updating a motorhome

graham and Jayne

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Ok we own a 1989 Mk 111 Ford transit twin wheel chassis with a 1996 Autotrail motorhome body. The habitation unit is fantastic and in superb condition and is exactly the right layout for us. We cannot afford a newer motorhome but the transit chassis is 2.5 non turbo deisel without power steering and beam axle front suspension. Is it feasible to lift the habitation unit and replace the chssis with a later ford transit( mk5)
Any help or advice would be welcome
Graham and Jayne
 
Welcome to the site Graham & Jayne :)

I don't see any reason why this would not be feasible. Anything is possible it just depends how much time and money you have available. I would look into which newer chassis you want to use and then start checking out the differences in the two.

Best of luck, let us know how it goes.
 
graham and Jayne said:
Ok we own a 1989 Mk 111 Ford transit twin wheel chassis with a 1996 Autotrail motorhome body. The habitation unit is fantastic and in superb condition and is exactly the right layout for us. We cannot afford a newer motorhome but the transit chassis is 2.5 non turbo deisel without power steering and beam axle front suspension. Is it feasible to lift the habitation unit and replace the chssis with a later ford transit( mk5)
Any help or advice would be welcome
Graham and Jayne
Click to expand...

Hi,

You cannot just lift the habitation element off and stick it on another chassis, for one its not possible and two you could well be driving an illegal vehicle.

Peter
 
can you tell us why its not possible .i change bodies on truucks quite often. and have changed motor home bodies before. not familier with this one but would be interested. so long as they told dvla and got the log book changed what could be the problem.
i am intrigued. do tell. cheers alan.
 
It's possible but quite a lot of work.

The money you spend on the new chassis plus the cost of the work, could be similar to selling your current model and upgrading to a newer second hand one.
 
JohnsCrossMotorHomes said:
Hi,

You cannot just lift the habitation element off and stick it on another chassis, for one its not possible and two you could well be driving an illegal vehicle.

Peter
Click to expand...
I disagree
If you measure the new vehicle.
Lift it very carefully
Inform the DVLA of your changes then I see no problem as you are registering the new one as a motor home and the old one back to a van etc
The thing to remember is its not heavy but big, cumbersom and fragile.
A bloke near me buys pick ups, removes the back and fits a caravan body, you wouldnt know its not a factory job, just measure everything twice, check and label pipes and cables, its not rocket science.
I have often thought of doing this with my Fiat, just fit the insides in a newer van and its worth double the money as its now only five years old!
 
hi, i was thinkning of a similar vehicle but later spec, i recon i can find a mk5( smily face), with turbo, eectric windows and power sterring, the chgassis should be identical. cut the back off the cab and it should fit right in
Graham
 
cant see a proplem. use farm jacks or fork lift .even a hiab. done carefully its no probs. get dvla out afterwards to verify the conversion. maybe see about chassis upgrade in germany they get 5ton from a tranny. seen the plate on one year before last. had air puit on. .go for it i would.
 
i was hoping peter would come back with a good explanation . he as always been very good with his answers on various forums .lets not be too hard. he may come back and enlighten us. never know there might be a good reason . i am not familiar with the conversion. he may be correct. come on peter .let us know. cheers alan.
 
how do you mean a new one, surely the mk6 or 7 are completely different
Graham
 
Any competent truck body builder will be able to do the job, probably 50% of their business involves swapping bodies onto newer trucks.

As someone else has said - with enough money nothing is impossible.
 
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