3.5t lorry with two horses?

S

Sally-FF

Well-Known Member
Joined
1 October 2010
Messages
356
Visit site
Hi everyone

Last year we sold our 7.5t lorry and bought a 3.5t, we normally only go with one horse but have now bought another who we will want to take out together.

One is a big 16.2 tb x wb, the new one is a 16.1 tb (fine)

Will we be overweight with them both in? The horses have as much room in their stalls as they did in our big 7.5t (they love travelling in the new one!)

It was sold as able to carry 2 x 16.2

What happens if you get stopped and are overweight??

This is the exact same as our lorry, its a chaigley weekender (except colour!) http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Fiat-Ducato-C...1?pt=UK_Commercial_Trucks&hash=item2a04f09bf5
 
Sally-FF said:
Hi everyone

Last year we sold our 7.5t lorry and bought a 3.5t, we normally only go with one horse but have now bought another who we will want to take out together.

One is a big 16.2 tb x wb, the new one is a 16.1 tb (fine)

Will we be overweight with them both in? The horses have as much room in their stalls as they did in our big 7.5t (they love travelling in the new one!)

It was sold as able to carry 2 x 16.2

What happens if you get stopped and are overweight??

This is the exact same as our lorry, its a chaigley weekender (except colour!) http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Fiat-Ducato-C...1?pt=UK_Commercial_Trucks&hash=item2a04f09bf5
Click to expand...
almost certainly will be over weight and if you are stopped and taken to a weighbridge and found over you may be asked to remove some of the load and you will be fined , if you have a accident its possible your insurance will be invalid, so best to take your box to a public weighbridge and see what it is unladen ..so you know for sure what it weighs empty...
 
you will proberly be over with two in but the only way to be sure is to get each of the horses weighed & then see if it exceeds your payload.
remembering that its not just the horses, but tack,water,hay,passengers ect...... they all contribute to the overall weight.
its a defty fine if caught plus you cannot continue your journey untill you are under weight,so leaving things there or getting back up transport to split load up (ive seen somene have to get a second horsebox cos just the horses alone were over weight)
 
oh no!! How can they be advertised as suitable for 2 x 16.2?? I have seen 3.5t wagons at shows with two horses in ...


Does anybody on here travel 2 x horses in a 3.5t?
 
our friends travel 2 in them but they are miniture horses (not ponies! she gets a right cob on when i call them ponies :) )
i have borrowed the box & travelled my sec A & freinds sec C & to be honest think we were close to max weight then.
 
Before you panic, you need to check what the unladen weight of your lorry is. There ARE some 3.5 ton lorries that have the capacity to take two horses. If you did not buy it with a weight certificate, just drive it to your local weighbridge and weigh it. I once looked at a VW LT35 which had the ability to carry 1500kg, which meant it could legally carry two horses, so long as they weren't monster sized.

What you may find, is that the lorry weighs something like 2500kg empty, which only gives you the ability to carry 1000kg which is not enough for the average 2 x 16.2's.

My concern would be - can this lorry haul me up a hill and stop me at the bottom. We have all been at shows and seen people two a trailer with two horses in it, being pulled by a Suzuki Vitara, so people do get away with it, it is just not very safe/advisable.
 
Could you ring the manufacturers and ask what the ACTUAL weight of the lorry is? Then you would know how much leeway you had for horses, tack, equipment etc.

To be honest, although these boxes CAN carry 2 big horses due to size of horse space, it doesn't mean they SHOULD. A bit of misleading advertising I think...

I hope you can get it sorted out and continue to do things with your horses :)

Me, i'm in the opposite boat... got rid of my trailer for a 7.5 ton lorry, which I love, because it seemed more sensible for travelling 2 and all their kit... Now only have one to take out and it feels a bit underused!! Should have had a 3.5 ton myself :)
 
Fill up with diesel and go empty first to the weigh bridge

This will give you its unladen weight.

Hopefully you may have 1200kgs which will only be suitable really for one horse and gear.

The sellers of these 'bread vans' as they are not suitable for horses always advertise can carry 2 x 16.2 because they are certain that no one will take them to court as its costly and lengthy.

One horsebox seller did get hauled into court a couple of years ago stating the 7.5t lorry could carry 3 large horses and basically when she put a shetland on the empty truck she was overweight and as she got stopped by VOSA and was fined heavily she went after the horsebox seller (it was in HH maybe a couple of years ago)

HH did a brilliant piece on a 4t lorry with 2 horses and discovered that they would be over weight-they weighed everything. Think it was October ish last year???
 
Your lorry's last MOT will show its weight so that will give you a quick idea, but as others say the best way to know is to load the two horses plus tack plus the people you usually take to a show and go weigh it. If you google public weighbridge there should be loads in your area.

ALthough you will see people at shows with two horses in 3.5t lorries, it almost always is both unsafe and illegal. VOSA are on the hunt for making more money so they are stopping more and more lorries for inspections. If you are found to be overweight they will prevent you from continuing and you will need to unload one horse and find alternative transport, as well as pay a hefty fine.

Sorry to be the bearer of grim news!
 
It is wrong these lorries are sold as able to carry 2 x 16.2 because in reality they can't, legally.

You need to find out what the payload is then work out what your two horses weigh together with you, another human if you take one, all tack, rugs, hay, water and anything else you need. Don't forget the fuel in the tank. If you can legally carry all this I would be amazed. I think the fine is very hefty, and so it should be, the limit is there for safety reasons.
 
I have a 3.5t Renault Master, as I nearly always just take one horse out. I've recently bought an older trailer though (as we already have a 4x4) as my youngster will be broken in this year so I want the option to take them both out. I do feel as though I'm being a tad excessive with all these vehicles though, but at least the trailer costs hardly anything just sat there and I still have my lovely lorry to use most of the time, which is much easier!

Depends how often you'll be wanting to take them both out I guess. Have you looked into getting your lorry upgraded to 3.9t or 4.2t? You'll need the suitable licence to drive it then though.
 
xena_wales said:
Depends how often you'll be wanting to take them both out I guess. Have you looked into getting your lorry upgraded to 3.9t or 4.2t? You'll need the suitable licence to drive it then though.
Click to expand...

That sounds interesting, how do i go about doing that? is it expensive?
 
Hi i have an equi trek sonic stripped out to bare components and i can just carry my two 16 hh girls and tack to a show. i checked by going to a weighbridge completely full as if i was going to a show for the weekend, other than that you could go for a super sonic, 1400kg payload.
 
Don't just rely on manufacturer, etc, unless you bought it new. New floor, renovations, etc, can all change the unladen weight. As someone recommends higher up, you def need to fill up the tank pop yourself and your favourite passenger in, maybe even load up your tack and hay and go to a weightbridge - this will tell you exactly what allowance you have left for the horses themselves.

I only travel a small pony alongside my mediumweight cobby.
 
I am going to find a weighbridge and go and get weighed, going on a crash diet as of now as i will not help!!

Just spoken to a dealer who sells them and he says that they are 1100 (is is kilos??) without horses in - is that good or not?

Sorry if i sound like an idiot, i am not good with this kind of thing!
 
'Just spoken to a dealer who sells them and he says that they are 1100 (is is kilos??) without horses in - is that good or not?'

If the vehicle weighs 1100kgs unladen then it means you have a potential payload of 1400kgs. However, and it is a big cynical however, I bet it is 1100kgs with an empty fuel tank, no-one sat in the driver seat and (apologies if this is not the case) I bet the partition has been taken out too.

If you really want to buy a 3.5t lorry to travel two horses go and test drive it via a weighbridge........so you get a realistic unladen weight.
 
Sally-FF said:
That sounds interesting, how do i go about doing that? is it expensive?
Click to expand...
Not sure of exactly how to go about it, I just know that it's possible on at least some vans. I bought my van from here:
http://www.traveltwohorseboxes.com/renaultmaster.htm
and Polly said that it would be an option for me. It says on their website: "Renault Masters can be uprated to 3.9 ton to give you an even better payload if necessary."

I think you need heavier duty springs or bumpstops or something, and ISTR something about the van must have ABS.

Forgot to mention - as well as needing the full licence, the van would also need to be plated rather than MOTd if uprated.
 
We are currently having a 3.5t lorry converted. The guy doing it is making everything as light as possible and there will be absolutely no living or luxury for us people (horses of course will be travelling as safely and comfortably as possible!!!:rolleyes:). Even with everything taken into consideration we will only be able to carry my 1 15hh 500kg cob and my friends 13hh 300kg pony if we use another vehicle to carry the water/tack and other items needed. So extreamly unlikely that your 3.5t will carry 2 horses of that size plus all their stuff.
 
You can get them uprated to 3.9t very cheaply (less than £500). I have one. Personally preferred taking two than one as with driver, horse and fuel tank all on Right hand side they are very tippy if you have a horse with high C of G. I ended up having another partition made to travel mine in the centre. However I did find an airbag solution which you put under the axle or something to stop camber tipping. It really annoys me the way the manufacturers say one sided doesn't affect ride - any lorry driver will tell you how important it is to safety to distribute load. GRRR

Oh I love the lorry though and wouldn't swap to 7.5 tonnes, just wish people had been more honest
 
If you have a license suitable for an over 3.5t lorry just go for a 6t lorry that will have ample payload for 2 horses, day living and all the stuff you might want to carry. Buying a 3.5t, which tend to be more expensive as people with a lower class driving license can drive them, and upgrading it, which will cost money, sounds like a needlessly expensive way of doing it.

I agree the manufacturer probably meant that the payload is 1100 kilos. A 16.2hh horse could easily weight 650 kilos (much more if it's a medium-heavy weight), plus 140 kilos for two people, plus 15 kilos tack, plus 15 kilos hay/water, plus the weight of the diesel...no way can you get another horse on there unfortunately.

Also keep in mind that not all lorries are suitable for upgrading, for example some manufacturers like Iveco refuse to certify upgrades because they offer the lorries in different weight categories and argue that you should have bought a heavier one in the first place.
 
scarymare said:
You can get them uprated to 3.9t very cheaply (less than £500). I have one. Personally preferred taking two than one as with driver, horse and fuel tank all on Right hand side they are very tippy if you have a horse with high C of G. I ended up having another partition made to travel mine in the centre. However I did find an airbag solution which you put under the axle or something to stop camber tipping. It really annoys me the way the manufacturers say one sided doesn't affect ride - any lorry driver will tell you how important it is to safety to distribute load. GRRR

Oh I love the lorry though and wouldn't swap to 7.5 tonnes, just wish people had been more honest
Click to expand...

I have a renault master and travel a 17.1 heavyweight. I put him on the drivers side, and find that because of the low floor, and low centre of gravity, there is very little body roll.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top