m4tt274

iTrader: (2)

did ford ever make a 4x4 transit. ?????
someone told me it was in 68'

but surly that would be the first 4x4 main stream vehicle

snoopaloopa

iTrader: (3)

Pretty sure they did as the local plod had one near me, seem to remember it was a smiley faced one crazy looking thing as it sat well high off the ground

tabetha

Yes they did, earlier on cars, than that and still on CURRENT transits, are done as special order, but yes without doubt on mk1 tranny 4wd could be ordered, but thinbk at time would have been FF conversions, as in Ferguson Four, the same company that put the FF into Jenson Interceptor.
Earliest common use of 4wd was on WW1 trucks

Rich_bloor

ive seen BIG jacked up transits that are 4x4, the electric board use em for working on pileons in fields. so they are out there.

Mk1-stu

found on roadtransport.com

dunketh

I know someone with a mk3 4x4. (least I think its a mk3, the first of the square ones, on from the mk2 above)
Not that rare. Aftermarket but I think it was one of those conversions ordered through Ford yet done by someone else-type-thing.

cozzfather

iTrader: (1)

from my memory data bank they were called Countrys, they were mainly used by forces and firebrigades,airports,utility companys etc.

i remember seeing a 4x4 ford zephyr that the police used and iirc that was possibly the first or was the first it was a 1968 g reg and was in actual service.

tabetha

FF did lots of conversions for ford as early as 62 at least.
As said lecky co's use them as well as gas boards, and forestry services.
tabetha

Si B

iTrader: (59)

Agreed with that. We have a Mk 3 shape K-R ish reg plate one come in to work regularly. Battered as hell, but works fine and is used by a Farmer as an alternative to a Landy or similar.

thebigmacmoomin

4wd is a Ł3995 option from new and you can use it with the 3.2 TDCi 200PS engine aswell.

Andy

County4x4

Hi all,

Just popped in here and saw this thread!

The majority of 4x4 conversions on Transits have been done by a company called County Tractors who worked out of Knighton, Powys. Transits from Mk1 to Mk5 were converted, but not the Mk6. The Mk7 is available as AWD - but it's one of these "intelligent" systems requiring no input from the driver and ride height and ground clearance remain as standard. The system has been manufactured by the latest incarnation of County - now trading as Countytrac.

Most conversions were originally for utility companies and the like, and they do come up for sale from time to time, usually at a much higher price than the standard version! Pricey too when new - in the late nineties, the conversion would set you back well over Ł12k on top of the van price. A rear mounted underfloor Ramsey winch was about another Ł3k!

The 4x4 system is for off road use only and is not designed for use on hard surfaces as there's no central diff - so it's like driving a Landy with the diff lock engaged. Lack of understanding of this has left a lot of them with front axle problems - and parts are expensive, probably due to the low production numbers.

Considered to be a pretty capable vehicle - many now in use with Mountain Rescue teams and the like who say the biggest problem is getting such a big vehicle through gates etc - no problems with the off road performance though. A turbo is a help - the N/A diesel versions are not exactly sprightly with all of 76ps on tap, though they always get there and don't seem any slower with a big trailer or caravan on the back.

Here's my old Mk3 - now gone down south:



And here's my old faithful and favourite Mk5- which will not be for sale at any price!





Loads more pics of all the Mk's if anyone wants any.

Cheers all,

Andy

Si B

iTrader: (59)

Good info Andy

Deffo post more pics too, I've always oddly fancied one of these for a bit of a laugh!

Si B

iTrader: (59)

Google Images:



This one looks awesome:

County4x4

OK - you asked for it!!

Mk2:




Mk3


Modified Mk3




Mk4




SWB Mk5


Mk5 minibus


and the fore-runner and big brother - A series Ford converted by Reynolds Boughton



Cheers

Andy

County4x4

Out of interest - the Pennine Rescue pic posted by Si B now looks like this:

Si B

iTrader: (59)

Are all those your own ones Andy?

Quite a collection one way or another.

I'm going to have a chat with the bloke that comes into our work - he uses his a lot on the road and off, I think I remember saying his is buggered transmission wise. Can you get parts for them any where?

cozzfather

iTrader: (1)

i was a regular at bca and manheim auctions up until vans fell out of bed due to the early credit crunch warnings, i have seen many many 4x4 trannys go under the hammer and they can do big money as there are people into a big motor that can go off road, i don't see a 4x4 tranny with a cherry picker in the pics above !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

now thats a rare van,i have seen them with a Time Versalift made in Waco Texas and thought shit that must cost a fortune and have studied the legs that come out and the huge big cylinder in the middle of the van then thought ..fuck it utility companys rip people off so off cause they can afford it.

i much prefered the look off the twin wheeler tranny 190 mk1,2,and 3 ,them vans could go fast around bends and carry double the weight they were supposed to do no probs.

County4x4

Hehe - I wish!! No mate - just the two in my first post I'm afraid, though I sold the Mk 3 a while back to a fellow mower racer darn sarf. I just tend to collect pics of any I come across - sad innit?! I've had the Mk5 for a few years following an epic struggle to get hold of one which lasted for almost two years. Had one lined up which a guy in Essex was working on for me for about nine months, but it stalled through lack of a few parts and he ended up selling it for export. This is that one:





It was a very early IFS model - that particular front end was only made for a year or so before being altered by all accounts and parts are like the proverbial to get hold of. I'd been without a van for too long as I'd sold my previous one and in the end I told this guy I needed to either sort this or move on, and he took that as meaning I'd found another and got rid of it!

I was about a day off giving up when the Mk5 came up - I'd seen it on ebay about a year previously and thought I'd have a last minute bid, but it disappeared about three days before the auction end! When it came up again I recognised it straight away and offered the guy over the odds to take it off auction - and there we go! Had to collect it from Milford Haven which was a bit of a trek but well worth it! It was built for the South Wales Leccy Board, and then worked for the Maritime Volunteer Service towing boats about etc and getting covered in sea water which probably explains some of the rust After that a student on a gap year had it and took it to the Alps where he said he was towing Landy's out of trouble with it!

It has the Ramsey winch too which I ended up removing single handed with the help of a forklift - that's in the workshop at the minute. Good piece of kit but weighs a ton and you do lose the ability to go up slopes like in the picture as it will ground.

The Countys were often built in batches and then registered at the same time, so you'll often find several consecutive number plates. I've found several of my van's "sisters" on either side of the reg number - from Glasgow to Wales - though the Glasgow one was scrapped a couple of years back.

Mine has been on the waiting list for some money spending on it for a long time now, but we should be making a start on doing her up soon. New wings and arches (normal Transit there then!), new doors on the back, wheels blasted and powder coated, bull bar and work lights to go on, new tyres and a few extras in the goodies department. Probably get the running gear blasted and epoxy coated too. I part stripped another of my vans recently - one of the top output turbo motors, so all the turbo gear - manifolds, sump, injectors, turbo etc is destined for the County - but converted to a manual Bosch pump rather then the possibly troublesome Lucas EPIC system that's on the turbo motors as standard. That should up the power from 76ps to over 100ps, so she might be a little more lively then! Won't go any faster of course as they have a fairly low speed diff, but will get there quicker, and hopefully return better mpg too.

If your man's van is a Mk3 it will have a beam axle on the front instead of IFS. Some of these axles were made by Dana (of Jeep fame) so they may be worth a shot depending on what or where the trouble lies. Otherwise, for County parts, the people to talk to are called M.J.Allen - they have a website at http://www.mjallen.co.uk/. They took over the County spares operation, but due to some sort of fall out with the May's, who designed the 4x4 system, they have been left with very little information to work with. As a result, they basically have to work from a few photos on an excel spreadsheet, and more or less try and make it up as they go along! They do try their best to help out though. There are a few oddities like bearings which are silly money and may be able to be replaced with something off the shelf from a bearing factors ifyou have an original for pattern. Other sillies like Mk5 brakes for instance - which are County calipers and discs but Ford pads on the front, and standard Ford on the back. Steering is Ford power rack but County column and track rod ends! Funny old things eh. Just tell your man to sit down before he rings for any prices!! Apologies for advertising another forum (though it IS Ford based!), but I'd also recommend he joins the Transit forum - very few problems the clever guys there can't sort - and there's a section just for Countys too. It's at http://fordtransit.org/forum/

Anyway - I've probably rattled on for long enough! Anything else you need just shout up!

Couple more pics though

Gas board I think - quite a few of these in the North east though this one was in Notts:


Ramsey underfloor winch off mine - I broke a 1/2" drive and a 3/4" drive breaker bar getting this off - finally resorted to 1" drive bar with about eight foot of gas pipe over it:


Transfer box looking towards front:


Front end looking backwards:


Ex Forestry Commission camper conversion:


Cheers for now,

Andy

Ginger Will

I'm curiously interested in these for no good reason. I dont need a van and never go off road! But they are cool.

XRT_si

iTrader: (2)

My thoughts exactly! The info here is very good and makes a good read.

Saaamon

iTrader: (2)

I remember seeing what appeared to be a "jacked up" mk5 tranny with big plastic arch extentions driving around where i live few years ago.. I now know what it was :O

James

same here, seen them on ebay years ago and even iveco vans converted, interesting stuff.

Did county do the conversions to the fordson major tractors? cos i'm sure some compant converted a few then after a few years ford made the fordson superfour iirc? 4wd as standard?

James

do they have low ratio & diff locks etc? or is it just constantly engaged? viscous centre diff like the range rovers?

Northants Ford Fan

They have low ratio and diff locks as the 4x4 system is only designed for off road use at low speeds so it should not have 4x4 system while on the road as it kills the front axles

Robmatheson

County made the equal wheelers (an a few conventional style), Roadless traction also made 4x4 Majors and selene .

I'm well interested in these 4x4 transits , I remember a few years ago all the local surfers had them .

James

so almost the same as the old discovery setup then.

Northants Ford Fan

they are interseting beast but there only down fall is due to the low ratio axles which means they arent particulaly quick eg struggle to do 70mph
someone on the transitforum has got a mk3 transit and used early landcrusier axles and possibly engine bolted to it as the mk3 transits used leaf springs on the front.
Also using landcruiser axles gives a better range of wheels and tyres as the transit pcd is quite large 160 which is unique to transits and some tata's. And yes im a memeber on the transitforum.org along with county4x4 but i only own a standardish mk5 lwb van

cozzfather

iTrader: (1)

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/4X4-FORD-TRANS...d=p3286.c0.m14

looks a bit too too gay for me.

Northants Ford Fan

cozzfarther that van has been for sale for ages, there was 3 of them all with the same windows and chequer plate all over them i think they were used at festivals by the security, but not 1 of them was really any good eg non working 4x4 systems among other issues

petey.

very pikey but very cool, i walked past one today with the dog usedd to be quite common round this area

County4x4

That ebay one has been up for sale for a while as mentioned. Looking back through old emails etc - one of the three the festival security guy had was working properly but he didn't mention which one at the time! The current seller says this one is in full working order, but then again he says it has diff locks which I very much doubt. County never did them as an option and I doubt there's anything aftermarket that would go in the front end. Rear axle is a Salisbury same as some Landys I believe, but aftermarket lockers are expensive and I doubt this van has one. I reckon the seller is getting them mixed up with free wheeling front hubs which are electrically activated on the IFS models with a switch on the dash. Earlier models had the hubs where you had to get out and turn a collar in the middle of the front wheel to engage them. I'd also be a bit concerned about what's lurking behind all the chequer plate!

The gearbox has a high and low range in both 2 and 4 wheel drive. Earlier beam axle models had a 4 speed with electric overdrive and were slightly higher geared I think so a bit faster top end. There is no centre diff so if you use it on the hard then the transmission will wind up pretty quick and you're heading towards breaking something. I don't know what the Discovery setup was - but if compared to a Landy 110, it would be like permanently moving the transfer box lever across to the diff lock position - this locks the centre diff on them so you always have drive to the front and rear axles. There are no extra diff locks on the front and rear axles on the Transit. Nothing fancy like viscous couplings either - the transfer case just houses a chain drive to the front prop shaft and is constantly engaged when in 4WD.

Not a flying machine as mentioned earlier - but then not really designed for motorway cruising. I need to do some research into the possibility of sticking an overdrive into the system to work just in 2WD for the back axle, though from what I've seen so far most of them seem to bolt onto the back of the gearbox, and that space is already taken on these by the transfer box. I don't know if there's such a thing as an overdrive that can be mounted as an independant unit.

Most of them worked fairly close to home from new and then often only on off road work erecting pylons and suchlike, so mileages are generally low. Mine is a '96 and has less than 80,000 on it - and that seems to be the norm - I've never seen one with much over 100,000 on the clock.

The beam axle models had a much more agricultural feel to them in my opinion, though they seemed a bit happier at motorway speeds as I think the gear ratios were a bit taller. Power steering was only an option (and rare) and getting a Mk3 round a tight carpark was a bit of a workout. Much rougher ride too due to cart springs all round. None of the Countys seemed to suffer from the body roll you might expect - that quite surprised me driving mine back through Wales as I thought it would be like cornering in a ship. Ride is pretty good I think with very little roll - it will pick up an inside wheel instead if you're getting enthusiastic

Anyway, better go and fire the old girl up and get off to work!

Cheers for now,

Andy

Glenn_

iTrader: (1)

Top info here,was the 4x4 gear box similar to the sierra?

County4x4

I wouldn't honestly know mate not having had any dealings with Sierras. It was basically a modified MT75 with the transfer box bolted up to the back of it. I can get some pics if you like if you think it will be any help.

Cheers,

Andy

paul16v

What a cool thread

m4tt274

iTrader: (2)

haha, hes right.


i wonder if you could use a sierra floorpan and then make a YB transit

cozzfather

iTrader: (1)

don't tempt Ginge aka Paul, he has a nice Escort Monty if he pulled his thumb out his RS and got graftin on it ain't that right Gingy

more pics of Mk 2 trannys !!!!!!!!!!! also a cozzie yb drops nicely into a tranny mk3,my mate has one.

County4x4

Lots of Cossie powered Transits over on the Transit forum gents - and at least one with nitrous which can probably be found on Youtube caning some sports car or other!

No more pics of Mk2's I'm afraid - I only tend to save County pics - but again there's a gallery section on the forum where you can find some real gems from every mark. There's a Mk1 4x4 in there somewhere too....

Anyway, a couple more pics - you guys like pics eh!

Another view of the RB44 I posted before - built on a Ford A series:


And the modern equivalent, on a Renault


County tipper


RB44 again - Rover V8, PTO's and hydraulic take offs all over it!


Next to a Transit


Yank Ford


And an RB44 and a County belonging to the same lucky fella


Right - better go and do something!

Cheers for now,

Andy

DanW@FastFord

iTrader: (1)

Cool thread. I've always liked these!

I presume they're converted by the same people who did the Golf County?


edit: Duh, just realised it's Golf Country, not County! So completely different!

cozzfather

iTrader: (1)

funny things that camo Renault.

they used to be called Dodge 50's before Renaults, best thing for them is scrap though.

william4x4camper

hi guys am looking to build a transit 4x4 was thinking range rover or landrover axles with a moded mt754x4 cozzy box my dad had a mk 3 transit years ago loved the monster am also going to convert to a camper so it will be the perfect 4x4 please let me know what pit falls am up against ..thanks will