I have a 1986 TL 750 Turbo Horselorry with a couple of problems I need to get sorted which involves tilting the cab, and I was wondering if any of you Bedford experts could give me some advice. Basically I need to know what exactly needs to be done/disconnected? before tilting. Although I have a service manual all it says is gear lever in neutral, doors closed, adequate clearance in front of cab and headroom, it then describes how to release the cab locking catch and position the cab safety stay. So is there anything else that is required? Being a horsebox there is a Luton above the cab with about 5" above the cab and 5" between the front of the Luton and the top of the windscreen so is there enough clearance? Does the cab tilt suddenly or is it counterbalanced? Is it a one man job? Any other advice or safety issues are welcome. I apologise if this is not the correct forum to be seeking this advice, but I’ve seached high and low for these answers, so if anyone knows of a link to another forum I would be very gratefull.
First off Griffin I don’t have any specific knowledge of this but would have thought that 5" is a bit tight for clearance. Have you checked that there aren’t panels in the Luton head which swing clear for tilting. I think that rear of cab clearance can be quite minimal though.
Perhaps you should wait 'till Denis F comes along for the real answer though 
Or PM him.
Nearly forgot, welcome to TN mate, I’m sure you’ll find all the help you need shortly.
Thanks David. No the luton is all riveted up with no removeable panels, I cannot imagine you would need to unbolt the whole body to tilt the cab! It just seems a little tight, but then I do not know the arc the cab will make when it is moved.
Spardo:
F.
Perhaps you should wait 'till Denis F comes along for the real answer though
.
Sorry Griffin, if the luton is fixed it’s not going to tip !!!
the luton front panel needs to hinge forwards and the floor should be hinged at the rear
I used to be the proud owner of this one
( I sold it several years ago, the body is now fitted on a Man 7.5.t )
you can see the front of the luton hinges half way down
If you can’t move the luton you need to see if the body is built onto the chassis or onto a flatbed, if it’s on a flatbed you might be able to undo the mounting bolts, jack the box up a bit and pull the lorry forwards ( carefully ! )
If it’s built straight onto the chassis you may be able to unbolt it and jack the front a bit, but that’s not a job for the faint hearted !!!
I have seen someone cut the floor cab out to change a fanbelt !!!
My advice to anyone buying a horsebox is always - if the cab doesn’t tip walk away , this is for two reasons firstly It will be a pig to work on and secondly because it’s difficult to work on routine servicing will have been restricted to things that can be reached from the side
Griffin:
No the luton is all riveted up with no removeable panels, I cannot imagine you would need to unbolt the whole body to tilt the cab! .
Go and look a coachbuilt horsebox, at least half of them are built without cab tipping 
the only word for it is STUPID
Told you he’d know all about it.
Stupid, Denis? I can’t think of anything more so. 
Surely Griffin’s best
bet is to try and modify the Luton, hinged in 2 places as you said. A lot less
trouble than shifting the body I would have thought.
What is the Luton on a horse box used for anyway, blankets, harnesses,
feed - or very small horses?
Spardo:
Surely Griffin’s best
bet is to try and modify the Luton, hinged in 2 places as you said. A lot less
trouble than shifting the body I would have thought.
if it’s a box like the one in my photo I’d say yes,and it wouldn’t take much to do but if it’s one of the more coachbuilt type ones it would be trickier although it might be possible to hinge the front and make the floor slide backwards into the box
What is the Luton on a horse box used for anyway, blankets, harnesses,
feed - or very small horses?
blankets, harnesses feed, tack or even a mattress
Denis, thanks for your replies and sharing the photo of your old horsebox.
After a bit of thought and study and close examination, I have been able to dismantle the floor of the Luton and remove half of the front panel, which was bolted on, so it was designed to be removed for cab tilting, however one beam is riveted so that will be drilled out and replaced with bolts on reassembly.
Funnily enough the previous owner was going on about it had always been regularly serviced etc, Yeah Right! that panel hasnt come off in years!
The main reason for me going to this trouble is to identify the source of a coolant leak, and so before I tilt it can I just ask the same questions relating to the tilting procedure that I did in my Original Posting ?
Never tilted one of these mate but if the cab tilts as you say try looking at the grille as sometimes these have to be opened out or down on hinges to clear bumper etc. also if it is counter balanced you will see “torsion bars” (these are bars with large screw threads on them) under the cab where the hinges are at the front.
If there is no hydraulic pump to tilt the cab then it should be a one handed operation (the pump if there is one) is usually on the N/S of the cab at the rear or under the front step (again N/S) .
Make sure you don,t leave anything inside that is not fixed down i.e. tools or equipment as they have a nasty habit of going through the windscreen when they hit it (an expensive item) and lastly try contacting “The Bedford Owners Club” (check for the site on google) they will have all the info you need.
Just as thought though have you looked at the sides of the H/Box as they sometimes have a square section about 4" square and if there are 4 of these then that means the box can be lifted off the chassis and stood on supports
NEJ:
If there is no hydraulic pump to tilt the cab then it should be a one handed operation (the pump if there is one) is usually on the N/S of the cab at the rear or under the front step (again N/S) .
there will be no hydraulics, it’s a Bedford
somewhere behind the cab there will be a lever to pull, there may even be two, I can’t actually remember where or how the system worked - 
if there’s two, one will be a lock the other will be the release lever
It’s a case of pulling the lever and pushing the cab, as NEJ said make sure there’s no loose things in the cab, and if it’s a bit heavy try opening the doors to move the weight forwards
It may be a little stiff if it hasn’t been tipped for a while perhhaps a good idea to get somebody to help - hold the lever while you push
NEJ:
Just as thought though have you looked at the sides of the H/Box as they sometimes have a square section about 4" square and if there are 4 of these then that means the box can be lifted off the chassis and stood on supports
like this
Well after dismantleling the front and floor of the Luton I was ready to tilt the cab! Unfortunately the offside release mechanism had seized up so I had to unbolt the cab mounting from the catch and after tilting it slightly to gain access to the pin from the actuating lever and removed that ( after tapping gently with a rawhide mallet LOL!) the whole thing gently tipped forward YEAH!
Once the cab was up I was able to free the seized release mechanism and free it up. I was also able to see why the rev counter wasnt working, the cable had sheared by the engine cable housing. Also the coolant leak unfortunately wasnt due to a hose, but coming from the radiator core:
So next question is has anyone used this:
is it any good, and will it solve the leak problem?
Whoops the pics didnt show. How do you do that?
griffin:
Whoops the pics didnt show. How do you do that?
you needed to uncheck the box that says disable BBCode in this post underneath the box that you type your post in
I’ve done it for you
griffin:
So next question is has anyone used this:
is it any good, and will it solve the leak problem?
I’ve used sealants in the past, sometimes they work sometimes they don’t its worth trying though - much easier than changing the rad ( and cheaper)
Thanks for that Denis.
Well I bought a couple of bottles of Kalimex k-seal off ebay, I’ll let you know if it did the trick.
BTW NEJ mentioned “The Bedford Owners Club”, I did check them out, but they seem to be concerned with old camper vans etc and I couldnt find any relevant forums.
Lets try posting another pic:
Hi mate try “The Heritage Commercials” magazine (monthly from W H Smiths) they run ads and one of the ads is for “Bedford Bygone Bits” / John Morter tel. 01953 602581 if he ain,t got the bits he will likely put you in touch with someone who has.
Have not used the sealant as I am not a great believer in such additives as they to my mind are a stop gap to get you home and then do a fiull repair.
Shouldn,t be to expensive to have the rad recored though.
Regards
Norman J.
Well the Kalimex K-seal came today, mixed two bottles of it with 2litres of water, poured into expansion tank and ran the engine for a while and the stream of water gradually stopped. Took the lorry out for a run, came back, checked for leaks and all as dry as a bone!
So fingers crossed looks like it did the trick.
Thanks for all your input on this thread.
BTW I used to be a goods inwards (Reception Manager) at various Sainsburys in the west Mids between 1980 and 1997, and wonder if there are any old drivers who worked out of Christian Salvesan Droitwich, St Ivel Bristol, Vangen at Worcester, Corys at Rotherham ( now NFT) etc who remember a super effecient young man who with his team could turn around a 40footer ( 45 roll pallets or 20 woods) count all the load and refill with empties in around an hour?
Griffin - otherwise known as Martin.
griffin:
BTW NEJ mentioned “The Bedford Owners Club”, I did check them out, but they seem to be concerned with old camper vans etc and I couldnt find any relevant forums.
there’s a yahoo group at www.bedfordgathering.com ( and a few nice pics!)
griffin:
BTW I used to be a goods inwards (Reception Manager) at various Sainsburys in the west Mids between 1980 and 1997, and wonder if there are any old drivers who worked out of Christian Salvesan Droitwich, St Ivel Bristol, Vangen at Worcester, Corys at Rotherham ( now NFT) etc who remember a super effecient young man who with his team could turn around a 40footer ( 45 roll pallets or 20 woods) count all the load and refill with empties in around an hour?
Griffin - otherwise known as Martin.
Are you winding us up 
An RDC that would turn a 40 tonner round in an hour
They should all be capable of doing it more or less, but I’ve never been to one that did, as far as I remember and I’m pretty sure I would.
Simon, wots an RDC? please excuse my ignorance.