JekRankin
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| posted on 22/1/19 at 10:11 AM |
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Transporting a kit in Luton van
As per title, anyone done this?
I don't have a tow bar, and the Scottish roads are a massive salt bath at this time of year....putting the car in van would be a nice way to
protect it from the elements, and it should fit in a Luton....question is, how to get it in there (whilst keeping relatively safe)?
One method could be:
Front wheels on the tail lift, long reach engine hoist hitched onto the rollbar - raise both slowly and push the car and hoist forward about a metre
until the rear wheels are over the tail lift. Chock the wheels, disconnect the engine hoist and push it fully into the van. The tail lifts are rated
for 500kg, and the engine hoist for 250kg when fully extended, which is enough for a BEC.
Seem feasible, or just stupid? Your comments welcome!
Jek
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peter030371
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| posted on 22/1/19 at 10:17 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by JekRankin
As per title, anyone done this?
I don't have a tow bar, and the Scottish roads are a massive salt bath at this time of year....putting the car in van would be a nice way to
protect it from the elements, and it should fit in a Luton....question is, how to get it in there (whilst keeping relatively safe)?
One method could be:
Front wheels on the tail lift, long reach engine hoist hitched onto the rollbar - raise both slowly and push the car and hoist forward about a metre
until the rear wheels are over the tail lift. Chock the wheels, disconnect the engine hoist and push it fully into the van. The tail lifts are rated
for 500kg, and the engine hoist for 250kg when fully extended, which is enough for a BEC.
Seem feasible, or just stupid? Your comments welcome!
Jek
i have seen pictures (on Facebook) of it done exactly this way and they didn't seem to have any problems. Only issue I can see is that to move
an engine hoist once its loaded does require a very flat (and reasonably level) surface i.e. not won't work on a pot holed surface. If the hoist
hits a pot hole its liable to tip over 
[Edited on 22/1/19 by peter030371]
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JekRankin
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| posted on 22/1/19 at 10:22 AM |
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Ah nice, that's encouraging. £100 for a tail lift luton for the day is a fair bit cheaper than a car transporter to and from IVA.
Yeah depending on the surface, I was thinking of getting a few lengths hefty steel channel for the engine hoist castors to run along. The lane near my
garage is pretty smooth, but I'm not sure what it's like near the IVA centre.
Jek
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peter030371
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| posted on 22/1/19 at 10:27 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by JekRankin
Ah nice, that's encouraging. £100 for a tail lift luton for the day is a fair bit cheaper than a car transporter to and from IVA.
Yeah depending on the surface, I was thinking of getting a few lengths hefty steel channel for the engine hoist castors to run along. The lane near my
garage is pretty smooth, but I'm not sure what it's like near the IVA centre.
Jek
If you are getting some steel channel could you not just use them as very long ramps (and use the tail lift to provide some mid-point support)?
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JekRankin
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| posted on 22/1/19 at 10:32 AM |
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In the absence of a winch, I'd prefer to avoid ramps after a fairly sketchy moment pushing a single seater into a van using ramps many years ago
- someone slipped as we were pushing and we just managed to prevent it from running over us....and that car only weighed 200kgs :-)
Jek
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Slater
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| posted on 22/1/19 at 10:35 AM |
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some farms or local haulage places have a concrete ramp to allow cattle/goods to be loaded onto lorries. Might be worth a call to your local haulage
places and see what they say.
Why do they call Port Harcourt "The Garden City"?...... Becauase they can't spell Stramash.
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JekRankin
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| posted on 22/1/19 at 10:42 AM |
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I should have stated, this is to allow the car to be transported to IVA, so I need to load it and unload it at my garage and at the IVA centre.
Jek
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James
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| posted on 22/1/19 at 10:58 AM |
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Bearing in mind things may have changed whilst I was away...
Why not drive to IVA?
Its a great opportunity to bed the brakes in and chance to test the thing on the way to the test! 
(caveat- I was lucky in that Ned very kindly drove along behind me to my test as support car!!!)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses, behind the lines, in the gym and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights."
- Muhammad Ali
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nick205
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| posted on 22/1/19 at 11:52 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by James
Bearing in mind things may have changed whilst I was away...
Why not drive to IVA?
Its a great opportunity to bed the brakes in and chance to test the thing on the way to the test!
(caveat- I was lucky in that Ned very kindly drove along behind me to my test as support car!!!)
Some years for me as well (SVA when I did the test), but I drove my MK Indy there with my dad following as a support vehicle. Granted it was in the
summer so the weather and roads were OK. As James says it gave me a good opportunity to bed the brakes in and ensure the car was holding together for
the test. If you can I'd drive it to the test centre and give it a wash when you get home.
If you have a family member or another local builder who'd be your support car then go for it!
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steve m
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| posted on 22/1/19 at 06:58 PM |
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Can a luton van take the weight of a 600kg plus car legally?
Thats was probably spelt wrong, or had some grammer, that the "grammer police have to have a moan at
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Slimy38
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| posted on 22/1/19 at 07:24 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by steve m
Can a luton van take the weight of a 600kg plus car legally?
If my wife's shoes have anything to prove last time we moved house, I'd say 'yes'!!
On a serious note, even the smaller Lutons are 3.5 tonne, of which around half is the vehicle itself. My only concern would be lashing it down, lutons
don't usually have anchor points on the floor.
As an alternative solution though, I have seen self drive car transporters for hire. Here's one as an example;
http://www.parklaneselfdrive.co.uk/car-transporter-hire-7/
Although one closer to home might be better.
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Slater
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| posted on 22/1/19 at 08:49 PM |
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If you plan to drive to IVA, bear in mind it could be icy at this time of year. I did mine in march 2009 in Aberdeen and woke up to a very hard
frost, so glad I decided to put it on a trailer, as driving a light RWD car for first time on the icy country roads first thing in the morning would
have been a disaster.
Why do they call Port Harcourt "The Garden City"?...... Becauase they can't spell Stramash.
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MikeR
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| posted on 22/1/19 at 09:03 PM |
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I moved an incomplete car in a luton.
I removed the nose cone / radiator (*). Wooden panel at the front to spread the weight. Car on lift, engine hoist on the diff (roll bar is too high to
do a lift practically). lift bit by bit. Its scary and a slow process. As others have said make sure you can push the engine hoist forward.
Lashing down is an issue. Hence the wood. I pushed the car as far forward as possible into the wood. Then multiple ties to the side of the van
mounting points. Each tie heading forward at a variety of angles. Engine hoist then slid in next to the car.
For you i'd double / tripple check you have enough length for the car. If you definately do i'd be tempted to make some sort of wooden
chock for the front wheels, spreading the force across the front panel. You then push the car to the chock instead of the wooden panel in my
example.
(*) i did this because i wanted to push the car up to the front of the luton, to secure it. Not because it didn't fit. However it was 4 years
ago so I can't say for definite that it did or didn't fit.
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chris_smith
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| posted on 22/1/19 at 09:52 PM |
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If you having to hire the Luton can’t you just hire a car transporter?
The secret of success is to know something nobody else knows."
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briarswood57
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| posted on 22/1/19 at 10:30 PM |
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Have you thought about hiring a car trailer - I see you are in Glasgow - might be worth giving this guy a call -
http://www.pgtrailerhirescotland.co.uk
I have hired off him a couple of times and found it a pretty straightforward transaction.
Just a thought but might be easier and less risky than trying to squeeze it into a Luton.
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briarswood57
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| posted on 22/1/19 at 10:33 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by briarswood57
Have you thought about hiring a car trailer - I see you are in Glasgow - might be worth giving this guy a call -
http://www.pgtrailerhirescotland.co.uk
I have hired off him a couple of times and found it a pretty straightforward transaction.
Just a thought but might be easier and less risky than trying to squeeze it into a Luton.
Ps just re read and see you don't have a tow bar - he also does transportation.
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JimSpencer
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| posted on 23/1/19 at 08:09 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by JekRankin
As per title, anyone done this?
I don't have a tow bar, and the Scottish roads are a massive salt bath at this time of year....putting the car in van would be a nice way to
protect it from the elements, and it should fit in a Luton....question is, how to get it in there (whilst keeping relatively safe)?
One method could be:
Front wheels on the tail lift, long reach engine hoist hitched onto the rollbar - raise both slowly and push the car and hoist forward about a metre
until the rear wheels are over the tail lift. Chock the wheels, disconnect the engine hoist and push it fully into the van. The tail lifts are rated
for 500kg, and the engine hoist for 250kg when fully extended, which is enough for a BEC.
Seem feasible, or just stupid? Your comments welcome!
Jek
Hi Jek
I do this to transport my Striker and Reynard as I hate towing, so use a 3.5t MWB van.
(Picture in my archive - the White Movano)
I'd say this, it's certainly do-able, but it'll take a huge amount of preparation to do it safely (and more importantly not damage
the car!) as you'll be amazed how much the car will move around if it's not fastened down properly and how easily things go wrong when
being loaded.
Paddocks are an education in how Not to load trailers, vans, transporters.. Your suggestion is possible but it's certainly one that, were
you to do it in a paddock, would have a crowd quietly watching..
If you were planning on this as a regular exercise to transport your own vehicle for motorsport use then it's a certain Yes but you'd have
a list of things to do to the vehicle, to do it in something you're hiring for the weekend I'd be very doubtful that you'll be able
to secure it right.
[Edited on 23/1/19 by JimSpencer]
[Edited on 23/1/19 by JimSpencer]
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nick205
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| posted on 23/1/19 at 09:37 AM |
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Jek
You say you don't have a towbar.
Can we assume that you don't have a trailer either?
When I passed my driving test my lisence entitled me to tow a trailer even though I never took lessons or a test to do so (I'm 44 years old). I
was fortunate in that my dad had vans and trailers and was happy to teach me how to do it. I've not done it much over the years though, but I
do know that reversing with a trailer takes more skill than most people realise.
One of my brother in laws (38 years old) took his driving test, but his lisence didn't entitle him to tow a trailer. He then had to pay out to
take extra lessons and a test to get that added to his lisence. When you take into account he grew up on a farm driving tractors with trailers and
had far more skill at driving with them than most people the process seemed daft to me, but laws change over time.
Where do you stand with your driving lisence - does it entitle you to tow or wold you have to take more lessons and another test?
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swanny
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| posted on 23/1/19 at 10:24 AM |
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there is a chap near us (but there might be someone near you?) hires out a car transporter for about 100 quid a day. easy on and off. and nice and
warm inside, and no need for a towbar.
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JekRankin
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| posted on 23/1/19 at 05:58 PM |
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Thanks for all the replies.
That seems like good advice, Jim. I hadn't really considered the difficulty of securing the car in place, and for a one off journey, it's
probably too much effort, or too much risk if I bodge it!
Sadly I don't have a towing license, and my daily car is an old MX-5 which isn't really suitable (it's an import model, and has zero
towing capacity on the V5, even though it should be stated as 800kgs IIRC). There are some car transporter companies locally who charge fair prices,
but I haven't asked about the cost of waiting around during the test.
I'm mostly trying to avoid subjecting the car to 2 hours of salt spray during the journey to the test centre. Things are never really the same
after a good soaking in salt, so enclosed transport would be proffered.
I think the best solution might just be to wait until the weather clears then drive to IVA in spring.
Jek
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StrikerChris
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| posted on 24/1/19 at 12:00 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by nick205
Jek
You say you don't have a towbar.
Can we assume that you don't have a trailer either?
When I passed my driving test my lisence entitled me to tow a trailer even though I never took lessons or a test to do so (I'm 44 years old). I
was fortunate in that my dad had vans and trailers and was happy to teach me how to do it. I've not done it much over the years though, but I
do know that reversing with a trailer takes more skill than most people realise.
One of my brother in laws (38 years old) took his driving test, but his lisence didn't entitle him to tow a trailer. He then had to pay out to
take extra lessons and a test to get that added to his lisence. When you take into account he grew up on a farm driving tractors with trailers and
had far more skill at driving with them than most people the process seemed daft to me, but laws change over time.
Where do you stand with your driving licence - does it entitle you to tow or wold you have to take more lessons and another test?
Thats not strictly true, even if you passed your test after 96 you can still tow, as long as the mam of tow car and trailer donesn't exceed
3500kgs.
Just be aware this is whats plated on the vehicles plates, and trailer plates,not the actual weight of your load.
eg I can quite happily tow my Striker with my Mg Maestro (approx 1200kgs+1000kgs), but could well be illegal if I were to tow it with a RangeRover
(3000kgs + 1000kgs).......
And the same goes for the Luton Van, You can't drive a van with a MAM over 3500kgs either !!!!
Chris
[Edited on 24/1/19 by StrikerChris]
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WallerZero
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| posted on 24/1/19 at 11:18 AM |
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Car transporter, decent, if not double up, with car covers, then give it a cracking good wash when you get home.
http://zachsgbszero.blogspot.co.uk/
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