Military Lightweight Forum

I’ve been offered a sankey chassis, that has been blasted and checked okay.
Hitch, jacks and breaking system are removed at mo, axles and wheels still fitted.. but and it’s a big but it has no tub.

It’s £75, sounds good, but how easy - if available are the tubs to buy?

Seem to remember there’d was a place selling them (tub only) a few years back.

The ID plate is as below.
It’s only in the next village to me, but is it worth it without the body, or more trouble than worth!

A

Well, in the absence of better advice from others, I'll say what I think. By the time you've found a tub it could well be that you'd have been better off simply buying a complete Sankey to start with. They're out there from projects at £150 to over £500 for good ones. I think Blanchards used to have tubs for sale, though I note there aren't any on their site now which isn't surprising given that it is a long time since they were sold out of the Forces and, of course, the demand for tubs (which rust readily and suffered a fair amount of abuse) has always been greater than the demand for the chassis. You may, though be lucky to find one from someone who has made an expedition trailer and removed the tub - but it may be a long shot.

But: £75 isn't a lot of money if you want a simple project to get the chassis on the road again for fun and then fit your own tub - perhaps one with wooden plank sides and a tailboard. Might be fun, certainly it will be useful, probably cost as much as a proper Sankey and won't be authentic, but it will depend what you're after. It's an option.

Thanks for the reply,
Went to see it last night, not a spot of rust on chassis, axle has been removed at the hangers, as shackle bushes were shot, but all the mechs are there. Hitch legs and braking system is separate but complete. Think I might go for it, as you say, create a frame a board it for no, then look or fabricate something better later on. Actually the dismantled state makes storage a darned sight easier!
Just got to get it home..

Hi I would say well worth the money a lot of sankeys for sale have very rotten tubs one near me that was complete with lighting and legs went for £300 and you could put your hand through the tub front and sides.
If you have room to store it go for it for that money worth it just for the spares.
My Sankey has a remade by past owner tub Not for the purist but from 10 feet is a great copy there are some pics some where on the forum I posted .
Very simply construction to re fabricate,if you can use a angle grinder and are able to plug weld you could make one not a problem.
All down to if you want the challenge and have the time.

Totally agree - if I saw a chassis for 75 quid I would snap it up and worry about the tub later. Think of it this way - it’s a chance to restore the chassis first without the tub being in the way. I think it’s probably easier to make a new tub from fresh steel than it is to repair a rotten existing one.

I don’t have a sankey yet, but when I do it will probably be via this route.

Andy

Reckon that'd be a nice project if you had access to the right folding gear and a tub to copy. See how many experts notice it's a copy, that's the challenge!

Here,s a couple of pics of my remade tub .

well ive aggreed to buy it the chassis is perfect, abs no rust, but will keep it in bits for now, as storage as ever is an issue!

will post more pix when i get the trailer. does anybody have a source for spring busges and pins for above..

longlegslandyman, yous looks stunning..

Any way to find out history from my plate info? is there a b card type document for these?

Search on here for Sankey suspension bush as there,s a post that says you can use nct1772 landrover bush is a suitable replacement .

When I refurbed my suspension shackle bush and spring bolts I drilled them down from the head 35mm then drilled the side into the other hole. Filed a very small flat over the side hole to distribute grease down the side of the bolt. then tapped the head hole and fitted grease nipples so I can annually grease all spring and shackle bolts. Shackles need to move over bumps and off road. The originals were seized solid and rusty. You can as mentioned above use the landrover 90 rear trailing axle rod bush's fit perfectly just freeze bush nd gently sand. Phil