A few questions

[Galahad]

Ok, I've been told by a friend that because my Transit 190 Beavertail is a Cab ontop of a chassis, that I don't need to worry about any rot on the sills of the cab itself because this isn't structural.

Is this true?

I've got a Serson winch on my truck which is actually older than me! (1972), so I'm guessing getting a clutch kit for it is going to be very damned hard.

What I would like to do is chuck on a dedicated 24volt winch on, but seeing as the Transit only outputs at 12volts, are there any solutions to this that aren't going to cost me a fortune?

cheers in advance.

[FredTransit]

If you mean the steps of a cab of a chassis cab, it seems to be 50-50 about wether or not it will pass. Some testers take it as a car, and fail, but technically it had a seperate chassis nothing to do with the cab, and shouldn't be counted as structural rust, if that makes sense. Hope you find the latter tester!

[Luke]

basically with this one i'd ask the mot tester first - my mot tester goes by the book - that says as it isnt structural its not a failure! although it still cant be within i think 300mm of a suspention mounting!

if your tester is going to fail it try another one!!

[jay]

he can still fail it if it has a sharp edge..on any part of a van..

[Galahad]

Ok, cheers for that.

Any ideas of how I can get my Transit to give me 24v instead of 12v as there are some wicked winches out there on Ebay for a good price.

[FredTransit]

Ok, cheers for that.

Any ideas of how I can get my Transit to give me 24v instead of 12v as there are some wicked winches out there on Ebay for a good price.

Try a winch with a seperate independant battery, and use a 24v one, not sure how you could charge it though!

[cad69]

Try a winch with a seperate independant battery, and use a 24v one, not sure how you could charge it though!

Second battery (12v) wired in series. New 24v alternator. All existing wiring come off first battery...12v. Winch off both batteries...24v.

If memories serves me right 6volt vdubs sometimes had a modification that did the same thing with two batteries to spin starter motor fast on 12 volt.

Cad.

[baconsdozen]

Going back to the rust issue,the tester is entitled to fail the vehicle if he cosiders that corrosion would cause the vehicle to offer unsatisfactory protection to the occupants in the event of a collision.He is also entitled to fail it if corrosion influences the integrity of seat belt mountings,the seats,battery and things like the pedal box and steering column etc.If in doubt ask,there is a still a lot left that relies on the testers opinion.

[stevew]

As Fred says you could use a seperate battery, a 24V lorry type, to drive your winch. You could recharge it using a DC-DC coverter from the standard transit electrics.
Alternatively you could have two 12V batteries and a big switch (a really big switch ) that can connect the batteries in series or parallel. That way you would normally have both batteries in parallel and they would be charged by the alternator, and give better starting as a bonus . When you need to use the winch you use the switch put the batteries in series and away you go.
Using either of these setups you will only be able to use the winch untill the second battery is flat, the van engine will not power the winch directly.
Ask if you need more details!
Steve

[madmark]

i think you would need to 12v batterys to make 24v lorrys are 2 batterys joined to give you the 24v , you could run 2 lorry batterys to give you 24v but charging them might be a pain as you might only be able to put charge into 1 battery from your 12volt ,this needs somebody with abit more knoledge than me .............anybody help on this??????

[Galahad]

I already have 2 12v's on the truck, but my understanding of electrics means that 2x12v batteries doesn't = 24v, it still means the current will be 12v.

Its looking increasingly unlikely that I will be able to get my winch serviced so I might have to go down the 24v superwinch route, its smaller than mine and should be more powerful (although my winch can be run up to 24v).

[Luke]

I already have 2 12v's on the truck, but my understanding of electrics means that 2x12v batteries doesn't = 24v, it still means the current will be 12v.

it depends how you connect them in series it will be 24v in parrallel still 12v

[madmark]

as luke says ,they are conected difrent to give you 24v but you canot do this with the baterys that you use for the van you would have to run them seprately! otherewise you would be haveing a cook up!

[FredTransit]

Yes I too have got two vans with two 12V batteries, they are connected in paralell, so they are still 12V (it's a transit SVO option)

[cad69]

As Fred says you could use a seperate battery, a 24V lorry type, to drive your winch. You could recharge it using a DC-DC coverter from the standard transit electrics.
Alternatively you could have two 12V batteries and a big switch (a really big switch ) that can connect the batteries in series or parallel. That way you would normally have both batteries in parallel and they would be charged by the alternator, and give better starting as a bonus . When you need to use the winch you use the switch put the batteries in series and away you go.
Using either of these setups you will only be able to use the winch untill the second battery is flat, the van engine will not power the winch directly.
Ask if you need more details!
Steve

Does anyone make such a switch... haven't come across it before. Tho it could be done with contactors but sooner or later you will get the big bang on a failure me thinks.

Cad