Hi Dave,

If you plan on having your truck tested at a VOSA station you will need a working, calibrated limiter unless the vehicle or its use is covered under one of the exemptions on the VOSA 74 form (Exemption of HGV Speed Limiter). Failure to have such a limiter will mean that VOSA wont pass you.

The exemptions which may be applicable to you are:

If you don't fall under one of these exemptions the only way of avoiding the need for a speed limiter is to test the vehicle under Class 4 or 7 MOT as a motorhome. Legally, as crazy as it seems, any motorhome can be tested as class 4, regardless of its weight. So technically you could drive a 30 tonne 8x8 truck to your local MOT centre and have it tested after they've finished testing a Nissan Micra.

Personally I think it is irresponsble and dangerous to test a truck in this way and so I get my 18t truck tested at VOSA stations, and consequently stick with my limiter.

I have no idea whether you are legally required to have a limiter on a an HGV motorhome but it would seem pretty backwards that you could pass the MOT test without it if you legally needed one.

I don't know what your driving experience of trucks is so I don't want to patronise you but there are not many HGVs I would like to drive at much more than 55mph. Many modern trucks are designed with the limiter in mind and so are geared to rev economically at 55mph. Any faster and revs rise out of the 'green zone' and fuel use rises dramatically. My truck is well behaved at 55mph but on the odd occasion that I have used a decline to exceed the limit, the handling starts to become more erratic and at 65mph I find myself clenching the steering wheel and gritting my teeth; and this is on good european motorways. When the good roads finish there are rarely circumstances where going any faster is possible.

I don't know what size the truck you are interested in is but you may want to see how the thing drives at 55mph before you start thinking of removing the limiter.

Nick

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http://jimthetruck.blogspot.co.uk/

Putting parts on for various tests and then removing them is fairly standard practice in the UK (mainly exhausts and chips), if a little dubious.....

As well as the legal side of it you might want to check your insurance small print to see if it's invalidated. Normally insurance companies need to be notified of any modifications affecting performance. Annoyingly most insurers only have a few boxes they can tick when it comes to modifications and if the box isn't there they just say 'no'- I just asked an insurer what the impact on my premiums of putting a KX80 front-end, MT50 swingarm and XT550 shocks on a 125 step-through would be and they just got utterly confused......

Hi guys,

Thanks very much for all your responses.

I agree with the sentiment of not driving above 55mph. I have been driving old Merc NGs and SKs for about 6 years now and I totally agree, it doesn't feel that comfortable when you take it above 90kmph! And also, it does seem ridiculous that you could take a 30 tonne truck and test it as a motorhome....VOSA really have some interesting logic!

Thanks very much again, very valuable advice.

I'm suprised athe comments above re truck handling at speed. I haven't driven trucks for years, the last being a 1986 foden artic at 38 tons. it was very steady upto 70mph (and on occasion beyond, but any truckers out there will know about us tipper drivers!!) but I guess it's like you say, now they are designed with 55mph in mind. It's an interesting reflection on safety that equally applies to cars. if you design a car to run at 70mph then at 70mph it is on the limit of it's performance. if you design a car to do 140mph then at 70mph the engine, brakes, gears, tyres, transmission etc etc are only working at 50% of their capability. The 70mph speed limit was bought in at a time when most cars struggled to do any more than 70mph, now cars have so much more in hand should the limit on motorways be increase in the UK to the same as most of Europe (around 80mph)
but I guess thats another discussion for another day

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1990 Landcruiser H60. Full rebuild completed 2014

Hi
Speed limiters were first used in 1986 but it was in the early 90s that they were made compulsory and this also depended on the age and use of your truck. You will not need a to have a speed limiter fitted if your truck is used only as a mobile home and not for hire and reward ie the carriage of goods, the road Tax will come under P-HGV at £165.00 a year, the plating (MOT) is Class 4 but due to the weight if it is over 3.5tones it would have to be done at a VOSA MOT Station. Just out of interest why do you want to remove the speed limiter? Hope this is of help Skip

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Do the best you can with what you have,
A stranger in a strange land now heading North South East West to.....

Hi Dave

Just to add my two pen'th. I would leave the limiter on, but get it turned up to 60 mph. This is still the limit for HGV, private or not. Having them set to 55 is EU rules, but means you are stuck in the line of commercial trucks.

Tho' having said that I usually travel at 50 to save fuel, but sometimes it's necessary to get clear of a bunch of trucks, or catch a ferry!

Cheers

Bruce

Not exactly true, you just need a class 4 station with either high rated ramps or a pit

My 4 tonne Iveco goes to a bus garage who have ramps that can cope with bigger vehicles for mot

Local councils often have these facilities too

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Rich

Iveco Turbo Daily 4x4 40-10
Ex Owner LR101 300Tdi Ambi 'Tiggurr'

my understanding is that new vehicles over 7.5tons now have to be fitted with limiters regardless of their use.

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1990 Landcruiser H60. Full rebuild completed 2014

Thanks Skip, this seems to be what i have found out doing further research. I only really would like to remove it from a point of view of 1. it's 1 more thing to go wrong 2. The wiring is cheap shitty door bell stuff and cobbled in very badly 3. I would like to get upto 90kmph on European highways....but of course it can be upped to achieve that.

Thanks again for all your replies.