3.5t horsebox owners..........

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C&C

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........does your horsebox have much sway, does it rock with or without your horses on it?

I bought a LDV Convoy 400 last year and we have been refurbing it. It was already a horsebox but needed TLC. Anyway....it has now been MOT'd and is on the road legally although we havnt finished the internal refurb yet, we are 90% there and it should be complete by the end of Jan / beginning Feb time ;)

It had brand new shocks all round for the MOT but it rocks ALOT, this is only with me and the OH walking round in it!! :( I have spoken to the horsebox builder that MOT'd it and he mentioned it has only 1 leaf spring on the back compared to the Ford Transits which have 3. We have booked it in to have a modification to put 3 leaf springs on it, which we are hoping will make a considerable difference to the sway on the box.

Does anyone else have this problem with their box? My horses are both good travellers and before anyone bangs on about weight limits, i will only ever be taking one horse at a time as they are doing very different disciplines. The box will also be weighed after refurb is complete so i know EXACTLY what payload i have ;)
 
Yeah alot of the newer conversions are more stable as they are front wheel drive, they are lower to the ground as they do not have a prop shaft like the rear wheel drives have.

Most of the newer models are quite stable, i was kinda after transit type owners.....prob should have stated that in the heading!! lol
 
C&C said:
Yeah alot of the newer conversions are more stable as they are front wheel drive, they are lower to the ground as they do not have a prop shaft like the rear wheel drives have.

Most of the newer models are quite stable, i was kinda after transit type owners.....prob should have stated that in the heading!! lol
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Ah sorry - when I was looking at boxes, I was told to avoid transits - they roll a lot apparently :)
 
Hmmm......im beginning to think we've made a big mistake :( It will be such a shame if it turns out no good as the OH has worked really hard and its coming together nicely and looking really good.

I have heard mixed reviews on Transits, some say they would never have one and others say they they love it and have had no probs with it.

Because of the prop shaft it makes them high off the ground which also makes them top heavy!

I had a VWlt35 2 years ago which was still a rear wheel drive and although it moved about a bit it was nowhere near as bad as the current one we have.
 
i had a tranny, I never felt that it was rolling, but mine was stalled herringbone and as normally only travelled one i had it partitioned in such a way the horse was at the center of gravity.. ie at an angle across the box.
 
We have had the ramp removed from the back and put onto the side with intention of centre partition and horses facing forward. Considering i will only be carrying one the main weight will be on the drivers side. The ramp and loading doors will obviously add weight to the other but i doubt it will counteract it.

I have read of some peeps adding two partitions and travelling one horse backwards or forwards but in the centre of the box. Maybe this would be a good idea :confused:
 
C&C said:
I have read of some peeps adding two partitions and travelling one horse backwards or forwards but in the centre of the box. Maybe this would be a good idea :confused:
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Yes that would be a better idea, if you could do it. Even in my van I leave my partition open at one side so that the horse stands on an angle - it makes a massive difference. As said - mine doesn't roll, but when you only have one horse in at one side, you can definitely feel the weight on one side..
 
sprite1978 said:
The extra leaf springs will make a massive difference but you will feel the bumps in the road a bit more.
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Thanks, its good to hear someone else say it will make an improvement. Dont want to fork out the money for it and then it doesnt make a difference!

Appreciate it will make the ride harder, we have race/track cars and they are a NITEMARE to drive on the normal roads as the suspension is so hard ;)
 
Holly Hocks said:
Yes that would be a better idea, if you could do it. Even in my van I leave my partition open at one side so that the horse stands on an angle - it makes a massive difference. As said - mine doesn't roll, but when you only have one horse in at one side, you can definitely feel the weight on one side..
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I was thinking i could do the same with mine. The partition will be removeable with spring bolts so i could have exttra heloes drilled in the top structure and have the partition on an angle and tie him on the opposite side ?? :)
 
We have an LDV with an Ifor back and it rocks harder than a Bon Jovi concert!
However, everything that's been in it has travelled really,really well and I don't notice the rocking whilst moving,only at a standstill. Horses travel forward, because of weight limits usually just one behind the driver. I tend to travel Markie without the partition though and he stands diagonally quite happilly, his previous owners had a double trailer without the partition, so,it's what he's used to.
If he gets a bit of a stamp on when I'm fuelling up at the garage we do get some funny looks! I'm sure people think the box is going to tip over!
 
superted1989 said:
We have an LDV with an Ifor back and it rocks harder than a Bon Jovi concert!
However, everything that's been in it has travelled really,really well and I don't notice the rocking whilst moving,only at a standstill. Horses travel forward, because of weight limits usually just one behind the driver. I tend to travel Markie without the partition though and he stands diagonally quite happilly, his previous owners had a double trailer without the partition, so,it's what he's used to.
If he gets a bit of a stamp on when I'm fuelling up at the garage we do get some funny looks! I'm sure people think the box is going to tip over!
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LMAO - that last remark made me laugh. Im glad im not alone then, it must be then sungle leaf suspension on this model that makes them so 'rocky'. I remeber the first time we put Chance in it (before refurb when it had ramp on back and no partition or anything), he managed to turn around and come back out but i thought the whole box was gonna go over and my OH's face went a tad white as he was stood in the back with him!!! :D

To be fair tho Chance was not fussed or bothered and promptly went straight back in on his own to do it all over again!!!
 
For the peeps that travel without a partition do you find the horses move about more!! If i didnt have one in there it would actually save me money, and weight! I am never gonna take two anyway!

I would worry about them moving in there and making the rocking worse!?!?!?

:confused:
 
I used to have a LDV and you could get seasick walking around in the back of it!

That said it never felt like it rocked whilst on the move and everything travelled well in it.

I used to have her loaded on the drivers side and you could feel it was heavier that side (even with a ramp on the passenger side), but not so bad I felt the need to take the partition out.
 
Hmmm, its very good to hear LDV owners are having (or had) the same experiences but your horses travelled well.

Having just spoke to the OH we are going to install a fixed breastbar and the loading doors first and travel one of the boys without a partition and see what happens. Only way to tell i suppose ;-)

When you travel your horses on the diagnal, do you have them stand with their heads to the drivers side or the passengers??

I suppose the passengers so they can put head out when ramp is down???
 
We used to have a LDV for one race season about 9 yrs ago (not horses!) and that rocked.
Sold it to a mate who uprated the suspension & put in an anti-roll bar, could try to find out more, but this was a long time ago.
Anti-roll bars were often fitted to the likes of the Merc Atego's as they used to roll (ours didn't as we had one fitted prior to using it).

If you do comp cars, then you'll be familiar with damping,rebound & compression, hence the idea about changing to uprated rear leaf springs on your van.

We currently run a Movano LWB/High top & that sticks like ****-to-a-shovel to the road & doesn't roll at all even when fully loaded to the gunnels (and prob well over on occasions too) Just a shame I can't convert it to take big Fuzzy, but as we've had a quiet winter, its just as well I didn't splurge on my own transport again:o
 
The Fuzzy Furry said:
We used to have a LDV for one race season about 9 yrs ago (not horses!) and that rocked.
Sold it to a mate who uprated the suspension & put in an anti-roll bar, could try to find out more, but this was a long time ago.
Anti-roll bars were often fitted to the likes of the Merc Atego's as they used to roll (ours didn't as we had one fitted prior to using it).

If you do comp cars, then you'll be familiar with damping,rebound & compression, hence the idea about changing to uprated rear leaf springs on your van.

We currently run a Movano LWB/High top & that sticks like ****-to-a-shovel to the road & doesn't roll at all even when fully loaded to the gunnels (and prob well over on occasions too) Just a shame I can't convert it to take big Fuzzy, but as we've had a quiet winter, its just as well I didn't splurge on my own transport again:o
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That would be great if you culd find out more about your old LDV and what they did to it.

Yeah the OH has mentioned Dampers and Anti Roll Bars already, its just going about it as its a bit different to working on the cars ;)

I think we will defo try the extra leaf springs and see how that works, purely coz its booked in and the guy has the parts there already off an old Transit, just have to see if they will fit with a few mods.
 
PeterNatt said:
The issues with Transits is that the centre of gravity is very much higher hence they roll more. A Renault Master has a far lower centre of gravity and is therefore more stable.
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Yep understand that. Unfortunatley my budget at the time wouldnt allow for a FWD type as they are more expensive so am having to deal with the one i have. In hindsight with the amount of money i will have spent on this one i could have bought a Master or simialr. Hey ho, i am a woman after all and i could not wait!!! lol :D
 
OP - I have done the upgrade myself in the past, and it worked out much cheaper.
Your OH sounds quite handy, so he could do it. Find a pair of second had leaf springs. ideally from the same van, or at least ones with a similar curvature. Cut off the loop ends with a grinder and a cutting disc. Then get some leaf spring clamps and clamp the extra leaf onto the original. The clamps from a multileaf transit would fit.
 
sprite1978 said:
OP - I have done the upgrade myself in the past, and it worked out much cheaper.
Your OH sounds quite handy, so he could do it. Find a pair of second had leaf springs. ideally from the same van, or at least ones with a similar curvature. Cut off the loop ends with a grinder and a cutting disc. Then get some leaf spring clamps and clamp the extra leaf onto the original. The clamps from a multileaf transit would fit.
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Excellent. Yeah he is a handy bloke, he's a design engineer so although everything takes AGES, as it has to be just right, he does do a damn good job ;-)

He is on his way home from RC Racing so will let him know when he is back. Funnily enough there are some rear springs from an LDV for sale on ebay now and they are only 10 miles away!!! ;)
 
I think it rather depends on your transit and your horse!

A lady at my last yard had a transit a year younger than mine with an ifor type box on the back. It had additional steel beams between the chassis and the box (I'm assuming it was to lift the box high enough to fit over the cab). This made the floor of the box a good 6" higher than mine but the same overall height. She had terrible trouble with it leaning, in addition to her horse not travelling well.

Mine looks like it leans when you travel behind it (someone stopped me at the petrol station to say was I travelling a horse in it cos it looked like it was going to go over) but you can't feel it when you drive it. Obviously you have to drive it steady because it's forward facing and all the weight is on one side but I would drive exactly the same regardless of what I was driving - my pride and joy is in the back! It has a drivers-side side ramp and a rear ramp. Hoss (who's a 17.1hh light m/w type) travels very well in it. He's previously not travelled very well in a 7.5t, herringbone.

It does rock quite a bit when stationary - not helped by Hoss weaving whenever it stops!! :D
 
Herpesas said:
I think it rather depends on your transit and your horse!

A lady at my last yard had a transit a year younger than mine with an ifor type box on the back. It had additional steel beams between the chassis and the box (I'm assuming it was to lift the box high enough to fit over the cab). This made the floor of the box a good 6" higher than mine but the same overall height. She had terrible trouble with it leaning, in addition to her horse not travelling well.

Mine looks like it leans when you travel behind it (someone stopped me at the petrol station to say was I travelling a horse in it cos it looked like it was going to go over) but you can't feel it when you drive it. Obviously you have to drive it steady because it's forward facing and all the weight is on one side but I would drive exactly the same regardless of what I was driving - my pride and joy is in the back! It has a drivers-side side ramp and a rear ramp. Hoss (who's a 17.1hh light m/w type) travels very well in it. He's previously not travelled very well in a 7.5t, herringbone.

It does rock quite a bit when stationary - not helped by Hoss weaving whenever it stops!! :D
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The beams between your friends box and chassis were there to be able to remove the box and put it on a newer chassis, mine has the same so if i ever wnated to upgrade to a newer chassis and cab it makes it easy to lift the box off. It could also have been to lift it to avoid the cab like you said tho ;-)

I had a previous box (a VWlt35) which didnt have these and it was welded straight to the chassis, this would have made it awkward to remove the box. It also leaned to the side when travelling with a horse, like you i never felt it when driving but it did get a bit hairy going round left hand bends on a downward hill!!!! :-/

Is yours an ifor williams type? Mine isnt, the box has been built onto the back.
 
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Mine's a steel frame, ali sheet roof and wood slatted sides.

The worst it leaned was downhill, left bend with an adverse camber! Hoss reacts quickly and is well balanced though which helps. I did struggle more with a friend's heavyweight cob who was unbalanced and, being heavier than Hoss, it was more noticeable when he leaned on the sides. Luckily I was only travelling 10 mins down the road on that occasion.

Hoss has travelled for 4 and 1/2 hours in it with no bother at all.

I'm selling mine this year as I now have two to travel and need more payload, otherwise we'd keep her.
 
I've got a Renault Master conversion, the long wheel base and it's as solid as a rock. Doesn't rock at all and bags of spare oomph engine-wise. Takes 2 x 16hh although only ever had 2 x 14.3 ish. Horses travel backwards.
 
I've got a Transit but wan't sure about buying after reading the mixed reviews however I LOVE IT. We went out every weekend in it. Mine does rock even when I stand in it but not too bad and when I go of any speed over 40 it feels like it swaying.
I don't go too far in it, max 25-30 miles away and have been on the motorway a couple of times with no problems.
 
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