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The " Ox " Vehicle For The Budget Minded Prospector


Au4Gold2

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That is about as agricultural as you can get,it may be in theory cheap,but as it only has front wheel drive would be about as much use for detecting as a inflatable dartboard,you can pick up say a cheap 4x4 like a Suzuki and have reliable transport.

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Detecting - no.  Prospecting/small scale mining in the developing world - you bet.  Issue is who will build it.  China? India? - anywhere else and the cost escalates fast.

Oh yes, and for the vertical bits of the world, you'd want vision panels at the lower front end of the doors to see the edge of the drop!

The most interesting part is that you don't need a $500 million car factory with giant machine tools like presses to build it.  If Ford would sell the Transit bits freely, lots of countries in the developing world could play in this market.

not so sure about the front wheel drive however.  Early Saabs were famous for being able to back up a steeper hill than they could go up frontwards - amd in the mid-east, I often saw trucks so overloaded that the front wheels could barely steer!

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On 9/11/2016 at 2:11 PM, Rick Kempf said:

not so sure about the front wheel drive however.  Early Saabs were famous for being able to back up a steeper hill than they could go up frontwards - amd in the mid-east, I often saw trucks so overloaded that the front wheels could barely steer!

Seems this concept has been around a few years already.  I found an article about it from 2013 making me wonder why it's not in full production already?  It does sound like a great concept though.  

http://www.automotiveworld.com/news-releases/the-ox-the-worlds-first-flat-pack-truck-set-to-bring-aid-to-remote-parts-of-africa/

As to it's weight distribution it is said to still have 51% of it's weight over the front axle when fully loaded.  However some using it may not pay much attention to it's actual max load capacity of 2 tons.  

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It makes no odds in my mind how good it looks spec wise on paper,the single thing that makes this a no go project and a faller at the 1st hurdle is its just front wheel drive,the vehicle was designed not only for simplicity but roughed terrain being a 4 wheel mule if you like,but without that all important 4 wheel drive it will not sell many if at all.

The project 1st came to folks attention in 2013 but 3 years down the line its still not sold any,it will just fade away and be forgotten about.

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Yup, I see your point fellas.....4 wheels is a must. I was just thinking of the space that could be converted for sleep quarters maybe a small kitchen, and some storage for detectors and parts. Protected from outside elements like weather and animals when sleeping. Beats spending 40,000 grand. I am sure their are other cheaper options one could make into a great nuggethunting vehicle. Did you guys ever see JP's rig in Australia? that must of cost a bundle....

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