Help with base vehicle 3.9t??

[Welshstyles]

hi guys I don’t know whether this is the right place to ask this? I’m looking at get a minibus soon to have a go at making my own camper, when looking ive come across a few LDV maxus 3.9t for decent price but wondering if I can drive it on my license as I believe I can only drive up to 3.5t as passed my car test in 2008. Would that 3.9t be fully loaded with 17 passengers? So if it’s a camper should surely be less than 3.5t any info would be great. Thanks

 

[Speve]

Hi I would think you would need to down rate it to get it to 3500kg as its plated at 3900kg you would not be licensed to drive it as a Motorhome as it would be classed PHGV.
Try giving SV Tech a call they may be able to give you an idea as to whether you would have enough payload once down plated I think it would be tight.

 

[ambulancekidd]

 

[Boringfrog]

 

[jongood]

hi guys I don’t know whether this is the right place to ask this? I’m looking at get a minibus soon to have a go at making my own camper, when looking ive come across a few LDV maxus 3.9t for decent price but wondering if I can drive it on my license as I believe I can only drive up to 3.5t as passed my car test in 2008. Would that 3.9t be fully loaded with 17 passengers? So if it’s a camper should surely be less than 3.5t any info would be great. Thanks

My advice is to be very careful what van you pick, you are going to invest a heck of a lot of money and time in it so its as well to start off with as good a van as possible.

The other issue is resale. I'm under the impression this is your first camper? hopefully you will get it right first time but in any event you may want to sell it at some point. The Maxus wasnt a big seller so I would suggest something a bit more mainstream - Ducato etc/ Master/Transit et all would be a bit more marketable.

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[mitzimad]

you can down plate juust by sending a weight ticket in they were rated at 3.9to allow for seats and passengers usually they had a wheel chair lift fitted its how much payload youll have after its all removed
many people think a mini bus is easier to convert but you do get a lot of single glazed windows that will be prone to condensation

 

[Welshstyles]

Thank you for replies thinkimg it may be more trouble than it’s worth getting minibus weight redone

 

[TheBig1]

the other option is to take the C1 driving test

 

[tacr2man]

Thank you for replies thinkimg it may be more trouble than it’s worth getting minibus weight redone

What you need to know is the unladen weight , that will tell you how much you have left before you get to 3.5 tonne . If there is enough for the conversion and passengers and luggage etc then you just
advise when you send in V5 to change to motorcaravan . Then you need to make sure you dont go over that when in use
ps i would expect a payload of about 1500kg at 3.9 ton gross(with all seats taken out ) so you would most likely be near 2400kg stripped , that would leave 1100 for converting and all the other mentioned

 

[Steve and Pam]

We ran an Maxus at work, new van in 2007, LDV went bust about 2009? front strut top mounts corrode and you can't get them any more, gear boxes are made of toffee, we ended up scrapping off the van due to the spares problems after about 6 years and 75000 miles.​

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[Welshstyles]

Is downplating vehicles as easy as just getting it weighed with a ticket print out and sending the ticket into dvla to change to 3.5t and then getting a new plate made up with the weights, think you can get plates off eBay blank. Thanks

 

[jollyrodger]

SvTech @£300 or there abouts fill in the firm online speak to Lewis or Gareth ,
Form V70 from dvlc or Sv-tech will supply then go from there .
LDV did have a lot of ford running gear in the early days but where a disposable delivery van .
Not a lot of resale value
Hope that helps .


By the way

 

[Emmit]

Working on the assumption that each passenger in the bus weighs 75Kgs, (which is what they allow for the driver) then there's 1200Kgs in bodies alone off the MGW.