I have to say I am happy with the engine in my G Wagen. I an quite used to the 5 cylinder turbo as this was in my old 124 series station wagon that I cracked up a couple of years ago in the Tunnel.

As to the off road capabilities of the G Wagen...it has front and rear hydraulically actuated locking diffs which are unbelievable off road. A little scary to get used to with the dramatic inclination to keep going staight when engaged.

I like the combination of solid axles front and rear with coil spring suspension. Ironically the Prados that I've owned had that set up as well.

The shifting is quite sloppy with my G Wagen compared to my Landcruiser's H55F tranny though. Every Euro 5 speed that I've driven has been sloppy in shifting. The G Wagen is no exception.

I do like that the roof comes off leaving a nice tailgate where my Landcruiser had barn doors.

My Landcruiser had suspension seats which wereawesome. The G Wagen has a Recarro interior and seats but they are typical German firm, firm, firm.

Overall the Landcruiser was in a bit better shape but I really wanted this 250GD and with a bit of work it will also be an awesome rig.
Cheers,
Roman
Pictures to come as soon as I reinstall Photoshop.
 
I like the MB engines, but the non-turbo units are not very lively. In general, I think MB engines are under-powered for their displacement.

The front wheel bearing/hub design of the G is a definite weak point. The bearings, IMHO, are way too small for the application and are prone to wearing out prematurely as a result. I have a strong dislike for the use of wheel bolts in German vehicles when compared with studs and lug nuts (which make mounting wheels easier).

The tranny is quite well geared, and the 300 that I was working on had a very nice crawl ratio but was very slow on the highway (more due to a lack of power).

The suspension that us used in the G is similar to many, many models on the road today - notably Land Rover, Land Cruiser/Toyota, Mitsubishi and others. The Ford radius arm suspension is the same concept with a different method of mounting to the axle. It's a fairly good design with relatively few problems until the angles get extreme with big lifts etc... The rear ends are prone to a little "jacking" when under load, which is not such a bad thing.

As is common with many other MB models, the G has certain corrosion issues with the coach work. The frame is quite respectable in its design.

The locker actuation mechanism is quite nice, the pull effort is a little less than with cables. The brakes are not very substantial - unless they upgraded them in later models. I also think that list price for a wheel cylinder at some $145 is a little excessive (along with other parts). Many of the seals and bearings can be obtained at local bearing suppliers for substantial savings.

~John
 
prado t said:
SORRY to see you go, the G wagons are great our military went broke getting them hehehe! have fun would like to see some pics?
aaron
Click to expand...

No, they went broke buying the other junk they drive (ie those crappy Italian things)... then they bought vehicles that can be armoured decently - the G wagens.
 
nikalex said:
Sad to say that I bid my BJ73 good bye.
She is now cruising in Bellingham Washington (on BC plates)
I have replaced her with my first love (sorry to all the loyal Landcruiser fans)

It's basically the same vehicle but the German / Austrian version.

I now have a 1985 250GD Cabrio. This is a G-Wagen with removable hard top and hydraulic lockers front and rear. Their awesome!
It's a 5 speed manual turbo diesel and it meets all my requirements.
Dare I say that it might be even better than my Landcruiser was....

Thanks to everyone on this forum for help and advice.
Cheers,
Roman

email: stoibers@dccnet.com
Click to expand...

Good luck with the Benz, anything with lockers front and rear has gotta be good off road, so much grip and control. We don't have G-Wagons here, but have read a bit about them. Seem to have a good reputation for off road ability,
 
G Wagen vs. BJ73

The 250GD turbo diesel (OM602) is adequate when it comes to power - it's not great but it is happy to do 110 km/hr on the freeway. I think my replacement engine came out of a early 1992 W201 M-B. I must be getting old because I don't want to go any faster than that anyways.

The German 31" x 10.50 Fulda all terrains are OK. This translates to P255-75R15 P-metric size which isn't huge but must be cose to stock. What is the stock tire size? Does anyone know?

The one major thing that I don't miss about my BJ73 is the reduced leg room of a RHD. For some reason the JDM vehicles are very lacking in leg room for an average North American sized person.

My G Wagen is designed for 5 people of 'larger stature' with room to spare. Germans must be bigger than the average Japanese national! My background is German as well. I'm 6'1" and 185 and have no problem with space in the G Wagen but the BJ73 was getting a bit uncomfortable on long hauls.

The G Wagen is LHD and the BJ73 was obviously RHD. I frankly am completely comfortable driving RHD or LHD. I don't care either way.

As for the Birfield design of the front end, I am surprised that the G Wagen has this - I thought it was only a Toyota thing.
My first real 4x4 was a 1972 FJ40 which I loved soon followed by Ellie-Mae which was a 1953 Willy's CJ3-A. The Willy's was wicked off road with 5.38 gearing and a split shift transmission and really skinny tires. I tend to gravitate to this type of rig.

The G Wagen has 4.90s and fr an rr lockers. Can't wait to really try her out.

Photos coming soon.

Cheers,
Roman
 
The birfield/CV joint front ends exist in many different 4wd designs. It's used primarily because of the smoothness of the torque delivery and, in general, it's very rugged and long lasting.

Some others with birfields:
Land Rover, Suzuki, Toyota, Mercedes Benz - and I am sure there are others out there.

The leg room issue is one that can be addressed by moving the seats back a bit (reworkng the mounts as needed). The G does have much more leg room in the front than a BJ7x.
 
Pictures of the 250GD

A shot of the G Wagen.
It needs a bit of work but is a great runner with decent fuel economy.
I am looking for a complete soft top kit in black vinyl with hardware if anyone has any leads...
Cheers,
Roman
Fr Lt 640x480.webp
 
G Wagen history

Yup - you're right. This is the G Wagen that has been on Craigslist Vancouver off and on a while ago.

It was imported from Germany about 9 months ago by a friend of mine.

It was sold once with a small deposit put down and the guy never showed up again.
So I bought it.

It came with some great G Wagen spare parts as well.
complete transfer case
complete 4 speed tranny
complete 5 speed tranny including all shift and pedal linkages
some new brake parts
complete new clutch kit
lots of misc. tail lights and signal lights and more...

This rig started it's life out as a 280GE and was converted to a diesel in Germany and is now badged as a 250GD.

Only real rust area is the tailgate which I plan to replace.
Frame is perfect - still original black painted surface.


Cheers,
Roman
 
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