As we all know that there is a blitz on caravan weights, I have just had my Galaxy van Re-Certified by having a suspension, brakes, axle and rims and tyres upgraded by a local Campbelltown, Sydney mechanic with an independent Engineers Certificate approved by the RMS. Great job and reasonably priced. Nice to find an honest mechanic these days.
Yep - put my Poptop over the weighbridge with tanks full but no personal stuff etc - 30kg over. As I'm going to "permanently" travelling I upgraded suspension and wheels and re-certified by LS12 certified engineer- now 1900kg from 1410, plus about 90mm extra lift. Cost about $2500 doing most of work myself in a mates workshop.
Plus moved battery from front boot to just behind axle ( and tidied up wiring, put in fuse block etc) and 200w solar panel on roof to over axle. Dropped from 220 towball weight to about 170kg
-- Edited by Happyjack on Tuesday 22nd of August 2017 11:19:19 AM
-- Edited by Happyjack on Tuesday 22nd of August 2017 11:20:08 AM
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The secret to a good old age is an honourable pact with solitude - One Hundred years of Solitude
Oh, and what is really annoying ( being very polite!) is that the manufacturers, for a small incremental cost ,built in to the price of course, could oh so easily put on higher rated suspension/brakes/wheels to give a decent ATM & payload.
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The secret to a good old age is an honourable pact with solitude - One Hundred years of Solitude
Al person has to do. basically.
Is look at weights stamped on Chassis rails.
compare to plates. If plates same as. It'll cost you a heap more.
If chassis rated MORE than plate.
you can go UP to that on plate. as long as susp and brakes up to it.
I took my last Roadstar up from the 2.8t plate to 3.2 ton on chassis\Susp.
It probably depends on the age of the caravan - mine did not have any chassis rating shown, plus researching the axle/spring setup showed the axle was only rated to 1450 anyway - 45mm overlay with 10 drums/el brakes.
Plus a call to Jayco - no info available.
-- Edited by Happyjack on Tuesday 22nd of August 2017 01:23:05 PM
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The secret to a good old age is an honourable pact with solitude - One Hundred years of Solitude
As we all know that there is a blitz on caravan weights, I have just had my Galaxy van Re-Certified by having a suspension, brakes, axle and rims and tyres upgraded by a local Campbelltown, Sydney mechanic with an independent Engineers Certificate approved by the RMS. Great job and reasonably priced. Nice to find an honest mechanic these days.
WHAT BLITZ !! just a Furphy spread by people posting on caravan forums, Dont get me wrong I do believe all should be travelling legal but I would like to see just one person come forward and show proof of being weighed and fined, not your mothers brothers next door neighbour . Just a Furphy.
I was picking up a new radio aerial from a repairer here in Townsville last week & he drives from a northern beach to his work place in a central suburb. He said " a few days before, the "Scaleys" were testing every car-van combination that came out of the free camp at Bluewater & were heading south". Said he had seen some horrendous overloads coming out of there.
On checking the status of Tare weights with a friend whose son is a new van dealer here, his understanding is that the average weight of model XYZ-123 is xxxxKg - some might be lighter, some heavier!! The whole thing is a circus!
Also be wary with upgrades, that wheels have weight limits on them as well - my single axle wheels are 1000Kg so I believe Jayco are running extremely close to the limits!
Warren
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Warren
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If you don't get it done today, there's always tomorrow!
Last 3 weeks, 4000km no sign of scaly, what most people panic about is tare, tare is a fantasy, what you must do is find the GCM of your tug, then weigh your tug when you have a full tank of fuel, bums on seats and your travelling junk loaded, add on your ball weight, now subtract the weight of your tug from the GCM then you will know how much you can tow behind you....I think many would be surprised that their 3.5t towing capacity has dropped to maybe 2.9t........................................unless you have a Cruiser or a Discovery.
Many fail to realise that your tug has individual axle weights, you could possibly be over on an axle yet still be within the GVM of your tug, how's that to send the panic ripple outwards...........when you can cop a $1000 per ton or part thereof it pays to be correct.........
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Checking out the places I drove past a thousand times................
