plates on rigs.. Revisiting

O

O.D.

Well-known member
Club Member
OK..

So... Suppose one buys a vehicle that is currently plated and being driven. Suppose this person wants to tear it down, rebuild with all sorts of changes, such that it won't really be road legal and the intent would be to trailer...

What is this person's best approach :)

Should they safety it? Should they right away plate it as something else? The idea behind it all is to ensure that insurance can be acquired once completely being built.

OR, does one not bother with plates at all...
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Farm Boy

Farm Boy

Bought the Farm
O.D. said:
... such that it won't really be road legal and the intent would be to trailer...
Click to expand...

How far off road legal are you talking? My Toy wasn't legal but I probably could have gotten away with it. Some of the other rigs (back-half buggies etc) may have progessed from a legal vehicle and still carry the plates but wouldn't get away with it on the road.


In my opinion, you will be best to get an ATV plate and ins. If you plan to always trailer, this is hands down the best way to go. Better than having it plated/ins as one thing on paper and something else in real life. Although I've got a plate/ownership in my name for an '85 Toy, the buggy is going to get ATV plates.
IIRC, calling it a "dune buggy" when trying to plate/ins it makes it easier to fit the MTO guidelines.
 
O

O.D.

Well-known member
Club Member
Yeah, i don't want to road this build if i proceed. This in turn drives what kind of build i would do. I have no issues with going the ATV plate route. If i go with Hydro assist steering, 1T axles (Wide), full beadlocks, no e-brakes, etc.... I am throwing all sorts of safety no-nos in their face!

Can i do this at any point in the process? Do i have to do any form of inspection to prove my statement? I just want to avoid the scenario i got myself into with OD. If i have to get it safetied, i want to do it now as opposed to have to deal with it at the end...

Thanks.
 
O

O.D.

Well-known member
Club Member
Yeah... I will look everything over and try and figure it all out.

There's this other member on the site that criticized me on my last build because i built, then rebuilt. If i proceed, this time i want to do it all in one shot. Just means it might take a bit longer.. *lol* :) J/K
 
Farm Boy

Farm Boy

Bought the Farm
I'm not one to criticize for taking a while (unless it's bugging Andrew :D). In 12 yrs in this sport I've cut up two running trucks to make buggies (well, the same buggy actually) rather than keeping the truck running while building. Having now bought a house the buggy still sits waiting for me to get back to working on it. Do it the way you want it the first time, even if it takes longer.
 
O

O.D.

Well-known member
Club Member
It's funny... I THOUGHT i had done that with OD. :) Couple of things though came out of that build..

1 - a back seat is not that important, especially when your son would rather sit in the front!!
2 - While a nice feature, i really hated driving the TJ to the trail. Fawkin' long haul every single time.
3 - If i want to try and hammer a ledge or rock face to see if i can make it up, i want to be able to try without having to worry about having to drive back home.

Suffice it to say, i learned a heck of allot and have a better appreciation of which aspects are more relevant than others :)
 
Farm Boy

Farm Boy

Bought the Farm
Having a trailer certainly changes the way you wheel. Having no body (or atleast no care for it) changes it again.

When I started this round of mods (2 yrs ago) it was simply going to be a 6.0L install. But I needed a cage. Was going to exo cage the toy but would still distroy the body and alot of work to exo so I dug the buggy chassis back out to salvage wha I could from Round 1. Got to thinking about the 400Hp and the Toy axles and didn't like where it was guarenteed to go so I sold them and got the D60/14B and now I'm back to where I wanted to be 8 yrs ago when I started building the first buggy.
 
louie

louie

Well-known member
i say go ballz in and do it the way you want! (but it isnt my money)
if it will help i do live closer now so can help you wrench! lol and i do always have an empty seat for you when i go!


just get the atv plates it seems like the best way to do it all around!
 
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