Piaggio Porter Maxxi with dual rear wheels

Hi, I'm interested in buying a second hand unit of this model that one guy is selling in my city. I was looking in Internet for vehicles with dual rear wheels (just out of curiosity, because I have always found DRW's aesthetically attractive, don't ask me why) when, among the Iveco Daily's, Ford Transits, Mercedes Sprinters, Nissan Cabstars... I found this little creature, which was a surprise to me. I knew the Piaggio Porter in its regular four wheeled versions (ie, single rear wheels), which honestly I had never, never been attracted to, but I had never seen or heard of a DRW version, and immediately fell in love with it because it's a miniature truck, and probably the only vehicle with DRW that I can enter my garage and any underground parking with, In other words, the only DRW vehicle that I can use everyday like my car.

I know the regular, four wheeled Piaggio Porter is equivalent to the Daihatsu Hijet, however I have done a quick search for a DRW Hijet with no results so, is this version exclusive of Piaggio?
And any opinions on it?

Any help will be greatly appreciated, thanks.

i do have the part catalogue (117 pages) in my google drive files but its in german
it has a lot of pictures with numbers that correspond to partnumbers so it could be of use to you if you figure it out

part catalogue
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_uqxfTpiDWoOERFNWxobmpKLUU/view?usp=sharing

and here is an overview of all the files.
you can view and download what you want.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B_uqxfTpiDWoOXh1RzBUR0lsUVE?usp=sharing

Interesting, I will take a look on it, thanks.
Do you know if most parts are the same of the regular Porter? obviously the rear axle is different, probably the rear leaf springs are stronger in the DRW version, and the front wheel hubs must be different too because the rims aren't the same, but apart from that I would like to know if for example the front brakes and suspensions are different too, and specially the gearbox. My guess is that this DRW version, due to its ability to carry more weight, probably has lower ratios, but that could be achieved either with a different gearbox or just in the rear differential.

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Welcome Paco. You haven't yet mentioned where your City is. If your name is anything to go by it sounds South America.

We do have a member on the Forum who has several Maxxi Loaders and is very knowledgeable about them. But the trouble is that he is always running the wheels off his Daihatsu's that he has very little time to get on here to post anything.

He is called D1noh but he doesn't do PM's. If you have specific questions I can pass them on to him for you. You may have to wait a few days for a reply but as I have mentioned he is your main man.

Woodie wrote:Welcome Paco. You haven't yet mentioned where your City is. If your name is anything to go by it sounds South America.

We do have a member on the Forum who has several Maxxi Loaders and is very knowledgeable about them. But the trouble is that he is always running the wheels off his Daihatsu's that he has very little time to get on here to post anything.

He is called D1noh but he doesn't do PM's. If you have specific questions I can pass them on to him for you. You may have to wait a few days for a reply but as I have mentioned he is your main man.

Hi, sorry for not mentioning where I'm from. I'm European, from Spain.

Thanks for telling me about D1noh, I will search for posts of his. If he has several Maxxis I guess it's because he's happy with them.

I have just met the guy selling the Maxxi I'm interested in and I have been looking at it, and although I haven't test driven it yet (we will do that in a few days), on my opinion it looks good. I'm gonna post here the details maybe tomorrow or the day after, when I have more time.

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Paco wrote:Interesting, I will take a look on it, thanks.
Do you know if most parts are the same of the regular Porter? obviously the rear axle is different, probably the rear leaf springs are stronger in the DRW version, and the front wheel hubs must be different too because the rims aren't the same, but apart from that I would like to know if for example the front brakes and suspensions are different too, and specially the gearbox. My guess is that this DRW version, due to its ability to carry more weight, probably has lower ratios, but that could be achieved either with a different gearbox or just in the rear differential.

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well if you go to the link i posted and write down the partnumbers of the drw and then go to a regular parts website for a normal porter you can compare the numbers
if they are the same or not.
the link is safe to click on ... im a long time member and copied the files from another long term member.
if you dont trust it i cant help you ...

are you on facebook to?
you are welcome to join the page i run there to
microvan mini truck club europe
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1563060064003248/

scotia wrote:

Paco wrote:Interesting, I will take a look on it, thanks.
Do you know if most parts are the same of the regular Porter? obviously the rear axle is different, probably the rear leaf springs are stronger in the DRW version, and the front wheel hubs must be different too because the rims aren't the same, but apart from that I would like to know if for example the front brakes and suspensions are different too, and specially the gearbox. My guess is that this DRW version, due to its ability to carry more weight, probably has lower ratios, but that could be achieved either with a different gearbox or just in the rear differential.

well if you go to the link i posted and write down the partnumbers of the drw and then go to a regular parts website for a normal porter you can compare the numbers
if they are the same or not.
the link is safe to click on ... im a long time member and copied the files from another long term member.
if you dont trust it i cant help you ...

Sorry, it's not that I don't trust, it's just that I didn't know about any regular parts websites for a normal Porter to compare the numbers.

Yeah I'm on Facebook, I will search for your group, thanks

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so you dont have regular carparts websites in spain?


here is an italien one, https://www.mondoporter.com/

i see you joined the facebookpage to
im called joe hoe on there.

scotia wrote:so you dont have regular carparts websites in spain?


here is an italien one

Well, maybe there are carparts websites in Spanish, it's just that I had never thought of that possibility. I don't work as a mechanic, so the few times I have needed to know something about parts for a vehicle, I just went to the official dealer with the VIN and asked the guys at the parts desk (or phoned them). I however knew there are third party programs like Audatex that some professionals use, for example in the insurance world, but I never thought of a public website in which any of us can search for car parts. Which is an awesome thing!!

Thank you for that link (and for giving me the idea about car parts websites in general), I think I'm now ready to compare the parts of the Maxxi and the regular Porter and see how many matches I find

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no thanx happy to help
good luck and keep us updated, greetings