Horsebox - Putting old body on a new Chassis

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Fanatical

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Our lorry has died a death. So we have to either buy a new lorry or put the body onto a new chassis.

Our Mechanic has found a chassis and given us a quote for doing it all but I just wondered if anybody has any experience of this - good or bad...and rough cost?

Thanks in advance.
 
By the time you've paid for the chassis, labour and a respray will the new vehicle be worth more than yo've paid out. You need to do your sums really. This is the trouble sometimes when people build on an old chassis.
 
The trouble is it's a bit out of my hands, as despite the fact that I am an adult and drive the lorry myself, the lorry is my dads department. We have been given what I feel is a decent price as it would cost a lot more to buy a decent new lorry. I just don't know what the going rate is for this sort of thing.
 
Recently changed body from old Bedford tk to a much newer Leyland Daf. Conversion cost about £1200, without paint.
However our lorry is not a coachbuilt one but a stick box with a crawl way through to the cab.
New chassis is fab and a great drive.
Best thing we ever did. Horses like it too!!
 
I did this with my old lorry - was a Bedford TK and had it dropped onto a Daf chassis. Very good value for money. Cost £1500 top whack from what I can remember. Would defo do it again. Easy way to get a reliable lorry, if the container is solid and well made. Good luck!
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Have done it before, and about to do it again. By that I mean my dad is, as he's a mechanic! What I do know though is that, if possible get a new chassis that has the same height cab as your old one, if possible, as that will definitely keep the cost down, assuming you have a luton. In fact it's the luton that makes it more complicated. Last time Dad did it, we went from a D-series ford to a Cargo 811. The D series had a low cab so we had to raise the luton a lot. This time we are moving to a Eurocargo, the height is similar but we are shortening the body! (Probably wouldn't be worth doing this if it wasn't mates rates...)

Oh - and don't listen to all the Daf lovers - get a Eurocargo
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I'd say it's worth doing as long as your box is in good enough nick, including the state of the underside. A newer lorry will be easier to drive and probably a lot kinder for the horses too, in terms of gear-changes, suspension etc.

I say do it
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Just finishing off doing it all ourselves from an old V plate Bedofrd TL to an M reg MAN that we know the history of from new and was as near as dammit free!

Total cost has been approx £1200 but we have extensively refurbed the box, new roof, floor, side panels, paint, insulated roof, white ally lined ceiling,ramp and rubber ramp mat.

Need to be ready in 3 weeks to pick our new foals up but only got partition to living wall to put up and EVA ramp mats, and rubber matting tro go
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Friend had a really good Oakland body on a Bedford that was moved onto a Daf and respayed for £3k (including cost of chassis), the living was then updated for £500. They had been offered £1000 for the lorry without a plate so if you take that into account for £4500 they got a super lorry that would have cost them nearer £10k to buy.
 
Thanks all for your experiences/ thoughts. I am however slightly concerned at our quote..! We have been quoted 7K all in for the new chassis (02 Plate Merc) and moving the body off our old lorry onto the new.

I'd imagine that most of that money is on the new chassis...but wouldn't have any idea of how much basic second hand chassis cost.
 
Fanatical - thats a pretty new chassis so will be a decent cost involved in that! Depending whether you specifically wanted that, if you are away from London so don't need to go into the LEZ, there are a LOT of cheaper lorries than an 02 merc around! But still, you'd struggle to get a horsebox on an 02 plate for £7k.....

Interesting that several above have gone from a bedford to a leyland....is that due to similar length measurements etc? We have a bedford and I don't have any issues with the box itself, size is fine, ramp etc all good, but would like a newer chassis at some point and a cut through cab....and had been browsing for leylands specifically as I have borrowed a friends a couple of times thats on a W plate and its FAB to drive.
Jane-Lou, might PM you as we aren't too far from you and would love info on where your friend got hers done!
 
I would love to do this with mine, round here I can pick up an 02 plate DAF for 2.5k, then know a couple of people who could drop the back on, mine is currently on a H reg DAF

But I don't have a luton so not too faffy.
 
See I just looked on ebay and they didn't seem that cheap! Might have to take a trip to Preston - do they come out of auction with a year's plate and some tax etc?
 
Emma_C.....I know, that's what I thought, but as I said earlier nothing to do with me, I'm just trying to check it all out as I am clueless really.

Ours is slightly more complicated as it does have a luton and it is also long wheel base so my initial impression is that 7K is pretty good all things considered.

Thanks all for the continuous replies...I didn't expect so many!

This forum is just brill - so many helpful, knowledgeable people!
 
Yeah that would be fab thanks L154xxx!
Fanatical, at the end of the day £7k is pretty good for an 02 plate horsebox! I've been browsing a lot recently (daydreaming totally as worse than broke!) and for what we want (specifically a '95 onwards 7.5t DAF or MAN with a luton to sleep in, reasonable living (ie tidy with somewhere to keep drinks cold and boil a kettle), enough payload to carry our 3 horses (only need 1.75t as they aren't very big!) and ideally a tilt cab/cut through, you can pay anywhere between £6500 and £20000!
So if we could get our horsebox which as all the above, except the cut through (has a flap for a tilt cab even tho beddy doesn't tilt) put on a fairly light chassis, even if it was £5k to do the swap and cut through and get the chassis, thats still a bargain! Plus ours has a great ramp and the living is perfectly good for what we want - oh except it needs rewiring!

Its great tho isn't it, the info you get from this forum, I would have thought it was waaayyyy more expensive than that!
 
Yeah that's what I was thinking. We'd be looking at around 20K for a new lorry if we didn't take this option which we just can't really afford and the body on the one we have is smart enough and in good nick.

Right, I'll stop worrying about it then and start getting excited. Oh and look forward to driving a lorry that doesn't nearly break my left thigh! ;-)
 
LOl mine is more exhausting on the right leg - its having the accelerator pedal pressed FLAT to the ground the whole time that does it, we live literally half a mile from the motorway so all almost all our journeys involve motorway of some description, and bluebell the bedford doesn't do hills or motorways very happily!
 
Haha...it's just the clutch in our current one is SOOOO heavy. If I am reversing it for more than 5 seconds I have to stop for a break!
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