Bedford MJ 4X4.Possible tow vehicle. Any ex-Army chaps out there? NB

P

paulrossall

Well-Known Member
Joined
22 Oct 2001
Messages
1,058
Visit site
I bought a commercial boat trailer 2 years ago to bring my boat home on which was pulled by farm tractor. Does anyone know what a Bedford MJ 4X4 Cargo or a Bedfrod 8Ton 4X4 Cargo are like I am going to look at both tomorrow with thought of buying one to pull trailer.
Trailer is 26 foot long with max gross gross wt about 10 ton. It recently carried a 33ft boat weighing 8 ton. The above vehicles are ex-army. Paul

<hr width=100% size=1>" there is nothing-absolutely nothing-half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats".
 
Apologies if I'm teaching granny to suck eggs, there is a lot more to this than hooking up your trailer and tootling up the road. An MJ would certainly pull a 10 tonne trailer around the boatyard but taking it on the road is another matter. The MJ is an LGV and will require the driver to hold an LGV licence. If you want to tow a trailer over 3500Kgs this would be class CE (HGV 1 in old money).Whether or not it could tow a 10 tonne trailer can only be ascertained by checking the Gross Train Weight displayed on the DoT plate on the vehicle. I can't remeber the GTW of an MJ but I suspect it is not the 24000kgs, or thereabouts, which is what it would need to be to tow a 10 tonne trailer. The truck itself would be subject to annual testing at an LGV test centre and I'm fairly sure that the trailer would too.
All in all a can or worms, unless you are boned up on all the relative commercial vehicle regulations.

<hr width=100% size=1>
 
These old army lorries get really unstable above 40m.p.h. They are noisy and use lots of fuel. You must comply with construction and use regulations - not a trivial matter.
Errol Flynn was asked how much has yacht cost to run and answered - if you need to ask you cannot afford it.
I would say if you need to ask about lorries here you probably should not buy one!
Martin


<hr width=100% size=1>
 
I am aware a HGV licence is required and trailer needs to be MOT'd every year and I thought lorry would need testing every 3 months or on mileage criterea. Also maybe a tacho needed.
I was interested in the reliability on the vehicles and I do not know their max GTW, which I will find out now on Thursday. Paul

<hr width=100% size=1>" there is nothing-absolutely nothing-half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats".
 
I still drive one most weekends
I am not sure that you need an HGV licence to drive one these days since they uped the normal licence to 7500Kg. you certainly cannot use one for an HGV test
However I am not at all sure that it will handle the weight in question remember they are described as a 4 tonner. If you want to tow those kind of weights I think you need a bigger lorry and a C+E licence. The current bedfords are fine to drive flat out (55mph) but very heavy on the arms!!!

<hr width=100% size=1>
 
Try a site like this. http://www.witham-sv.com/infopage.php?ID=13&Overide=1

I'm sure if you phone them you'll get chapter and verse.

The problem with Mil Kit is that one chassis is expected to do lots of jobs so weight, power & size varies quite a lot.

You might find you don't even need a HGV. Privately registered trucks escape some of the regulations. It would be an idea for an inexperience driver of this kind of thing, to do a short course even if the qualification isn't required.

<hr width=100% size=1>
 
I cannot offer any advice to the point, except to say that close manouvreing will be much easier with a short wheelbase tow vehicle. I tow my wifes caravan to horse shows and with the swb Shogun it's a doddle, but with the VW Caravelle, just a bit longer, it's at least twice as hard.


<hr width=100% size=1>John
<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.allgadgets.co.uk>http://www.allgadgets.co.uk</A>
 
The Train weight will be the make or break of the exercise. If this turns out not to be a problem, to clarify the other points that have been raised:
If it is not used commercially, i.e. you are only carrying your own belongings, or maybe those belonging to others without charge (potentially dodgy situation with insurance) then you are exempt from Operator's Licensing and Tachograph regulations. Only annual testing would be required.
You should be able to tax it as a private vehilce and pay only the same road tax as a car/PLG. However, as towing the 10 tonne trailer would make it an HGV regardless of whether or not the truck is plated at or under 7500kg (which it almost definitely isn't)you would need to verify this. You could have it down-rated to under 7500kgs, often just a case on changing the tyre size, but this still wouldn't help you towing the trailer.
I also wouldn't entirely rely on people like Withams to advise you as the majority of this stuff they export to places like Africa and I'm not sure they would be completly au fait with the UK regulations


<hr width=100% size=1>
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top