A load of 4x4 ex army truck questions.

A load of 4x4 ex army truck questions.

Author
Discussion

s p a c e m a n

10,777 posts

148 months

Sunday 24th March 2013
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iguana

7,044 posts

260 months

Sunday 24th March 2013
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Sprinter 4x4 3.5t van, & convert to camper & tow the trailer would be my preference. Can get higher capacity than 3.5t van but train weights usually the same 6.3 or 7t on sprinters ive had.


Nickyboy

6,700 posts

234 months

Sunday 24th March 2013
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The Army trucks may well be geared for low speed and maximum pulling power, being 4x4 they will be suited for off road ability not driving at speed on roads.

Benbay001

Original Poster:

5,796 posts

157 months

Monday 25th March 2013
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Jimbo. said:
Ex-military.
Unstoppable.
Unbreakable.
Big box already fitted.

http://www.russianmilitary.co.uk/details.php?heade...
If only i was looking to invade another country scratchchinbiggrin

s p a c e m a n said:
Thats almost perfect. Bar the age. I wont be looking to buy until December this year. I get from December until April with nothing to do. Plenty of time to get my licence, buy a truck, and get it kitted out.

iguana said:
Sprinter 4x4 3.5t van, & convert to camper & tow the trailer would be my preference. Can get higher capacity than 3.5t van but train weights usually the same 6.3 or 7t on sprinters ive had.
Second hand Sprinters seem to be rusted out, the new ones seem to have a half cooked awd system that uses braking in the place of a center locking diff.
The only decent 3.5 tonners are the Defender, Mitsubishi Canter 4x4 and the Iveco Daily 4x4. The Canter has the same problems as the Defender, and the Daily is massively out of budget at £55k, just for a chassis cab.

The initial price of a Daf 45 is about £8k. Another £8k for a caravan £3k for a box trailer, and another £3k for unexpected issues. Looks like great value comparatively.

Being fairly un mechanically minded, would it be uneconomical to change the high range ratio?


Edited by Benbay001 on Monday 25th March 00:11

mat13

1,977 posts

181 months

Monday 25th March 2013
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I've got a bit of experience in this as my dad runs a tool stall going round the car and landrover shows, our current set up is a an ex Royal Mail avia 7.5 tonner box wagon to carry the stock and then we take the caravan with either a Renault master when we need to carry extra stock or a landcruiser when were expecting a wet weekend. Despite not being 4x4 the avia does very well off road as it has a locking rear diff, decent tyres and plenty of weight over the rear axle, I've even towed the Renault off a wet field with it before now. There also very cheap compared to the dafs that they are based on and have just brought out a 4x4 model I believe.

abbotsmike

1,033 posts

145 months

Tuesday 26th March 2013
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Benbay001 said:
Being fairly un mechanically minded, would it be uneconomical to change the high range ratio?
Edited by Benbay001 on Monday 25th March 00:11
On what, a defender? on the old 5 speed engines it is not uncommon to put a discovery transfer box in, giving a higher high. Not sure it's really an issue on newer ones, as the 2.2 and 2.4 have 6 speed boxes with better ratios I believe.

Incorrigible

13,668 posts

261 months

Monday 1st April 2013
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Benbay001 said:
Correct. I am fully aware that i will need an O licence.
I also aware i need category c + e on my licence as the trailer will be 3.5 ton aswell.
How costly is tax / insurance / maintaince on something like this?

For it to make a good business case it would need similar or lower running costs than a defender.
I was under the impression that 4x4s (under 3.5 ton) were exempt from o-licence requirements. Look up dual purpose vehicles on the VOSA website

If it's for hire or reward then you'll need a tacho though

So fwiw imho etc I would consider the landy

Upatdawn

2,184 posts

148 months

Monday 1st April 2013
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now if only you could find a off-road trailer to use a LR with a PTO....

Benbay001

Original Poster:

5,796 posts

157 months

Monday 1st April 2013
quotequote all
Incorrigible said:
was under the impression that 4x4s (under 3.5 ton) were exempt from o-licence requirements. Look up dual purpose vehicles on the VOSA website

If it's for hire or reward then you'll need a tacho though

So fwiw imho etc I would consider the landy
The O licence bit was for the Ex Army truck.


offroadmania

4 posts

132 months

Monday 1st April 2013
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benbay 001

Have a look at these guys.

www.strive-vehicles.com - they do a specific tow version called the S-TUG - heard it will pull 3.5 tonnes.

campaj1

514 posts

136 months

offroadmania

4 posts

132 months

Monday 1st April 2013
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Incorrigible

13,668 posts

261 months

Monday 1st April 2013
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Benbay001

Original Poster:

5,796 posts

157 months

Tuesday 2nd April 2013
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Some great suggestions! Not sure the budget will stretch to either of those custom new built ones scratchchin

Upatdawn

2,184 posts

148 months

Graham

16,368 posts

284 months

Tuesday 2nd April 2013
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the dafs came in just as I was leaving the army so I dont have have much experience with them I drove a long way in bedford/awd 4x4 mj's though very basic but very easy to drive I took my hgv test in one !!!

the old bar grip tyres were a bit scarey if it was icey but otherwise ok. a 60mph average is doable. I managed 63mph average on the way back from ft william to notts in a very overloaded one once...

In theory a daf should be better as its a later truck, but i think its a bit to civvyfied for the military and they broke lots.. they dont like being supend towed from the front either as the axles used to drop out on the early ones !!!

being more of a civvy truck would be an advantage and more comfey that an mj.

I always liked the bedford TM's the 8 ton 4x4 but they seem to go for loads on the ex military sales. more power assistance and electronics than the mj. iirs the tyres were only rates to about 50mph on the tm though... as I was told after thrashing one around bovvy then hammering back up the motorway at 60!! Oh yes and the military light switch had burned out, so all the dash lights were working but nothing on the exterior of the truck.. which I also discovered when we got back to base

lol

campaj1

514 posts

136 months

Thursday 4th April 2013
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now actually you need one of these

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mr_pCrhTkk

4.5MPG biggrin

Benbay001

Original Poster:

5,796 posts

157 months

Thursday 4th April 2013
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Graham said:
the dafs came in just as I was leaving the army so I dont have have much experience with them I drove a long way in bedford/awd 4x4 mj's though very basic but very easy to drive I took my hgv test in one !!!

the old bar grip tyres were a bit scarey if it was icey but otherwise ok. a 60mph average is doable. I managed 63mph average on the way back from ft william to notts in a very overloaded one once...

In theory a daf should be better as its a later truck, but i think its a bit to civvyfied for the military and they broke lots.. they dont like being supend towed from the front either as the axles used to drop out on the early ones !!!

being more of a civvy truck would be an advantage and more comfey that an mj.

I always liked the bedford TM's the 8 ton 4x4 but they seem to go for loads on the ex military sales. more power assistance and electronics than the mj. iirs the tyres were only rates to about 50mph on the tm though... as I was told after thrashing one around bovvy then hammering back up the motorway at 60!! Oh yes and the military light switch had burned out, so all the dash lights were working but nothing on the exterior of the truck.. which I also discovered when we got back to base

lol
When you say 60 is "doable" do you mean "doable" or "bare-able"? biggrin
From my research TMs are majorly unreliable.
Any idea what rpm either the daf or the bedford would be doing at say... 50 mph?

Cfnteabag

1,195 posts

196 months

Friday 5th April 2013
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I am an army mechanic and at my last unit we had just got rid of our fleet of data while I was there but I did quite a lot of work on them while they were in service. They will achieve 60 if empty but it is blooming noisy, they are much happier at around 50, still noisy but bare able. The seats would need changing as they are not very comfortable and are made with the cheapest possible vinyl. The cabs can have quite a rust problem, especially in the door shuts. The hi-lo lever and diff lock mechanism siezes and can be a pig to free off. They are not as good off road as the older Bedfords but will cope perfectly with what you are after. Don't even bother going for a winch equipped one as the winches were all banned from use as they twisted the chassis. Engines are bog simple have no idea what getting spares is like as we didn't have to worry about that sort of thing! Can be very very smoky which may cause problems with civvie tests?

Hope that helps

Adam

Benbay001

Original Poster:

5,796 posts

157 months

Saturday 6th April 2013
quotequote all
Cfnteabag said:
I am an army mechanic and at my last unit we had just got rid of our fleet of data while I was there but I did quite a lot of work on them while they were in service. They will achieve 60 if empty but it is blooming noisy, they are much happier at around 50, still noisy but bare able. The seats would need changing as they are not very comfortable and are made with the cheapest possible vinyl. The cabs can have quite a rust problem, especially in the door shuts. The hi-lo lever and diff lock mechanism siezes and can be a pig to free off. They are not as good off road as the older Bedfords but will cope perfectly with what you are after. Don't even bother going for a winch equipped one as the winches were all banned from use as they twisted the chassis. Engines are bog simple have no idea what getting spares is like as we didn't have to worry about that sort of thing! Can be very very smoky which may cause problems with civvie tests?

Hope that helps

Adam
It does! thank you