Hi all, thanks for letting me join your forum.
I have a quick question, I’m looking at getting a new lorry it’s a Daf lf 15ton it’s 4500cc so the 180hp engine I was wondering if this a powerful enough engine to transport horses around? And is substantial enough Or could the smaller engine cause problems? It wouldn’t be doing really heavy work, on about 200k 56plate was a hovis lorry before conversion.
Thanks for any adivce wasn’t sure which section to post this in.
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Although am unable to answer your question fully but i do think it could be enough.
As far as horseboxes go i’ve always liked the Scania R730 rigid, the Scania R730 in a rigid format has to be very rare i’d say.
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It is possible that it might struggle going up banks, could you not get a Scania P280 instead ?
You’d surely notice the extra 100 horses 
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Well-Jell:
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Although am unable to answer your question fully but i do think it could be enough.As far as horseboxes go i’ve always liked the Scania R730 rigid, the Scania R730 in a rigid format has to be very rare i’d say.
That would be the dream R730 yeah would prefer a Scania but there hard to find that are in budget and don’t really want to get older one as the body works normally going on them
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Most of the lorries i have drove at work have been DAF’s, companies buy them because they are cheap.
My moto is :- Buy cheap, buy twice.
DAF’s are forever going wrong, everyday there is something new wrong with them, normally electrical and they have no power.
We often carry the exact same load, one day i was out on a run in a 2012 Scania P280 and it was pulling like a train all day long, the next day i get the same load, same run, different lorry, this time it was a 2019 DAF 340, so 7 years younger and 60BHP more and it most places i was struggling to hit 45 mph.
There is absloutely no way no earth that DAF’s have the power that their badge says it does, this i’ve also encountered more than a few times and different companies but this was the best side by side comparising.
You get what you pay for these days.
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Well-Jell:
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Most of the lorries i have drove at work have been DAF’s, companies buy them because they are cheap.My moto is :- Buy cheap, buy twice.
DAF’s are forever going wrong, everyday there is something new wrong with them, normally electrical and they have no power.
We often carry the exact same load, one day i was out on a run in a 2012 Scania P280 and it was pulling like a train all day long, the next day i get the same load, same run, different lorry, this time it was a 2019 DAF 340, so 7 years younger and 60BHP more and it most places i was struggling to hit 45 mph.
There is absloutely no way no earth that DAF’s have the power that their badge says it does, this i’ve also encountered more than a few times and different companies but this was the best side by side comparising.
You get what you pay for these days.
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I agree, driven a few 14t dafs awful no power we also have a few older scanias even the 4 over 4 manuals with 600k on clock are nicer than the small Dafs. The larger Daf CF seems better, maybe size does matter [emoji50]
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How far are you going? If not driving regular long trips, then power won’t make too much difference to trip times.
Bigger engines are always nice of course, but worth your extra money? Dunno.
Will you be using local dealer or private mechanic? If latter well worth paying them to check any truck before purchase.
Plus drive it yourself, if it doesn’t suit YOU you’ll never be happy.
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Edit to add
Make sure any new body still allows access for maintenance.
Hopefully someone else will point to deal spots on DAF 45 to check
If it is an ex Hovis lorry, it may/will have had a hard life with lots of stop starts, but not really carrying any weight. Mileage may be fairly low too for a truck of it’s age.
As for servicing, it may well have been done by Ryder, so make of that what you will.
Don’t pay a lot of “dough” for it though, and use your “loaf” when looking at it…
Ken.
A 730 horsepower Scania is a ridiculous suggestion for a private user. It is only of interest to the super rich or a professional outfit transporting top flight racehorses or international level show horses, and then only for its bling value.
If the OP who I assume is a private buyer wishing to carry two or three owned horses, gives a little more info regarding intentions then maybe contributors can help more. Scania have a fan-boy following much of it blind to any criticism, Daf have detractors galore with many keen to jump on the bandwagon but with little personal evidence to back it up other than hearsay.
All makes have their faults equally they have their strengths, it is value for money represented by the initial purchase price as new related to the ongoing cost of ownership which matters. The DAF LF chassis is a fairly cheap lightweight design intended to sell in large numbers, principally as a 7.5 tonne vehicle but extending up the 2 axle weight range, to customers whose work is not relatively demanding nor often utilising the vehicle’s maximum potential gross weight. That doesn’t mean to say that some don’t use the vehicles hard. DAF as has been mentioned make a medium weight CF range and a heavyweight premium XF chassis. Scania do not compete directly with the LF, their lightest offerings are 2 axle vehicles usually bought to run at or near their maximum weight. The Scania image really revolves around their maximum weight tractor units for sale at a significant premium price but with cab spec and engine power variations to attract the fleet purchaser.
The four cylinder engine in the LF is a proprietary unit fitted to numerous different types of vehicle at different horsepower ratings. It performs perfectly satisfactorily in city buses which is probably the most demanding role it could be asked to undertake. At its 180 bhp setting it should be perfectly adequate for private horse transport, it won’t be a flying machine but that presumably is not what is wanted. What would not be a good idea is to alter its Hovis box body style to the extent of building over the top of the cab this effectively expecting the vehcle to push a barn door through a gale.
One issue I can see possible is that a bread delivery lorry of around 15t GVW is likely to be either on the longest wheelbase chassis available or have the maxiumum permissable rear overhang and to be unsuitable for the intended use without chassis alterations.