BUGA Community
Technical => Buying a Bedford => Topic started by: maria on August 20, 2008, 10:24:47 PM
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Hi all,
I'm on the verge, or closing in on it, of buying my first bedford van. I'm wondering how much you'd notice the difference btwn a swb and a lwb for general driving. Is there any? I've been getting around in a swb '76 transit for eight years but i'd like a bedford now as the rust has beaten me and i must move on. I like the look of a swb but a lwb might be that extra bit handy. Anything you can tell me would help.
thanks
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maria it depends on what you want to do with it hey..
id say you can almost fit anything you ever need to in a swb.. and they look a whole lot cooler.. but lwb make flippen great tow vehicles..
i wanna mould 2 swb roofs into 1 lwb one day.. i recon it woul dbe the u;ltimate beddy.. but then maybe it may look out of proportion im not sure..
lwb in the city is hard work cause the turing circle is not as good.. swb make great courier type van id say..
yeh the lwb unless modifyed to fit hq on front and rear will never look sporty or 'cool" but if your not going for that thats fine..
you can take a fair bit of extra weight in the back of a lwb..
i towed home (2 hours) with a lwb (The Zebra, Low Ratio diff) one night 1 car trailer with 1 swb beddy on it and about a ton of parts. so probably about 4 ton.. she handled like a normal car.. we drove at 80 all the way.. and climbed a few massive hills as well.. flippen amazed me..
what you specifially want to do with your van?
oh welcome to the site maria! not many ladys on her eh..
cheers
ben
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I'm long
... oh - you were talking about Bedfords ... short then!
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thanks for the welcome. i was on the old site too but was under the radar, not having the right kind of van, yet.
generally the it would be for a bit of city driving and some getting away in around vic and over to s.a.
I'm used to heavy and poor turning what with the transit i have. i haven't even driven a bedford yet. A lot that I've seen on ebay etc have sports steering and I guess that makes the turn a bit harder. I'm not really too fussed about that. but i do want sporty and cool. well, who wouldn't? but a modified lwb could to this to. no?
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ok well the only travelling ive done is in a swb.oh i drove from qld in vic in a lwb..
hmmmm
i recon it doesnt matter for you.. just keep looking until you find one you love.. whether it be long or short..
you in melb?
ben
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i guess you could say i'm in melbourne. and yes, i'm waiting for that moment when i set eyes on 'the one'. it will be a happy day
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are you coming to our little get together on the 31st of aug?
its in oakleigh.
im coming from yarram.. you east side of melb?
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http://www.buga.com.au/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=2&topic=102.0
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Well I have a LWB and am now looking for a SWB for my regular driver. I was going to buy a station wagon to cart my german shepherds around to shows and training, but have decided that a SWB Beddy is far more practical for me. We go camping in the one we have now and there is plenty of room for the futon and the dogs sleep on the floor at the bottom of the bed. We also picked up a prefabricated cubbyhouse and it fit into the back fine. (I am using the cubby for a doghouse) Check out the pics of my LWB in 'members rides'
Oh and welcome to another female beddy fan!!! ;)
Shaz 8)
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Hey Maria,
Unless you really need the room I would go short easier to park, lighter and most were
produced from factory to seat 7 (I think). My long wheel base has only 2 seats and is only
legally allowed 2 seats unless I install more but then i would have to get it engineered.
Most of the time 2 seats is ok but sometimes I would love to throw everyone in and go for a cruise.
The LWB also has 4 rear tyres (2 either side) so replacing tyres would be more expensive.
Most long wheel bases have no side windows while most shorties have side windows.
Thats about all that I can think of! To tell you the truth - when I bought my Bedford I didn't
even know that there was a short wheel base version, I was so gobsmacked by the appearance
of the beast that I didn't pay much attention to what the bloke was saying... I heard him say that
he had 6 spare windscreens if I ever cracked that one and something about the diff, but apart from
that I was in awe ;D
If you find a good one - long or short, don't let it slip... Not easy to find one in good nic...
No more "under the radar" Welcome to the new site!
Jock
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Welcome Maria, personal preferance for whether you go long or short. As you will know a LWB is harder to fit into car parking spaces but you have heaps of room for anything inside. I have 2 SWB bedi's but drive a LWB mercedes sprinter van every day for work and totally prefere the long over the short, i feel cramped in the short, but the decision is up to you. You can make either look great on the road, you will know what you want when you see it. Good luck. Come along to the cruise on the 31st, even if you are in the Tran Trans Transit. ;D
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Shaz,
That makes 2 of us looking for a SWB as a daily driver...
My LWB is "going under the knife" so to speak and I just can't do without a Beddy...
Good luck with your SWB quest! Jd 8)
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Thanks Jock, I will need all the help I can get. There are not too many here in WA.
Also Maria, I don't have any problems parking our Beddy. I take it to the local shopping centres without too much trouble. Just takes a bit of getting used to is all. Now parallel parking.... that is another question, I am not too good in a car let alone a Beddy!!!
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yeh parallel parking is the worry..
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6 months on and I am just starting to nail the parks, parallel, reverse, whatever the only thing I would say is that it is a heavy work out on the arms... Better find me one of those Porsche power steering racks. Jd
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thanks all for the good information. guess i'll see what turns up. will check out the photos of the lwb.
won't be going to the meet as i'm off on holiday shortly. hooray.
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Hi Guy's,
Some of the older members might remember on the old site I posted a debate about LWB Chopped or LWB pancaked 'v' SWB streched. I would prefer a SWB for a daily driver and a LWB as a camper but as I'm not to keen on the roof on the LWB I would like to pancake it so it looks like a SWB roof.
This only my opinion but I would like to see it done!!
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i'm going to look at a lwb this week and i know what you mean about the roof on it. just not so sharp looking, though it depends. this is a special looking van and could be worth it. i'm also going for a drive today to see a van parked in flemington, melb, that i've been told is for sale. it's a swb. i don't think the swb is duel fuel but the lwb is. the lwb has rust in the rear end. i have no idea what that'd cost to fix. i did the rust myself in my transit years ago but that was...years ago
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Hi maria and welcome!
I've owned a couple of SWBs and am the proud owner of a LWB. There is no need for the duel wheels on the back unless your using it to carry around 3 ton, which you are not. I've only got singles on mine. So I wouldn't worry about that at all. I'm not convinced that most SWB came out registered as 7 seaters as the most I've ever seen that were original were 3 seaters in the front.
My van is a 5 seater with a queen bed in back. We go trippin in it all the time!...... I mean holidaying! ::)
As far as parking goes. I never take it in the underground carpark at Woolies as I need a minimum clearance of 2.2m. And something to awaire of is that is on a flat surface! When you start going up and down ramps this hieght changes. I got caught out once in an underground carpark in the city many years ago in a SWB with the low roof. I got in ok and many floors underground, but! When I wanted to come back up, because the wheels are so close to the front of the vehicle, as soon as I drove onto the up ramp I was too high! :o I ended up letting the air out of the tires untill the rims where only bearly off the ground, giving me just enough clearance to get back out onto the street. Pretty scary considering I was 7 stories under ground! Had to then drive 10k an hour to the servo which wasn't close to re-pump tyres! :(
Reverse parking is like parking anything. You just have to learn to use your mirrors! ;D
Here is a personal parking tip of mine (probably most of you out there already know it, but here goes anyway!). Look for park spaces outside shops. That way not only do you get to park somewhere for everyone to wonder at your parking prowess and fine looking van! You can use the reflection in the shop windows to see the car behind you! Alowing you to get within inches without touching. ;) ;D ;D ;D
People will marvel at your incredable driving abilites everytime! 8) ;)
Good luck with your search! ;D
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thanks for your info. the lwb i'm going to look at has dual wheels so i guess i'd stick with them if i get it. it has flares on the back so if i was to change the rear setup i guess the flares would be a bit wierd with a single wheel.
Also, my mechanic friend around the corner said dual wheels means higher rego. is that true does anyone know?
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the orig diffs did have a slightly lower ratio on duel wheelers to the single wheels but serious they were both as bad as one another..
lwb was roughly 4.8:1 - 5.2:1 i think and swb was roughly 4.1:1 - 4.6:1 something light that anyway both tree climbing ratios..
best if you can get a diff already had the big bucks spent on.
ben
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hi everyone, yeah i cant make my mind up on the long or short, i love both, they both have their good points, i love the room in the LWB and the compactness of the SWB, thats prob why i got 1 of each, the swb easier to park as you always find a 1 car space on side of the road but a LWB just wont fit. i will prob keep both
marty
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thanks for your info. the lwb i'm going to look at has dual wheels so i guess i'd stick with them if i get it. it has flares on the back so if i was to change the rear setup i guess the flares would be a bit wierd with a single wheel.
Also, my mechanic friend around the corner said dual wheels means higher rego. is that true does anyone know?
maria, the reason for that is because rego goes by weight on the road. And although you might be only using the van to carry yourself or whatever. The van is being registered as a 3.5 ton truck! The single and duel wheels determines the weight the vehicle is legally allowed to carry. You may have noticed those duel diff holden utes gettin round? These are 2 ton utes where as the others (single diff utes) are 1 tonners.
I've got single wheels on the back of mine, but with very wide tyres so the flares don't look out of place at all.
The advantages of a duel rear if traveling are. You can get away with getting a flat out in the middle of woop woop cause you already got a spare on. This happens to trucks all the time! And it'll be hardder to get bogged due to the extra surface area taken up by the back wheels.
Good luck!
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yeh but you still have to take the other tyre off thou.. other wise you flatten 2 then your really up the poo.. and its a real pain in the bum if the inside one goes flat..
- my folks own a toyota coaster.. mum was driving somewhere with a bus load of kids, got a flat but didnnt know.. some of the kids knew but didnt really say much until it flattened the other tyre.. 2 flats.. that sucks haha. $500 later they were back on the road. spewen.
and when replacing tyres you have to replace 6 insted of 4!!!!
but i still love duelys.. i just need to figure out how to fit mags on the back.. someone told me to use a F100 diff but i have so many bedford diffs here!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and no F100 ones..
ben
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well thats what happens when you run off from a beddy meeting to head to a wreckerz
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Ben what width are your diffs? I'm using a Chevy 12 bolt Coporate.
You mightn't be able to drive for ever or even long, but. My life was saved more than once by the duels on the back of the bus in the Himilayas when I was a kid. There ain't no room to pull over and change a flat. And buses travel both ways as fast as they can fully loaded with people.
From memory my diff is no longer than a standard Beddy one. But I do have 11" rims with a 6"-7" dish on the back which fills out the guards nicely. I'm guessing that the entire width would be around 86"........? I can check though.
Oh, and my diff ratio is 3:08
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hows the decision making going maria? always a tough one - but cant wait til you're on board with a CF of your own - good luck! :)
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sorry tweaker which diffs are you talking about? i have many diffs.. too many.. spare bedford diffs i have 7.. just in case ya know 1 breaks down hehe
ah hammers is picking up 2 today so that will get rid of a few.
ben
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hows the decision making going maria? always a tough one - but cant wait til you're on board with a CF of your own - good luck! :)
well i'm finally off to look at the lwb this weekend, then i guess i'll know if it's lwb or swb for me. i saw a swb for sale on the side of the road and pulled my transit up next to it to compare. i've called whoever about this van but got no reply. time will tell...
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where is the swb van for sale?
ben
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where is the swb van for sale?
ben
Don't tell him Maria, he will want to buy it :D
As if he hasn't got enough already
Warren
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sure will :D
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where is the swb van for sale?
ben
ben, it's in oak st, parkville. it's $3200 and i've called whoever it is three times to no avail. it's white, swb, just petrol i think, mags, got a bit of rust but couldn't see anything too major - a bit under the windscreen, (though it was night). might have had a ding on one of the back corners as there was a sort of scollop or four of rust curves. says 2 months rego to rwc. will have to dig for the number if you want it. let me know.
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where is the swb van for sale?
ben
ben, it's in oak st, parkville. it's $3200 and i've called whoever it is three times to no avail. it's white, swb, just petrol i think, mags, got a bit of rust but couldn't see anything too major - a bit under the windscreen, (though it was night). might have had a ding on one of the back corners as there was a sort of scollop or four of rust curves. says 2 months rego to rwc. will have to dig for the number if you want it. let me know.
whoops, i meant 2 months rego and no rwc
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nah 3,200 bit to much for my compulsive buying lol.
thanks anyway
ben
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yeah, dont tell him maria, Ben is like one of those cat ladys that have 60 cats, but he,s a beddy man haha, he wont be happy till his yard is full of beddy,s and maybe even two storys high, hhehe
marty
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HES NOT ALONE I JUST SCORED A DAILY DRIVER ;D
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lol, good one craig, what kind? any pictures .
marty
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swb black 253 auto licensed no side windows bit ruff but at lest back to driving a real car, thats of course the bloke who bought my commodore fronts up with the doe, Iv sold it twice got deposits and they never come back for it oh well At least iv made 250 on deposits lol.
(http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x234/craigc327/mababy.jpg)
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why not up the deposit? i usually charge 500 for a deposit.. dpending on how much the caar is worth.. then people dont seem to stuff you round so much..
cool look forward to seeing black beddy!!!BaMBALAM!
ben
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took the lwb for a spin. loved driving it, but won't buy it. now looking for a swb, auto pref and dual fuel pref. ie, looking for that needle in the haystack.
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why did you decide to go against the lwb?
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well it was great to drive out in the hills of melbourne, but there were things that needed to be done - bodywork would have become an issue and needed a new transmission but could've got by on what it had. it had heaps of extras like truck lights and airhorns, a spoiler and extractors, but i think really a swb will do for my needs. the guy selling it was really honest but wanted more than i was willing to pay as well, what with me about to go on holiday. but it was great to drive like i said.