Popular Post tweetyduck Posted July 9, 2015 Popular Post Share Posted July 9, 2015 Hi, thinking of getting me a 130 Ambulance. lots of questions... is it a class 4 MOT? Whats its GVW? Does the 24v cause issues. Can i get rid of it? Can I insure it at a normal place? anything thats a RPITA to carry on using one? I think getting it registered is pretty easy once I got the MOT. Similar to when we brought Matilda home after the trip. So other than the insurance and MOT are there any "living with one" issues. e.g. are the spares pretty much the same? I presume normal 130 springs and shocks and general consumables like hub bearings and stuff. Thanks Neill ps feeling like a newbee again.......... 16 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowie69 Posted July 9, 2015 Share Posted July 9, 2015 I'll answer the 24V issue.... No, they don't normally become issues, the wiring, connectors and bits on the end suffer less 'wear' as they all carry less current, they also work more effectively as the voltage drop (which is due to current in the wires/connectors) is less. Starting is better in winter for sure! Yes, you need to look for spares a bit harder, but they are all available, the likes of Ebay is a good place to pick them up. Can you get rid of it? Yes.... you can.... but I certainly would not. You are likely to have a 24V 90A generator on board, that gives a whopping 2.2KW on tap, compared to most LRs that only have 12V and 60A (720W), this is a massive upgrade, if you plan on camping etc, this will top you batteries up no matter what the loads on the system. *IF* the charging system went completely belly up and you had to replace the generator panel or the generator itself, you can swap in a 24V alternator instead, run a fat wire to the battery and one to the charge light and you are up and running again. The EMLRA forum is very good on the charging system, so look there is there were problems. Again, if camping, 24V heaters, fridges etc. tend to make less money on ebay because everyone wants 12V stuff, so you could well end up saving there too. If you *need* 12V then you can install a cheap volts dropper. If I had a choice I would run 24V on all my vehicles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tweetyduck Posted July 9, 2015 Author Share Posted July 9, 2015 Thanks. TBF i'm not 100% its even 24v but i think it is. I'm going to look at one this afternoon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FridgeFreezer Posted July 9, 2015 Share Posted July 9, 2015 Oooh interesting, I've got a non-wolf ambulance, you can see how we're getting on here. Welcome back home by the way! Class-wise you're going to have the argument with the MOT station - one turned me away saying it was a van because it didn't have the ambulance gear in the back, another just MOT'd it no questions asked. I suspect many will assume it's too heavy (not true) or it's too tall or long for their workshop/ramps. Parts-wise it's mostly standard defender 110, only difference is the rear prop is longer and the exhaust has an extra bit bolted in. Your potential purchase being a Wolf they have many wolf-specific bits but no different to owning a Wolf 110 or 90. Only other non-standard bit is the rear bodywork obviously, but most fixtures & fittings will be out of the commercial vehicle (truck / bus / train) bodywork catalogue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tweetyduck Posted July 9, 2015 Author Share Posted July 9, 2015 Just been to see one and they want around 20k plus VAT !!!! This is way over budget and it turns out i need an MOD export licence to take it away. No major problem but more faffing around. The doors are the old lift up style on them all so they would have to go. The read crank seal was pissing oil so that would need doing. It had had a rad, belts and stuff done as well as a respray in same colour. Underside blacked and tarted. 22K is a lot !!!! for a 1998 31,000km Ambulance.....they might shift a bit on price but unless its perfect i'm not spending 22K on one. It might cost me another 4k in refit and fettle in any case. toooooo much. oh and thanks for the welcome.....we've been back 12months and 1 week but in working mode.....now in planning mode. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FridgeFreezer Posted July 9, 2015 Share Posted July 9, 2015 I'd buy the doors off you if they're in good nick 22k is a lot, Withams have some for 10k at the mo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tweetyduck Posted July 9, 2015 Author Share Posted July 9, 2015 And yes it was an 24v.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tweetyduck Posted July 9, 2015 Author Share Posted July 9, 2015 I'd do that maybe i'd probably swap the doors for the ones on the other car. (don't get excited yet though!) Theres one we are goign to see at Withams on Saturday. Its on the Auction Monday.....Guide is £15.5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete3000 Posted July 9, 2015 Share Posted July 9, 2015 They are rare beasts in the wild, had you thought about an ex electric board quadtech bodied 130, or one like Fridge's? Less spendy. http://www.exmod.co.uk/defender130.html Around £15k probably do with more headroom though In my experience the 24v bits are rare to get for wolf's the necessary bits (wolf wiper motor, wolf alternator) are overpriced, whilst add on truck parts like night heaters are cheaper. The rarest and most expensive parts on the wolfs apart from the bling bits are the HD rear axle, and the chassis, and in the pulse ambulance case repairs to the box body. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tweetyduck Posted July 9, 2015 Author Share Posted July 9, 2015 @Pete3000 yes they are an option but not sure how much room there is inside. Need to create a living space. The other option is get a 130 and put a Ambulance back on it. Would work out cheaper than buying one whole! The backs can be had for £2 - £4K Problem with the newer cars is the ffing Carnet. Still a issue as we are ripped off. We are actually almost certainly now taking the FIA and RAC to court over it. I did some calcs below for the Facebook Group. <<<<>>>> I was looking at the Carnet charging model on the RAC site the other day and noted that you pay 5.3% of carnet cost. I'd not used this model when i travelled so wondered how much it would have cost. So doing the maths. Our Carnet was 12,000 plus the paperwork fee. We got the 12,000 back. So it cost us at todays prices £215. Under the new charging model its £1837 for the carnet and we put no money down. We get £986 back on discharge and so it costs us £851 for the same carnet that cost us £215 before. So lets say you used the Bank thing before and your carnet was £40,000 on a £5K car or bike. It cost you £215 and about £100 in admin at the bank. £315 then. Now its going to cost you £2335 in fees! You may note for the same £5K bike/car you'd only need put 3000 Euro down with the ADAC! 305 euro in fees and you get the 3,000 back! for a car its a little more at 10,000 and you get that all back. We are ripped off....... <<<<>>>> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FridgeFreezer Posted July 9, 2015 Share Posted July 9, 2015 yes they are an option but not sure how much room there is inside. Need to create a living space. The other option is get a 130 and put a Ambulance back on it. Would work out cheaper than buying one whole! The backs can be had for £2 - £4K There's not a lot of difference with the non-wolf ones, they're a little smaller in each dimension but not by very much, it's never going to be a winnebago but it IS a lot more space than a 110 or 130 crew-cab rear body. I'm not sure it's cheaper to attach an ambulance body to another vehicle, we paid 4.4k for the entire vehicle and although we're spending money doing it up that's our preference rather than a necessity. The ambulance bodies are not a simple bolt-on, certainly both flavours of 127 and the wolf 130's I've seen they are more closely attached. For your 2-4k budget you'd potentially be better off buying some aluminium extrusion & insulated panels from a truck supplies and building your own box to your own spec. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eightpot Posted July 9, 2015 Share Posted July 9, 2015 I looked at Wolf ambos too, went inside one and they feel huge, don't know what they weigh but they look heeeeaaavyy. if they were cheap I'd consider one, but for the price difference and ease of living/driving it I'd opt for a 110 ambulance, a 130 at a push - both are plenty big enough inside - plus carnet benefits etc. My Range Rover ambulance is probably the same size as a 110 ambulance inside and was a perfect size for the two of us to live in - glad we didn't have anything bigger as we could still do fast motorway speeds, tackle pretty extreme offroad stuff and hide away in the bush when necessary.. oh and get it into a container. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tweetyduck Posted July 9, 2015 Author Share Posted July 9, 2015 I could get the ambulance in a High Cube with less hassle than the 110 into a normal container but its is big and heavy and also uses much more diesel according to someone that has one. I've followed up on the other post about ex util 130s with a box on the back big enough for two and there are much cheaper (probably much lighter too). The Ambulance is great based on quick research (and going in one today) this week but cost is a big issue. I can get a nice low mileage Puma for half the price! The Ambulances are rated up to 3800 so they much be heavy to start with. The running gear will be stronger than a Puma for sure. Still undecided .... buy in haste and all that....... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FridgeFreezer Posted July 9, 2015 Share Posted July 9, 2015 I don't see why you assume the ambulance is much heavier than anything else, it's only a big empty box on a truck-cab chassis. The extra overhang all round the Wolfs makes them look cumbersome but I'd wager they're not actually very weighty. Fully laden with medical gear and 2 or 4 victims yeah it's probably a bit hefty but then a fully loaded up 110 CSW isn't going to handle like a go-kart. My experience of driving our 127 is it's closest to the experience of driving a Camel 110 (cage, heavy roof rack). The height makes it a bit wallowy in corners but it doesn't feel heavy. The weight rating is probably due to the fact the 127/130's are built on 110 high-cap chassis, cut in half & lengthened, originally because people wanted a 110 with more carrying capacity. The wolfs are heavier duty again, as the army demand ever more kit-carrying ability. MPG-wise it's a bigger thing to push through the air so is never going to better a stock 110 but again a loaded up expedition 110 + roof rack / box on the back / roof-tent is not going to get stellar MPG. A mate has an almost identical 127 ambulance with a 300Tdi in it, we drove it before we bought our V8 one and TBH it was really not much different to a 110 in the way the engine coped, again it was most like driving the heavier Camel 110 2/300Tdi. Even running as badly as it does, the low-compression carbed 3.5 V8 in our 127 actually returns 15+ mpg on a steady run, not a million miles off a RRC or Disco 1 with the same lump (and they're blessed with high compression). It surprised me when I worked it out! The mate with the 300 in his reckons it's not significantly worse on fuel than his 110. Obviously if you load it up with a load of heavy gear or do a camper conversion with real granite worktops and then try to drive everywhere at 80mph with a TDi you're going to have your foot to the floor all the time and get rubbish figures, they drop off when they're asked to work hard. We're biting the bullet and sticking V8 (4.6 EFi) for peace & quiet & relaxed cruising and just accepting we're going to lose some MPG over a TDi, but at least the thing won't be thrashing away at full load all the time. Unless we decide to drive round the world in it the overall difference in the fuel bill is not worth worrying about. One thing to bear in mind is that you cannot take military vehicles into MANY countries (notably many African ones I'm told), which at the very least means a respray or vinyl wrap job before venturing too far, and that ruins the originality if you're fussed about that. Even Germany has some funny rules about military vehicles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tweetyduck Posted July 10, 2015 Author Share Posted July 10, 2015 I'd considered the exMOD thing and we would make it less army. We'd need an export licence to leave the UK as with all ex Military stuff. I'm not so sure that the rules are enforced as we met lots of Euros in old army stuff and never met one who commented on it. However it is a consideration so some checking is needed. We were possibly considering Africa again,,,maybe. More likely we go East this time until we fall in the Pacific. I like the idea of the Granite worktops....LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eightpot Posted July 10, 2015 Share Posted July 10, 2015 Don't know if the pics are still googleable, but there were some photos on the web somewhere of wolf ambulance conversions, and someone did indeed kit one out with kitchen worktops - can't remember if granite or formica- and ceramic tiled walls in the kitchen area! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tweetyduck Posted July 11, 2015 Author Share Posted July 11, 2015 So been down today to see some. Got my pic from maybe 20 of them so will go back next week once the descision is made and choose one. I've posted a question in the Defender thing, maybe wrong place about 24V electrics.....maybe a mod can shift it here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happyoldgit Posted July 13, 2015 Share Posted July 13, 2015 I had a Locomotors bodied ex RAF Defender 127/130 some years ago which I converted to a camper. As has been said they are based on civilian chassis and had standard doors with push button handles and wind up windows and aren't really that heavy although will sway quite merrily if corners are taken briskly. Been thinking about a Wolf ambulance but it will probably sit around not getting used enough just like last time ...tempted though... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tweetyduck Posted July 13, 2015 Author Share Posted July 13, 2015 Steve, yes i've heard they are a bit wobbly....I wonder how wobbly....The 110 is buttock clenching on side angles. I really don't want to tip it over. So a bit more phoning today. Lots in fact.... DVLA and registering at first reg as a campervan. Seems OK. Problems at first but they are pretty happy to do it. Can't register it as an ambulance as blue lights aren't there any more. MOT place is calling me back about me presenting it as a camper and getting a class 4. Seems OK if he's willing. Downplating it. £120 plus vat and done via post. Gets it to 3500Kg so it stays under the Tolls and stuff when away. Insurance. £274 as a camper based on 2000miles. Too new for guaranteed value !!!! Will try somewhere else on that one. SIEL - Export Licence to take it out of UK. Complete PITA to do. Not geared up to "holidays". Temp licence limited to a year. Perm licence hard to get. Just ignore it was the concensus on some forums. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FridgeFreezer Posted July 13, 2015 Share Posted July 13, 2015 Steve, yes i've heard they are a bit wobbly....I wonder how wobbly....The 110 is buttock clenching on side angles. I really don't want to tip it over. Depends how wobbly you've made your 110 really. Ours was terrifying when 1st got it as it had the roof-rack, no weight in the back, and insanely heavy-duty springs so it bounced & hopped over everything. With the roof-rack off and a little weight in it (sofa bed) it's better, on-road it's fine, off-road it still lurches a bit but that's mostly the springs. A tall vehicle is always going to be a bit more of an inverted pendulum and feel worse on side-slopes even if it's no more or less likely to tip over. I've not found any official figures for the off-road parameters of the ambulance, I suspect it's nowhere near as bad as it feels compared to a standard one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Happyoldgit Posted July 14, 2015 Popular Post Share Posted July 14, 2015 Yes the ambulances are definitely better with a bit of weight in the back to bring the CoG down. With all the fittings stripped out and bare in the back mine was markedly different, less lean, more slide 14 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tweetyduck Posted July 14, 2015 Author Share Posted July 14, 2015 Granite worktops it is then.... Just been on with the MOD government exporty people and they are pretty OK really. There is a reasonably simple way to get a licence as there is an OPEN (OGEL) licence in place for Surplus Military Vehicles. Although it excludes large portions of countries where we want to go,,,ARGH!!! So that officially means we are not allowed to go.....permission to say FFS !!! Getting a logon to the system and completing the licence took no more than 15mins. I've not submitted it yet as they are looking into another way of doing this. So to those that want to just go abroad to Europe (legally) its simple. You then fill a return in at the end of the year telling them where you've been. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/open-general-export-licence-military-surplus-vehicles Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tweetyduck Posted July 17, 2015 Author Share Posted July 17, 2015 its done....we own it. Lots of pictures on here. https://www.facebook.com/overlandbirds 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
western Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 a fine looking vehicle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowie69 Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 Really like that, especially the hatch through to the cab, and all the toys in the back already built in for you, looks like a really great base vehicle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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