Has anyone on here ever stretched a tractor unit chassis and fitted a box on it ,
What are the advantages and disadvantages
I used to drive a stretched tractor unit with plant body. Went like stink. A driving school near me buys tractor units and gets them stretched. He already has the bodies and the trucks are identical so if there is a problem with one before test they can jump straight in the other.
I bought a couple over the years when I done removals. That was some years back when it was next to impossible to buy a used rigid that had a decent engine and cab. A standard 220 engine with a 6 speed box is no use for long distance work. They rev too high on the motorways giving poor mpg and the slightest hill you’re down to 40 mph before you can change gear. A 420 unit goes like a rocket, returns excellent mpg and puts no stress on the engine.
Genuine factory rigids with a decent cab and bigger engine are more readily available nowadays but command a considerably higher price than standard rigids so it’s still a viable option to stretch a unit. Done properly you won’t notice the difference although a lot seem to leave the full airkit behind the cab which spoils the look of them in my opinion.
I had a Renault rigid with a 340 in it,that was a factory built “stretch”,i.e,they just took one of their own units and converted it.
And the fellow I bought it off was buying a Premium rigid that was the same.
I’ve recently priced up having a Stralis stretched,(really good nick and very low kms but worth sweet f.a as a trade-in),worked out at £3k-ish for the stretch with another £350 if you wanted a raise lower valve.Plus the VAT of course.
I’m still umm-ing and ah-ing as I can’t find a good used box body to put on it,and buying a new body makes it uneconomical to do the conversion.
make sure you stretch it to a manufactureres standard length , so you can fit a standard prop shaft. i had a 4x2 scania 92 stretched to a 6 wheel rigid with lift up axle, had a demountable crane on the rear,a second hand alloy body off of the same donor centre mount F7, the extra chassis rails were off a scrapped scania rigid and all done in our workshop. worked well really,considering. i forget the exact payload , but i could get up to the NW with a full load of 7.5 mtr steel tube out of corby,and then reload it it with a useful load of bricks to deliver in the south picking up the crane on the way through (we had a lot of part load/ restricted access deliveries at the time). ultimate plan was to add a drawbar trailer to it , but i was made redundant before i could finish the project.
the only downside was the engineer forgot to flitch the chassis around the 3rd axle initially , so tight turns tore the steel apart.
The reason i ask is i have a contract that has come up which entails the following ,
Weight isnt a issue as prob a 12 tonne rigid would cover it
fuel consumption again strange as it may seem isnt a issue as the customer supplys the fuel
what is an issue is the driver will be spending a long time away from home living in it for months at a time so want a high roof spacious modern cab which seems impossible to find in a rigid second hand.
looking for 2010 - 2013 scania , mercedes or daf,
Would a auto be more relaiable then a manual box or these days are they both the same.
If lhd would not be an issue id try the Dutch or Swedish secondhand market both use big cabs so would be alot easier than streching.
An Ex Dutch flower delivery truck may do the trick! They seem to have quite high spec and large cabbed vehicles. And the bunk wouldn’t have been used to much!! 
Thanks everyone , i had never thought of the dutch or swedish market ,
would anyone have a link to garages their or whats best way of finding out whats for sale,
planet-trucks.com/used-truck … k-ads.html
click on trucks in the option box for what youre looking for.
nedflanders:
Has anyone on here ever stretched a tractor unit chassis and fitted a box on it ,
What are the advantages and disadvantages
Get in touch with SV tech before adding an axle some makes are easier than others when doing the paper work side of it ,we had 2 Erfs 6 by 2 s that were stretched they had new chassis from behind the cab to the back which were better in my opinion ,also a Daf 4 by 2 with a Granning axle added which has never been right from day 1 and takes a lot of messing to get the axle weights right ,then more recent a ex med shipping 105 6 wheeler from new stretched by having chassis added in between the cab and axles which iam not keen on at all .