who has really looked at there weights on the van and the tug .
i have had a few issues and have resolved them at cost .
The first one was caused buy bull****ing sales person lied to me about the tanks and gas being full on the tare weigh in .
second became a roll on from the first.
Then I started on the tug 2012 Colorado .
rear loader for boat , draws. Fridge and drop slide . T j m steel bar, winch , 150 amp gel bat , plastic running boards snorkel . Flexi glass canopy . Full tank fuel , some stuff in the draws .
Guesse what wife has to stay at home and I can only half fill the tank hahaha.
Now ask your our self am I legale , am I safe . If I have a crash will I loose my insurance . Or you could be like someone I know had to leave on the side of the road a far bit of stuff to be able to drive on . Or are you one of the ones wandering down the road. Not thinking of the concaquences of being overloaded the danger of running overloaded the cost of dollars and sometimes human life .
now I aske you allllll to sit down and think about your setup . Is it legaleis it balanced with the correct weights . And do a safety check if it looks sus get it looked at .
one thing makes me ask this of all of you we yes we the grey nomads banners ca,pers and motor homers are getting a bad name out there with trickies , cops and the general public down on us . And I know I want to be on there good side
dibs / mr glasses
Yuglamron said
10:04 PM Jun 21, 2016
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 said
10:56 PM Jun 21, 2016
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 said
12:50 AM Jun 22, 2016
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 said
05:51 AM Jun 22, 2016
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.
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 said
08:37 AM Jun 22, 2016
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 said
08:44 AM Jun 22, 2016
why I finally bought a motorhome .
Hewy54 said
09:10 AM Jun 22, 2016
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 said
12:24 PM Jun 22, 2016
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 said
03:39 PM Jun 22, 2016
With every thing loaded and both water tanks full, Iam 40Kg over. I suppose Iam between a rock and a hard place...
mezza56 said
05:30 PM Jun 22, 2016
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 said
05:47 PM Jun 22, 2016
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 said
01:46 PM Jun 24, 2016
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 said
06:06 PM Jun 24, 2016
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 said
06:49 PM Jun 24, 2016
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.
Delta18 said
07:02 PM Jun 24, 2016
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 said
07:07 PM Jun 24, 2016
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
I checked the weight from this scale on a weighbridge & it read high by 2%. Good safety margin I think.
Cheers Neil.
kezngaz said
06:45 PM Jun 26, 2016
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 said
08:20 AM Jun 30, 2016
730 views and only 18 replies....
Are people actually aware what their weights and laws are?
Santa said
09:40 AM Jun 30, 2016
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 said
11:08 AM Jun 30, 2016
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...??? 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.
It's a bit messy trying to get your head around all this, but it's necessary if you want to stay legal and safe.
who has really looked at there weights on the van and the tug .
i have had a few issues and have resolved them at cost .
The first one was caused buy bull****ing sales person lied to me about the tanks and gas being full on the tare weigh in .
second became a roll on from the first.
Then I started on the tug 2012 Colorado .
rear loader for boat , draws. Fridge and drop slide . T j m steel bar, winch , 150 amp gel bat , plastic running boards snorkel . Flexi glass canopy . Full tank fuel , some stuff in the draws .
Guesse what wife has to stay at home and I can only half fill the tank hahaha.
Now ask your our self am I legale , am I safe . If I have a crash will I loose my insurance . Or you could be like someone I know had to leave on the side of the road a far bit of stuff to be able to drive on . Or are you one of the ones wandering down the road. Not thinking of the concaquences of being overloaded the danger of running overloaded the cost of dollars and sometimes human life .
now I aske you allllll to sit down and think about your setup . Is it legaleis it balanced with the correct weights . And do a safety check if it looks sus get it looked at .
one thing makes me ask this of all of you we yes we the grey nomads banners ca,pers and motor homers are getting a bad name out there with trickies , cops and the general public down on us . And I know I want to be on there good side
dibs / mr glasses
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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
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?
With every thing loaded and both water tanks full, Iam 40Kg over. I suppose Iam between a rock and a hard place...
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 ?
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...
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
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.
$22 is not a 'cheap wine' for me!
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.
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.
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.
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...???
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.
It's a bit messy trying to get your head around all this, but it's necessary if you want to stay legal and safe.
There's a good article on this in RVDaily...
http://rvdaily.com.au/issue001/?utm_source=ActiveCampaign&utm_medium=email&utm_content=The+Big+3%2C500kg+Braked+Towing+Rip-Off&utm_campaign=RV+Daily+-+Send+004#223
No mate, never owned a Navara, but my lad has one. He only tows a camper trailer though and has kept his car pretty light.
Quite scary realy.
2006 Lexus LX470 V8 auto. Same as 100 series Toyota.
-- Edited by GerryP on Sunday 3rd of July 2016 09:52:23 AM
I was thinking the same thing funny how a safety issue scares people of haha
dibs
I would hope that a safety issue worries people. Everyone should have concerns if an issue affects their safety and the safety of others.