Opinions please-Horsebox

IMHO it's going to roll like crazy unless the springs have been uprated.

You need to find out the unladen weight of it, there's a LOT of metal and wood in there. If there's much payload then you need to very carefully check out how thick the boarding is in the horse area, and the quality of the flooring.

I note that a 6'2 bloke can shut the ramp on his own and he says if you are smaller you may need help. To me that translates as "suitable training exercise for world's strongest man".


Then, I quote:

"The only down side to this box is the speedo has stopped working on the way to the test centre, think it needs a cable as when you drive along and feel the end of the cable there is no movment, and the temp gauge works sometimes and not other times?

This box drives without fault, starts 1st time every time but could benifit from a new battery. There are a few marks and one little dent on the front near side but it is a few years old and not a £100,000 new motor. There is one lenth of wood trim to be put back on, this is on the off side upper part of the body, only taken off to be able to replace bolts."

Added to that the cab heater doesn't work.


Probably these are not big issues but you need to go into this with your eyes open. He also says his two horses prefer a trailer. This may well be because the thing is so top heavy! Having said that, my horses always travelled well in my very top heavy and rolly Transit - it used to make me feel sick driving it but the horses were always fine.

Sorry - I sound really negative. Go and check it out, I have only ever had two lorries - an ancient Transit (older than this VW) and an even older Leyland and both have been great workhorses.
 
Steer well clear of that! His horses wont load in it, or why else has he got a trailer!
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I cant say as I blame them either!
 
PMSL at your comment about the ramp!

Thanks for your advice. I just want some opinions before I decide whether to go and look at it, as its not particularly nearby.

So you had a transit and found it ok-I keep hearing different things about transits. I'm so confused.
 
With a limited budget I'm afraid you will come across aot of these old, tired & worn out vehicles. Due to the change a few years ago with what people can drive, i.e newer license holders only being able to drive up to 3.5 ton, there are alot of sub standard vehicles now on the road.

Following the legislation less scrupulous people saw a way of selling old worn out vans for far more than they were worth. They decided to do horsebox conversions & spray them. Suddenly a VW/Transit or similar, that they couldn't previously give away they were managing to sell for
£7-10,000. When you go to see these very old vehicles take someone very knowledgeable with you or you could be buying a whole load of trouble.

This one you are looking at has loads of small things wrong with it & this will be a sign of poor/no maintenance being carried out. So it has passed an MOT, that means very little.

Be very careful!
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My Transit: was a 1979 2.0L petrol (pinto) engine with 64K (genuine) on the clock. She has a hardwood body and I have no idea what she weighs. She was my first lorry and I didn't realise one needed to be so careful!

She was very reliable - until the cambelt went. That's a point. You need to see service records if they exist, which is unlikely, and work out whether any vehicle you buy needs major work like that. Or you can do what I did and find out that the cambelt needs changing in the dark, wind and rain whilst trying to turn right across two lanes of traffic with a horse on board.

Parts for the engine came from a Ford main dealer - very easy to source, which is good. Every man and his dog can work on a Transit. The old ones are very simple.

Driving, she was great to start, not very fast up hills or into a headwind, or any wind at all unless it was coming from behind when she was surprisingly speedy. She did roll on corners, round roundabouts and on uneven surfaces like some show field entrances. It was enough, as said previously, to make me feel sick, horses were fine with it.

I'm now very fond of the extra space and stability of my ancient Leyland 7.5 tonner but I wouldn't rule out another Transit. I'd want a lighter body and uprated springs though.
 
I have had a VW LT35 and 3 transits (plus a Cargo a trailer and current Mercedes 814!)

My first transit was a yampy old conversion but the horses travelled very well in it - it didn't roll at all and was fairly low - the second transit was more of a custom built one which was awful - rocked all over the place.

The VWLT35 was lovely. It was the same age as the LT40 you are looking at but looked more like a coachbuilt lorry. Horses travelled very well in it but it was gutless and would struggle up an incline that you wouldn't thought existed - that was only with one horse in too - we'd never take two out in anything like that.

If you do go and look check out the amount of wood etc in it - that really whacks the weight up.
 
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