Sergeant Schultz

The ex-Army Mercedes-Benz 2228/41 has become Lee McLean’s versatile low loader unit.

SergeantBy Colin Smith Schultz

IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE STRIPPED AND SACRIFICED AS A

parts donor for another restoration project.

But Tauranga’s Lee McLean decided the ex-NZ Army 1984 Mercedes-Benz 2228/41 he bought in a trademe auction was too good to pull apart. He decided to put it to work instead.

A builder by trade but with trucking very much in the family tree, Lee had long wanted to own a Mercedes similar to the trucks his father Ron and great uncle Max had driven when he was younger.

Now Lee, his French bulldog Pierre and the 6x4 Mercedes christened Sergeant Schultz are on the road doing a variety work, mainly moving small to medium sized machinery around the Bay of Plenty and sometimes further afield.

“I found one in Auckland, the same model, that I was trying to buy. I talked the guy into selling it to me, but he needed it for another six months,” says Lee.

“Then I found this one that I was going to use as a donor truck. There were about 10 in an auction earlier this year, and I bought this one specifically for that sun visor, because I was trying to do the restoration as close as possible to my dad’s truck.

“So, it’s a bit of joke that this is a $7500 sun visor.

“I bought it in a dollar auction on trademe. Then I flew to Christchurch and met Nigel Hope, an awesome guy who towed it from the [Burnham] army base to his workshop.

“It had been parked for six years at Burnham doing nothing. I bought two batteries on the way to Nigel’s yard, and it fired up right away. Nigel and I worked on it the whole day to get the fuel system

clean but here wasn’t that much else to do.

“Kim Harris, who’s a Mercedes-Benz guy down there with Cableprice came and did a once over for me. Then I flew home.

“One of my good mates Dave and I flew down again a bit later and we drove it back on a dealer plate to Tauranga. It didn’t miss a beat.”

Lee soon realised the 2228/41 offered the chance to not only own the restored classic he wanted, but also to start a trucking business.

“I was planning to swap the bits I needed onto the other one. But this is way too good of a truck and I couldn’t bring myself to pull it apart.

“It’s only just ticked over 300,000 kays and it’s 37 years old. We kind of fell in love with it and it’s morphed into being a working truck. It’s such low kays and it will do over a million no worries.”

The 6x4 Mercedes-Benz 2228/41s were part of the NZ Defence Force fleet for roughly 30 years - from the mid-80s till retirement in 2016. Along with smaller Mercedes-Benz Unimogs, they had replaced the army’s RL Bedfords.

The 2228/41 is NATO specification powered by the 14.6-litre Mercedes-Benz OM422 V8 diesel. There’s no turbocharger and the engine develops 280hp paired with a 16-speed manual gearbox.

The Mercedes Benz 2228/41 series was introduced to the NZ Army fleet from 1982. In total 68 were introduced through the 1980s with more than half being the soft-skinned cargo variant. Tanker (for both potable and construction water delivery), dump and tractor versions were also part of the fleet while a number were converted to the swing thru container system.

A smaller fleet of MB2228/41s is still in operation at NZ Army and RNZAF camps and bases around the country. Lee’s constant companion in the Mercedes is Pierre, his French Bulldog.

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Routine army maintenance is reason the truck remains in such good order.

“I’ve only had a few issues with some crap the fuel tank, which is what you’d expect for a truck that had sat for quite a while. But that’s all resolved now.

“I took it for a COF to see what was wrong with it. The original deck had the load certificate missing so it failed on that and on one headlight.

“The fact it went through the testing station with pretty much a clean sheet is a credit to how well Mercedes made this model. When the army have so many of them, there’s a good reason behind that.

“The army look after them really well. They are serviced every six months regardless of what they do. The engine oil was clean. The gearbox oil was clean, and all the diff oils were like brand new when Kim checked it all.”

Lee’s restoration goal was to keep the truck close to original but with the key features of the family trucks he’d loved as a kid.

“The sun visor wasn’t on many models. Apparently, they used to crack, and they were superseded with a more rounded one. I like the look of this one and it’s cool to have the same look.

“This one was like new and if it ever cracked, we could repair it if we had to. I’ve also put some spotlights on that were the same as dad’s ones.”

The first trip to the testing station and the missing certification for the deck led to the biggest change to the Mercedes before going to work.

“A friend of mine, Derek Haywood owns Koromiko Engineering, and I took it in there. He said `you’ve got to get rid of that deck. I’ll build you a proper one, a low loader.’

“There wasn’t really much wrong with the old deck except for the missing paperwork. But it was about 300mm higher than this one, so it wasn’t as good as a low loader.”

“Another person who has been a big help with parts and advice is “Mr Mercedes” Stuart Howard.

Next came the tidy up.

“Another friend of mine Sammy works at Linkup Paints in Tauranga. She came out and we rubbed the cab down and sprayed it to match the army colours.

“That’s it really. There was a little bit of rust in the cab that was really nothing. It was all prepped and painted in a weekend.

“I got the Alcoa alloy wheels from Cavanagh Truck Spares off a wrecked Actros and I put bigger front tyres on it for safety. I’ve replaced the tie rod ends and I’ve done an alternator.

“That’s it so far but it’s still a work in progress. Just like any hot rod there’s a few things to touch up.”

Another of Lee’s friends, Stephen, who works at Rutherford Signs helped with the stencil style McLean Trucking logo and the Sergeant Schultz graphic.

“I’ve had a few people suggest I should paint it the same colours as my dad’s old trucks but it’s kind of my own identity. It was easy to paint it the army colours because it was half done, and it stands out.”

“The truck is one year older than the first truck my dad bought so it’s kind of cool. “

Part of the restoration process was keeping the truck a secret from his father.

“It was a surprise to my dad. We kept it all a secret,” says Lee.

“Another funny thing is how we named this one Sergeant Schultz [after the Hogan’s Heroes character].

“When I was a kid, I named all of dad’s trucks and when he saw this one, he said, ‘you’re going to have to call it Sergeant Schultz’. It was a sort of a role reversal.”

On the day NZ Truck & Driver caught up with Lee he had a busy schedule of local jobs. The machine pictured on the truck and a follow up delivery of a digger were destined to do some work on a motocross training track for former world champ Ben Townley.

“I’ve got a roller to move and then another job at Omokoroa. Last week I did about 1500km. I did Wellington, Masterton, Auckland and then home. I had a tractor to Whanganui, a forklift to Wellington and then back-loaded a new Ford Ranger from Masterton up to Auckland and then some skip bins from Auckland back to Cambridge.

“It’s all go. I want to get out of the everyday building stuff and would love to be driving the truck full time.

“It’s really versatile. It can take all sorts of machines, cars, trucks or timber. I’ve got some house frames to take to Auckland and I’ve been carting some bagged fertiliser for Kiwi Fertiliser, my dad’s company.

“I can go to 11.5 tonnes on the back and the deck height is about

Top: Basic military cab has no radio or air conditioning but Lee doesn’t miss them. Above: Alcoa alloys are from a wrecked Mercedes-Benz Actros. Below: The Mercedes delivering a load of bagged fertiliser.

A new low loader deck built by Koromiko Engineering sits 300mm lower than the original Army deck.

1180mm. You can only go to 4.3 metres overall height, so the new deck makes a big difference.”

The look of the truck is important to Lee.

“I’m not into shining everything up. I water blasted it today and I’ve got the aluminium wheels but that’s as shiny as they’ll ever be. It’s a working truck and I’ll keep it immaculate but it’s never going to be polished up or anything. We did matt paint because it’s easy to clean.

“The Alcoa’s are only really on it to help the tare weight. There’s a quarter of a tonne saved going to aluminium instead of steel and it sets the truck off nicely.”

Lee reckons there a niche in the transport market that suits the attributes of the Mercedes.

“With the Mercedes you’ve got so much manoeuvrability and traction and it can take a good-sized machine. It’s got full cross locks and they are renowned for getting in and out of the slippery places.

“And there’s a good market with moving machinery around. There’s something going on in every town. A lot of people buy a machine, but they’ll always need someone to shift it because buying a transporter isn’t cheap.”

Lee also says he is enjoying the back-to-basics, military-spec driving experience.

“There’s no radio and there’s no aircon. You’ve got the windows down and it’s just you and the truck. It’s just really cool - I don’t think you need the new gear to be happy.

“It’s got a big old motor with 280 horsepower, and it gets along good. It’s pretty tapped out at 90 kays, but it goes up the hills the same as any loaded truck.

“I don’t have a draw beam and it always going to be truck only. It’s quite fuel efficient and I’m happy with the economy.”

The truck brings back a lot of childhood memories.

“I like it because my great uncle Max drove the Mercedes for my dad that was my favourite. Their one did over a million kays. It’s cool to drive this thinking about how they did it.

“I felt like I got in and already knew a lot about it because I had been around them forever. There lots of memories and you recognise the sounds they make and the rattles.”

Lee sees himself doing more driving and less building.

“It has sorted of morphed into a business. I’m builder and I do renovations and container conversions. But I’ve been mad on trucks my whole life, so it was always going to go that way.

“It’s a good first business model because it’s not overcapitalised. The deck is worth way more than the truck on paper, but the truck has good value with a COF.

Another classic Mercedes is a possibility for McLean Trucking.

“There is supposed to be another auction coming up. I’d like another one, but I have to get that past the girlfriend,” Lee says.

“That’s why it’s number two. She asked me `why is it number two? I said because the next one will be number four.’

“I’d like a tractor unit so I could tow a low loader trailer and also a tipping semi. My goal is to cart some bigger machinery.”

After the first truck has dodged the dismantling process and found a second life, who knows where Lee’s goals will lead.

“When I got it, I never intended to do this with it,” says Lee.

“It was always to do up and restore. But now it’s the best of both worlds. I’ve got my hot rod project that I love driving and I can also earn money with it.” T&D