Morris Minor Owners Club

hi all i am thinking about doing landscape gardening and tree surgery i wondered what would be best for the job a morris minor van or a pick up

cheers josh

i'd imagine you could fit longer stuff in a van, as the cabin leads through to the back.

a van is certainly more secure too, and gives more space to get sign-written.

and if you're doing tree surgery you'd need ladders, and i'd guess it's easier to put ladders on the roof of a van that a pickup.

so... van it is

I'd go for a pick up with a ladder bar at back of the cab. You can't easily put a 10' seedling tree in a van.

As the pickup is completely unsecure, so you need to unload everything everyday and can't assume that it's ok to park at the side of the road when doing a job. However this is probably safer than leaving tools etc.. in a Van

The pickup is nice and practical, but neither are big enough for carrying serious machinery. The people I know who do this have a caged & locked trailer for mowers etc..
The Minor's towing capability is pretty poor (based on 75% of kerb weight for a braked trailer...) - maybe a Series II or IIa landrover instead?

If you get a pickup then you can always build a secure box into the pickup bed for storing your tools.

the neighbour come up with a sugestion which was get a pick up build my own body and put a ram on my body and have it as a tipper dont know if it would work just for tipping up soil or something

cheers josh

Something like this?
[frame][/frame]

I suppose you realize that you will have to spend time and money on first restoring the lcv, (you wouldn't want to turn up somewhere in a wreck) that's before you start to alter it, not something you can do on the cheap.

The other thing to think about is hydrolics where to fit the tank, where will the ram fit, hydrolic lines, how will you power the hydrolics mechanical pump or electric, will the pick up electrics cope,without a serious upgrade. Then after doing all that you find out you are over your axle weight before adding any payload. By the time you've spent rebuilding it carring out the mods, you could have gone out and bought a decent second hand van or pick up for around the same price which would be more up to the job in the first place. Although i do agree a moggie lcv does look nice.

The tilt deck above is just about to be converted into a fixed one. Main reasons being simplicity (no hydraulic pumps, motors, rams, extra wiring and electrical capacity), lack of rattles, weight and, if the need arises, it is not to hard to shovel stuff off the deck.