Advice on Renault Master 3.5 horse box

[emjaynat]

Hi there, please can someone give me any advice good or bad on the renault Master horse conversion boxes.
The one i have been looking at travels two horses rear facing and it has a payload of 1200. Its a 2.5 diesel engine. Questions i have are:=
Will it fit 2 16.2 horses in?
Has anyone got any plus or minus points about them?
Are they expensive to insure, tax and run?

Any advice good or bad would be fantastic
Thanks

 

[Farma]

Is yours a long wheel base? If it is check the head height but mine would carry 2 very large horses but you need to consider weight as 1 large horse being around 600kg would leave enough weight for you, tack etc etc, 2 large horses and you and tack would push you overweight.
Mine was £25 per month insurance inc breakdown and £115 every 6 months for tax.

 

[*hic*]

1200Kg would just carry my 16.2 and 16.3 BUT they'd have to drive it themselves and have no driver, passenger, tack or haynets on board.

 

[PaddyMonty]

You dont say what year it is so I will assume its post 2000.
Mechanically they are pretty good. Only really two weak areas - 1) the gear box, some need replacing after 100,000 miles or so and others go on indefinitely. 2) ball joints need replacing quite regularly but these are not expensive. Make sure cam belt is changed every 50,000 miles.

With a 1200 payload you will not be able to carry both horses and still be within the max legal weight but yes they most likely will fit in ok. Depending on your licence you may be able to uprate it to 3.9t

Running cost wise they are very good.

 

[Suziq77]

With a 1200 payload you will not be able to carry both horses and still be within the max legal weight but yes they most likely will fit in ok.

Exactly what I was going to say. I posted a thread on here a few weeks ago about taking my 3.5t which has a 1.1t payload to a weighbridge with one 15.2hh TBx horse, tack and two people in it, both of whom weigh less than 60kg each. We only had 300kg of headroom!!!

 

[Paint Me Proud]

echo what others have said. 3.5t lorries cannot normally legally carry two horses over about 14h due to weight issues.

With your two horses in, tac, water. yourself, passenger, food, hay etc etc you will almost certainly be over the legal limit and if you get stopped and checked you could be fined etc.

To carry two horses that size you will need a 5t or 7.5t

However - for one horse they are fab!! I love mine (although having to sell it and really quite upset about it )

 

[emjaynat]

Thanks all for your advice .... So really a one horse box . Thanks very helpful x

 

[Ealana]

we've got the long wheel base one and it fits my 16.3HH warmblood and my haflinger in with plenty of room for both runs really well

 

[Holly Hocks]

I've got one, but would never put both horses into it. I only travel one at a time. Plus sides - they breed their own fuel - mine seems to run on fresh air. It's cheaper to tax than my car - about £135 per year. Cheaper to insure and get recovery for than my car.
Downsides - gearbox buggered and needed new bearings, clutch went, new battery, new cam belt and new alternator - all within six months of buying it. Touch wood it's been bloody brilliant ever since - let's face it, there's not much more can go wrong with it! I do consider selling it and getting something to carry both of them, but I've never yet been in the position where I've wanted to travel both together, and after I've spent all that money on it, I'm not going to pass all the work that has been done onto someone else!

 

[georgiegirl]

So far from my experience of viewing a couple (and talking to various mechanics) they do fall victim to the metal moths. Damp/leaks causing rot also appear tobe a problem (I might have just been unlucky with what I have been to see so far though!)

I am really starting to consider doing my test and going heavier instead and go a nice compact 5.5 type - seem to get a lot more for your money. That said, I'll still be on the look out for a 3.5 if I see one but unless you have mega bucks its hard to find a decent older one unfortunately