Anyone uprated a 4x4 pick up to 3.5 tonner?

[HDAV]

How deep are your pockets?

VW Crafter Now in 4x4 Variant - Commercial Vehicle Dealer|Commercial Vehicle Dealer

 

The Crafter 4MOTION is available in all of the body variants Volkswagen is known for – as a window van, panel van, as well as chassis, single or double cab dropside transporter, with various wheelbases and roof forms.

 

Sprinter 4x4

 

Mercedes-Benz UK - Fleet Van Awards for Award Winning Vans - The Sprinter wins 4x4 Panel Van of the Year & Highly Commended at the Vans A2Z Awards 2013

Marketed at 3.5 or 5.0 tonnes and as a chassis cab/chassis crew cab as well as with a van body, 4x4 Sprinter comes with a choice of diesel engines. We would tend to favour the 190hp 3.0-litre V6, but anybody who opts for the 163hp version of the 2.1-litre, available at 129hp too, is unlikely to feel short-changed.

 

 

Or just buy one of these! http://www.shropshiregunbus.co.uk/

Edited July 22, 2014 by HDAV

[Agi-Smash]

Wouldnt have another vw van if you paid me to take it. Transit all the way.

[billpierce]

whats the payload on a transit tipper? i thought (and am probably wrong) that nealry everything in the 3.5t catagory its payload is about 1t with the main difference being tow capacity.

 

the bed on my pickup is 7.5x4.5 ft which space wise is easy to get 1 t of logs/chips in.

 

downrating vehicles as mentioned usually means the empty vehicle weighs 3.5 t before you load it!

 

 

i have thought about it many ways and there doesn't seem to be a really good allround solution!

[agrimog]

any of the fullsize american built pickups will easily do the 3.5 tonne thing, there built to work, not like the so called 1 tonne things that have been foisted off on us ( the yanks rate all of these at 1/2 ton), and as a bonus there towing capacities are huge!!!!

[Andrew Barrett]

There's usually a reason these types if vehicles are not sitting in forecourts.

Engineers love building things, your ideas will be reinforced by their enthusiasm, then when the A- team vehicle is like driving a gutless tank at the cost of 400% more than originally thought you will have learnt a tough lesson.

And the hardest thing is it was your idea so you will pay the huge bill and struggle on convincing yourself it's awesome!

I know someone who is sitting at over £20k just now on a similar idea, the vehicle hasn't earnt a penny and been in a shed for over 6 months after it was completed by the very enthusiastic boffin.

Just buy a £3k transit tipper and get another lad to drive it, simples:)

 

 

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We used to have a Cabstar Tipper and got fed up with it getting stuck at tip sites - we used to carry a small winch and custom ground anchor at all times in the cab. So, want to stick with 4x4.

 

I've asked my local Ford & Isuzu dealers if they will supply pick ups uprated to 3.5 ton GVW with normal warranty and have given them the details of the bloke I've been speaking to at Truck & Trailer. Doubt all that likely but worth trying, I thought.

 

Truck & Trailer told me expect cost to uprate pick up to 3.5 ton (so long as chassis suitable) would be approx. £1k (including relevant paperwork and testing).

[Andrew Barrett]

Think it would be cheaper to turn 3.5t truck into 4x4! The front axles / transfer boxes on the transit counties were imported from US ( Borg Warner and Chrysler ). Most other bits were fairly simply engineered apart from gearbox which was made by same people who made MT 75 for ford and looked same but had slight difference in internal rear end to allow for connection to transfer box. I'm not an engineer but had lots of fun fiddling with em! Incidentally the new(inferior) AWD tranny was, I believe, designed for ford by Eric May of Countytrac ( formerly County) and they still carry spares for the later countys.

 

The additional cost of getting the All Wheel Drive upgrade to a new Fort Transit 3.5 tonner chassis cab is £4k+VAT. For a Mercedes Sprinter the additional cost to upgrade to 4x4 is £5.5k+VAT.

 

According to Truck & Trailer in Bristol, the cost to uprate a pick up to 3.5ton GVW (so long as chassis suitable) would be approx. £1k inc. paperwork and testing.

[Andrew Barrett]

How deep are your pockets?

VW Crafter Now in 4x4 Variant - Commercial Vehicle Dealer|Commercial Vehicle Dealer

 

The Crafter 4MOTION is available in all of the body variants Volkswagen is known for – as a window van, panel van, as well as chassis, single or double cab dropside transporter, with various wheelbases and roof forms.

 

Sprinter 4x4

 

Mercedes-Benz UK - Fleet Van Awards for Award Winning Vans - The Sprinter wins 4x4 Panel Van of the Year & Highly Commended at the Vans A2Z Awards 2013

Marketed at 3.5 or 5.0 tonnes and as a chassis cab/chassis crew cab as well as with a van body, 4x4 Sprinter comes with a choice of diesel engines. We would tend to favour the 190hp 3.0-litre V6, but anybody who opts for the 163hp version of the 2.1-litre, available at 129hp too, is unlikely to feel short-changed.

 

 

Or just buy one of these! Shropshire Gunbus - Suppliers of exceptional vehicles. Pinzgauer suppliers, Pinzgauer petrol and diesel.

 

VW don't supply a 4x4 3.5 tonner. Biggest is 3 tonner. So hopeless payload.

 

I've been looking at Mercedes Sprinter 4x4. Unfortunately the 3.5 tonner chassis cab, singe cab weighs 1,986kg (just been given exact figure from dealer) vs. 1,832kg for the Transit AWD (about same as 2WD Transit with double rear wheels). Transit payload bad enough with box and tipper.

 

Don't want the Transit AWD because:

 

1. Only comes with small engine choice.

2. No low range (Sprinter does have low range).

[timbernut]

The additional cost of getting the All Wheel Drive upgrade to a new Fort Transit 3.5 tonner chassis cab is £4k+VAT. For a Mercedes Sprinter the additional cost to upgrade to 4x4 is £5.5k+VAT.

 

 

 

According to Truck & Trailer in Bristol, the cost to uprate a pick up to 3.5ton GVW (so long as chassis suitable) would be approx. £1k inc. paperwork and testing.

 

 

That sounds really reasonable for the pick up! Am I right in thinking that with the sprinter there are 2 types of upgrade ie a'proper' capable 4x4 one with better ground clearance hi/ lo ratios etc and a simple one that gets you off sloppy building sites. I also test drove transit AWD when they came out and they wernt as good as the old county ( no extra clearance ) I think it's like a viscous 'on demand ' system that only works if you lose traction?

[Andrew Barrett]

Anything over 3.5 has to go on the O licence. Downrating a truck just gives you a heavier truck with less payload.

Our old LDV has a payload of 1.2tonnes which is about as good as it gets. We've got 2 Hilux tippers from overland. Very handy and good overall capacity as well as towing go anywhere credentials.

If the crew cab tipper posted above is a3.5t I'd suggest that with a box, 2 blokes and some saws it'll be overloaded without any chip or logs.

VOSA are becoming more active so I'd rather send 2 vehicles to site than risk livelihood and lives with an overloaded vehicle.

Yes it costs more, but not as much as fines, court cases, stress etc. As employers and contractors we have a moral as well as legal obligation to abide by the rules even if others choose not to.

 

Thanks for your thoughtful reply Paul. I agree, I don't want to run overloaded vehicles either - even if it is very common in our industry.

 

When we were looking at a Schliesing chipper a couple of years ago, Rob from Overland did tell me that they did / would be supplying Hilux's uprated to 3.5 ton GVW. But when I asked if they would be able to do it to an older Hilux (like ours) he didn't get back to me.

 

Have your Hilux's been uprated? The current single cab Hilux has the lowest legal payload of any of the main pick ups sold in the UK (820kg payload and 2.7 ton GVW vs. the highest is Ford Ranger, 1,300kg payload and 3.2 ton GVW). So, unless Hilux uprated, their legal payload is a hopeless approx. 1/2 ton with box and tipper.

[Andrew Barrett]

That sounds really reasonable for the pick up! Am I right in thinking that with the sprinter there are 2 types of upgrade ie a'proper' capable 4x4 one with better ground clearance hi/ lo ratios etc and a simple one that gets you off sloppy building sites. I also test drove transit AWD when they came out and they wernt as good as the old county ( no extra clearance ) I think it's like a viscous 'on demand ' system that only works if you lose traction?

 

Hi timbernut,

 

Yes, estimated cost for pick up conversion was lower than I thought, too.

 

I'm pretty sure only one 4x4 option for Mercedes Sprinter. Includes better (but not massively so) ground clearance and hi / low ratio.

 

Yes, Ford Transit AWD is automatic and comes on if wheels slip. There is no low ratio or extra ground clearance.