Hello I hope you dont find my question too basic.
I’m looking to buy a 7.5 t truck to turn into a motor home. I plan on spending about 6k on the truck.
Another 1k on the solar and I also plan on LPG tank to run hot water and fridge, shower etc. I was also going to convert to run on old chip oil.
I figure all in it’s gonna be about 10 to 12k as I want a pretty slick finish and not some half baked hippie mobile.
Finally the question. Internal size of the box. I know I need the extra sized box that is 8ft wide etc but I’m wondering what length the boxes go to. I see lots of 20 ft and that’s too short. I also see lots of 24ft bodies and that would be ok. I’m sure I read an advert for a 29ft Body? Am I making that up or does the 7.5t truck commonly come with a 29ft Box?
Also whilst I’m at it. . . I will only be doing 5k miles a year so with that in mind. What makes and models would you recommend and what to avoid. I figure I’ll be in the market to get a truck that’s made about 2007 ish for the money I have. Daf iveco Merc?
Appreciate your advice. Sorry if I’ve messed this post up somehow.
lawsoflen:
Hello I hope you dont find my question too basic.
I’m looking to buy a 7.5 t truck to turn into a motor home. I plan on spending about 6k on the truck.
Another 1k on the solar and I also plan on LPG tank to run hot water and fridge, shower etc. I was also going to convert to run on old chip oil.
I figure all in it’s gonna be about 10 to 12k as I want a pretty slick finish and not some half baked hippie mobile.
Finally the question. Internal size of the box. I know I need the extra sized box that is 8ft wide etc but I’m wondering what length the boxes go to. I see lots of 20 ft and that’s too short. I also see lots of 24ft bodies and that would be ok. I’m sure I read an advert for a 29ft Body? Am I making that up or does the 7.5t truck commonly come with a 29ft Box?
Also whilst I’m at it. . . I will only be doing 5k miles a year so with that in mind. What makes and models would you recommend and what to avoid. I figure I’ll be in the market to get a truck that’s made about 2007 ish for the money I have. Daf iveco Merc?
Appreciate your advice. Sorry if I’ve messed this post up somehow.
L
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I’m no expert but I don’t think you’ll get a 29ft puddle jumper, that’s in to class 2 territory.
Ivecos are horrible, plastic, rattly heaps. The DAF and Merc are both popular, my personal choice would be a Merc Atego out of the 2.
Beware of your weights. A big body will need acres of insulation panelling. Add all the glass windows, fixtures and fittings, water etc and you’ll be overweight before you sit in it. Bearing that in mind go for a bigger engined one or you’ll be permanently struggling.
I would be guessing that the 29ft vehicles would be ex Hovis or ex Warburtons. The bread wagons can afford to go longer because they don’t ever get to weight.
I’d be looking at an ex-Warburtons one if there is a choice as they already have steps and a lockable door built in.
There is no maximum length specific to 7.5t vehicles, only the max 12m or 39ft length on any rigid vehicle.
I remember a dealer telling me once that body length will be determined by the wheelbase as the rear overhang can’t be more than a certain percentage (forgotten what) of the wheelbase.
Seems you get a small number of 27 foot or more box bodies on 7.5t trucks, usually for furniture / mattress manufacturers and the like - this link started me thinking… corsasport.co.uk/board/viewt … tid=523547
I looked into it and mobile library conversions, (which look a lot easier), also race trucks but found them either really tatty or very expensive.
Also pretty rare and as others have said, overweight or nearly so and often under powered.
In the end I decided I would be better of with an older purpose built motorhome e.g. youtube.com/watch?v=kVcsMbwKM2s
These and similar vehicles from Concorde, Carthago, Pheonix etc are also scarce and sometimes over 7.5t
I’m still looking, hope to get one later this year or early next.
Apart from body size what about emissions? Older diesels are ok on old chip oil, and some supermarkets were running with it, but how cost effective would it be to modify? Are you planning taking drums of it when you go touring? Reliability problems on newer Eu 5/6 engines running on alternative fuels? We arent talking of Landy 200TDIs. If you take it abroad what are different countries take on using different fuels? If youre only doing 5k a year is it worth it?
A 29 ft body wont be good for swinging around country lanes and campsites, sure, it may fit, and more space is nice, but do you really need that big a body? From my earlier post you probably wont be able to fill that bigger body with furniture and luxuries, it`ll be too heavy.
If you find these questions all negative, then consider, it`s better to answer them now, at the planning stage, than later.
alamcculloch:
I wonder if you should go down the bus route Get an old Plaxton Cheetah on a Merc chassis. or a Cetano. This way you have the windows already fitted.
Plus having driving position unitary with the living section, as opposed to separate cab/body. Under floor storage to keep weight low too. Maybe more expensive for a similar year, but again, may need less spend to arrive at a nicely finished non “Swampy-mobile” with a wood burner chimney sticking out the roof?
lawsoflen:
Hello I hope you dont find my question too basic.
I’m looking to buy a 7.5 t truck to turn into a motor home. I plan on spending about 6k on the truck.
Another 1k on the solar and I also plan on LPG tank to run hot water and fridge, shower etc. I was also going to convert to run on old chip oil.
I figure all in it’s gonna be about 10 to 12k as I want a pretty slick finish and not some half baked hippie mobile.
ROFLMAO. I think you’re going to be in for one hell of a shock if you want a slick finish for £3,000 to £5,000. My wife has just got a quote to respray her Renault Trafic van. £2,000 and that only gets the outside and door shuts done, none of the plastics. So you’re going to lose somewhere between 40% and 60% of your budget just painting the bit you’ve modified, let alone the cab.
Chris, thats the one i have got…its a bit juicy though…so i`m thinking of swapping it for a VW camper with a pop up roof…what do you think.
The op will have a lot of work on his hands to convert a 7.5 tonner…saw a lovely american coachbuilt for sale recently…need quite a bit of work but he has the money and get to work straight away…i suppose the problem is the licence ( do you only have a car licence ? )btw it wasnt the only one i saw there were quite a few, worth a google search and many were around the 7.5 ton too.
rear overhang can only be 60% of the wheel base, I have a 12 tonne Mercedes atego with the 4 pot 180 engine which suffers on long drag hills, the plastic air lines seem to suffer with chaffing, but every thing else seems ok a nice drive plenty of vision, heater, air con, cruise all help, mine seems heavy but it has a slide bed of 24 feet plus the spectacle out the back, and with all the crap I will probably never use weighs in at 7.5 ton empty.
Get an old Plaxton Cheetah on a Merc chassis. or a Cetano. This way you have the windows already fitted.