Doomed forever to tinkering with small engines

I am very new to this game and would love to go for a Petter or Lister as a project but how on earth do you transport them without a heavy duty trailer or a van with good springs. I recently read that a Lister/Petter could weigh 110kg. I have an estate car so space is not a problem but I wouldn't like to risk the suspension or boot floor with a weight like that. A vision comes to mind of the back end sat on the ground and the front wheels in the air. Comments appreciated.

you will be fine with a lister D in the back of and estate car , and if you go with a trailer route you could easilly tow 3 maybe 4 of them in a un braked trailer upto 750kg .

matt

Same problem here my good man - I recently gave up a Land Rover 110 and miss it greatly - the company chariot/ estate will have to do and a sheet of 8mm marine ply will spread the weight on the boot floor!

And a couple of good lashing eyes to be sure it doesnt shift would be useful!

Go for it - but safely!

best

Hamish

Hi All
I got my petter A1 in mazda 323f 5 door hatch seat's had to go down.
Suspension was fine just like taking two passengers.
The awkward bit was getting in the back two strong people should do it.
Andrew

StewartH wrote:Same problem here my good man - I recently gave up a Land Rover 110 and miss it greatly - the company chariot/ estate will have to do and a sheet of 8mm marine ply will spread the weight on the boot floor!

And a couple of good lashing eyes to be sure it doesnt shift would be useful!

Go for it - but safely!

best

Hamish

Wise words.    The ply and lashing eyes are the key to safely transporting it but it need not be marine ply.  The "marine" spec. is only a quality assurance level specifying no gaps in any of the laminated plys.  Any old ply muck will do for the purpose as long as its thick enough to spread the load over the floor area (which is sometimes only a hardboard lid over the spare tyre).

Many years ago I worked for a car parts place and we had an estate without rear seats as a work vehicle. The boss got me to go and pick up a 4 cylinder short block one day. Had a car pull out on me on the way back and jammed on the brakes. I was only doing 10 or 15mph but the block rolled forward and into the back of the drivers seat hard enough to break the seat.

TIE IT DOWN, PLEASE.

I recently had a lister D delivered to me. it was in a volvo estate with no ply to spread the load or lashing eyes. the lister was on a trolley with 4 narrow heavy duty casters. everything went swimmingly. We got in out easily with a large sheet of ply supported by two planks of wood.
I wouldn't like to do that regularly though it was a bit hairy!  
so yeah, an estate will be fine from my experience. worth buying proper ramps, sheet of thick ply and lashing eyes though.
or even just a good quality trailer.

Get a trailer, that is the only SAFE way to do it, just think, you hit something or some t w a t hits you then you will have your Lister D come and hit you in the back of the head, really want that?

Good point villiers. i didn't think about the safety in collisions.
considering a person can have the same force as an elephant when in a crash, i dread to think what a lister would be like! 
don't forget if you have a friend with a van i'm sure they would be happy to help. or you could even hire a van. a bit pricey though.