So who is concious of their setups weight

mr glassies · Guru

So who is concious of their setups weight

Yuglamron · Guru

Onya for putting up your post.

The bull**** people have to put up with from salespeople and manufacturers about weights. I know it's complicated ,Ball weights Atm's Gvm's axle weights, tyre sizes and loading capacity for tyres when the van is new and the wheels and tyres fitted are technically not legal. Tow ball loading. What your vehicle can actually tow within the legal limits never mind the ideal tug and tow combination.

Deregulation and failure of State and Federal Govt to keep the bastards honest is not an ideal situation.

Radar · Guru

Yes I have weighed tow vehicle and caravan, serval times, no 3 times.

Tow vehicle has 350kg to spare.

Cravan near the limit but can go another 60kgs.

Everything I know from years of transport driving tells me I am in front.

Correct weights, car, caravan, tyres, alxe the lot.

Very happy caravaner but then we only hve a medium size caravan could go another 900kg heavier.

macka17 · Guru

If you're using utes.
double check the tow weight allowed. when combined with weigh IN tray plus weight of vehicle.
Some of them lose a ridiculous amount of capacity when having any load in tray.

Also check your AXLE weights individually too. the mobile units weigh them then combine.
If one axle over. regardless of total weight.
They CAN have you.

Desert Dweller · Senior Member

We're very conscious of weights. We've had our rig on a weighbridge a few times. There are too many overloaded rigs on the road. We don't carry gear like a tinny, outboard, car fridge or generator. Our van weighs 1580kg fully loaded, our Navara is rated to tow 2800kg. We check our ball weight with scales before every trip. Nissan sets out allowable ball weights in a sensible manner.

mezza56 · Senior Member

Good on ya Glassies , good to hear someone taking notice , never believe what a salesman tells you mate

half the time they dont really know, and make up **** to hide their ignorance , plus they'd lie to make a sale anyway.

I have bought a ball weight scale as a back up and gone over weights sooo many times .

And guess what , the wife can come too!

Delta18 · Guru

There is a lot of commenting going on in forums & on facebook re Dual cabs not being able to tow much of a van if there is any load in the tub.

I am very conscious of weights and because of this I just bought a set of scales on which I can weigh my ute and caravan (when we get it).

As we are travelling interstate next week to pick up the van I have now loaded the ute with EVERYTHING we normally travel with when vanning as well as almost everything that is normally in the van with the exception of bedding, clothing and food. (these go in just prior to leaving). There is also a lot of tools that I don't usually carry as I have some work to do on the van after pickup.

According to my scales the ute now weighs 2760kg with us both on board, full fuel tank and 10L spare fuel. GVM is 2950kg. Adding Ball Weight (maybe 300kg) we would JUST be over GVM with current loading. I went to our local weighbridge and it agreed with my scales less 65kg (2% diff)

I can see from this that I could legally tow a van with an ATM of 3200kg by the time I offload the caravan stuff from the ute into the van.

I am sure the new van won't come near that but I will check when we pick it up & load it.

Cheers Neil

Aus-Kiwi · Guru

why I finally bought a motorhome .

Hewy54 · Senior Member

Aus-Kiwi wrote:
why I finally bought a motorhome .

Lots of discussion here and elsewhere about GVM and Tare of tow tugs and vans, but I have tried to find out a bit more about motorhomes.

What are typical GVM and tare for these, ie what is the actual pay load.

For me, I have an 80 series with a tare of 2000kg and a GVM of 2960kg, towing a Vista with tare 1240kg tare and 1640kg GTM. this gives a total payload of 1360kg to include all fluids accesories, luggage and passengers. Is this comparable to a motorhome?

Aus-Kiwi · Guru

At present 6.5 ton with GVM of 8.5 . With MR licence ., Purchase price second hand and fuel economy is about the same . For size etc .,

Ron-D · Guru

With every thing loaded and both water tanks full, Iam 40Kg over. I suppose Iam between a rock and a hard place...

mezza56 · Senior Member

Hi what type of scales did you purchase that weigh your van and vehicle , does it just go under each wheel at a time and add the lot up ?

Ron-D · Guru

When I weighed the Van it was off the tow vehicle , sitting by its lonesome on the weigh bridge...the tow vehicles fine , there's not much more we can shift out of the van,so we travell without water on the highways, therefore legal hopefully...

Santa · Guru

Hewy54 wrote:
Aus-Kiwi wrote:
why I finally bought a motorhome .
Lots of discussion here and elsewhere about GVM and Tare of tow tugs and vans, but I have tried to find out a bit more about motorhomes.
What are typical GVM and tare for these, ie what is the actual pay load.
For me, I have an 80 series with a tare of 2000kg and a GVM of 2960kg, towing a Vista with tare 1240kg tare and 1640kg GTM. this gives a total payload of 1360kg to include all fluids accesories, luggage and passengers. Is this comparable to a motorhome?

Our Kea Endeavor has a GVM of 4250kg fully loaded, that is water, fuel, gas, 2 x passengers, dog, clothing, food etc we come in at 3800kg, 450kg under.

Average fuel consumption over quite a long period (years) averages approx 13 litres per 100km.

-- Edited by Santa on Friday 24th of June 2016 01:47:05 PM

moamajohn · Guru

We do 1 big trip a year and the local weighbridge is handy so really why the hell wouldn,t you avail yourself for the sake of a few bucks.Its less than a a bottle of cheap wine .cheers.

Santa · Guru

moamajohn wrote:
We do 1 big trip a year and the local weighbridge is handy so really why the hell wouldn,t you avail yourself for the sake of a few bucks.Its less than a a bottle of cheap wine .cheers.

We travel in the MH a few times a year, having weighed it fully laden once, and come in 450kg under, i don't see a need to repeat the exercise. smile

Delta18 · Guru

moamajohn wrote:
We do 1 big trip a year and the local weighbridge is handy so really why the hell wouldn,t you avail yourself for the sake of a few bucks.Its less than a a bottle of cheap wine .cheers.

$22 is not a 'cheap wine' for me!

Delta18 · Guru

mezza56 wrote:
Hi what type of scales did you purchase that weigh your van and vehicle , does it just go under each wheel at a time and add the lot up ?

Yep, you do each wheel sequntially and it reads out

1. weight of that wheel

2. weight of each side

3 weight of each axle

4 total weight of vehicle/van.

5. towball weight.

This is what I got, the yellow one suited my vehicle(s).

I checked the weight from this scale on a weighbridge & it read high by 2%. Good safety margin I think.

Cheers Neil.

kezngaz · Senior Member

My tug is 2400 full of fuel and the wife.
GVC is 5950.
Van in 2500 ATM.
This allows us 700 payload in ute as ball weight is 280kg.
Keeping above a 10% buffer to me is essential.

kezngaz · Senior Member

730 views and only 18 replies....
Are people actually aware what their weights and laws are?

Santa · Guru

kezngaz wrote:
730 views and only 18 replies....
Are people actually aware what their weights and laws are?

I suspect majority wouldn't have a clue, and of course there are a lot who are well aware they are overweight but choose to ignore the fact.

GerryP · Veteran Member

Yes, I certainly weighed both the tug and the van. To remain legal, I upgraded the tug GVM (now 3580kg) as well as the van ATM (now 3100kg) - both would have been over when loaded for a long trip. Now, I am legal and still within the GCM of 6.8t. It tows beautifully, is well balanced and have never experienced any sway.

What gets me though, is the 'spin' you get, even from the manufacturer's advertising! The current range of twin cab utes are rated at 3500kg towing capacity and have a GVM of around 3000kg (some more depending on make), yet they have a GCM of around 6000kg. What this means is, IF towing 3.5t, your vehicle can only (legally) be loaded up to 2500kg (including the ball weight of the van). Doesn't leave much payload for the ute... maybe need to leave the missus and the dog at home...??? confuse A secondary consideration with this dilemma is that your van would weigh a whole one tonne more than the tug - a recipe for disaster in my humble opinion! 'Tail wagging the dog' comes to mind.