I’m looking to get a bit of advice from anyone with a bit more knowledge than me…
I run a small construction company in Scotland with a couple of Hookloader trucks in my fleet and I’m looking to add a third to this. I’ve been looking at ex service trucks (due to the low mileage and good upkeep on them) which are readily available online but I am unsure as to the ins and outs of buying ex service trucks to then use on UK roads. The main potential pitfalls that I can think of would be:
Registering the vehicle for use on UK roads - probably a bit of a pain but very possible I would think?
MOT for the vehicle - not sure how difficult this would be?
Insurance for a left hand drive vehicle - don’t think this would be much of an issue as there are plenty of left hand drives out there in the UK
Installing a tacho to the vehicle - I would of thought this would be very possible?
I spoke to someone and they pointed a potential problem with the width and the fact that the army vehicles are often setup with only single tyre instead of doubles and are therefore wider and this may be a problem for using on UK roads?
See a couple links below for instance to ex army vehicles that I am looking at. Does anyone have any experience of actually doing what I am looking to do? Or have any advice for me on this? Any help would be very much appreciated.
Perhaps you want to have a chat with some like David Crouch of Crouch Military Sales (www.crouchmilitarysales.co.uk) 07711 750321,All military vehicles come with paperwork to enable registration etc. David is in the process of converting a Oshkosh tank transporter tractor into a rigid recovery vehicle so would be able to give you some idea about any pitfalls you may come across. Jagermeister the drinks people have had a Foden 8x6 before now.
My view is keep it standard hook loaders,Daf 85 or Scania ideally with HYVA equipment. The two options you have shown the Scania would be the best option out of the two but would the l/h drive cause you problems at weighbridge windows? parts supply as it looks like a late series 2 chassis and I have not seen any ampliroll equipment around for years as for the Leyland drops chassis its over kill and when you had any punctures can you afford those tyres and would your tyre company have them in stock? also fuel consumption would not be very good as it is an 8 x 6 drive!
Army UK is one of L Jackson an Co trading names from Misson Doncaster been going for a long while, looking at it the Scania seems to be the better bet,ex Swedish army most likely.
Witham Specialist Vehicles from Grantham are likely to have stock of 8x6 Fodens and DAF/Leylands as well www.mod-sales.com if you fancy going that way.
H143500:
Army UK is one of L Jackson an Co trading names from Misson Doncaster been going for a long while, looking at it the Scania seems to be the better bet,ex Swedish army most likely.
Witham Specialist Vehicles from Grantham are likely to have stock of 8x6 Fodens and DAF/Leylands as well mod-sales.com if you fancy going that way.
Witham usually have a good selection.
My concerns re ex-mil vehicles: they are maintained regardless of cost; but they don’t have an easy life. Some may well have been stored as ‘held in reserve’ for a while. And lastly, a lot are geared and built for off-road use. So heavy transmissions and so on, poor fuel economy.
But if you need something that spends most of its life in a quarry/forrestry setting, then why not.
Just to mention the Foden DROPS are over width, so can’t be used as a truck, not 100% sure on the Leyland DROPS - they might be OK.
On single tyres, they will be limited to a maximum of 30 tonnes (rather than 32), and possibly even less than that (due to the wheelbase). They’re also rather heavy, compared to a normal 8x4.
Sounds like the Scania is going to be the better bet.The Jagermeister drinks people have used Fodens before now on their mobile drinks ‘stand’,didn’t look at what they were taxed as.I believe there is at least 1 Foden 8x6 taxed as PLG so don’t know how that works either.