buying your own chassis....

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showaddy1

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After attempting to tow the two girls yesterday it has become obvious that if I want to take the two out together then I'm gonna need a lorry. Amazingly my oh suggested it !
Has anyone bought their chassis and box separate? It just seems that you can get more for your money. My two mares have a combined weight of approx 1200 - 1300kg. Thanks for any advice you may have.
 
On the assumption you are going for a 7.5 ton - Buying a second hand chassis/cab is fraught with problems and you would be far better off to get the lorry builder to do it for you as they will know exactly what they need.
Your best bet is to decide what you need in your lorry and what the maximun length you want ( i.e. rear of cab to rear of container). Make quite sure that whatever you have built that it will allow the cab to fully tilt as this will save you a fortune in mechanical repair labour costs and also make it far easier to carry out roadside repairs.
 
Another one who thinks unless you are a lorry expert then leave it to the pros. It may look cheaper but may well cost you a lot more in the long run trying to source your own.
 
Hmm ok... Fair enough. I think I may opt for renting one for a little bit, see if how I get on! Its alot of money to part with and id like to get it right.
 
Why not rent a few different things and see what you fancy. How about a bigger trailer? I had an Equi-trek 5* and loved it, something like that would easily cope with your 2.
 
Agree with above, buying a chassis is not for the faint hearted, most body builders will source a chassis for you, The usual thing is that you then buy the chassis and it is registered to you before they start the build, this protects you in the event that the builder goes bust while your truck is in their possession. The other thing you may want to consider is a box lorry conversion which can be more cost effective depending on what you want. I am sure that there will be many on here that will be happy to recomend people but I will start the ball rolling and suggest you talk to James at Empire Horseboxes as I know that they definitely source chassis's and do a good job.
 
Tbh sprig... I cant reverse the trailer for toffee, however many times my better half shows me it Just doesn't click.... Hence I was looking at the ladies boxes (have driven 7.5t before). I'm sure it was equitrek who rented out the lorries...
 
Have a look at how much a 7.5t lorry will cost you to maintain, insure etc. Much cheaper to have a few trailer towing lessons! I have been from little trailer to lorry to Equitrek and would never have anything else now. By the way the longer the trailer the easier it is to reverse as you see it changing direction earlier.
 
I bought a chassis off eBay and got a really good deal, it saved me thousands on allowing the coach builder to source it. However we have a good friend who's day job is as a truck mechanic so less risky for us as he could inspect it. We were replacing a chassis on an existing box so also had to go by measurements given to us by the coachbuilder as a match.

By buying a very good quality realtively modern box on an old cargo chassis I got the original box cheap. The cargo lasted long enough to make sure we liked the idea of having one and used it enough before investing further. The cost to swap the chassis and do the necessary adjustments and cut through was £2k. I would do it this way again rather than building from scratch on a chassis as you end up with more for your money. You just have to prioritise the box on the first purchase and get the best you can for the budget, and then do the same for the chassis.
 
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