Not sure where I got this picture but thought that it may interest those who claim that authorities weigh only cars that look overloaded! This car (BT50?) certainly would attract attention although the rear of the car seems to be sitting higher than you'd expect. WDH? Cheers
But I assume there was a touch of irony in Yobarr's post.
I was staying at a rural motel recently in Kalgoorlie and the Road Traffic guys were staying there as well about to embark on a routine patrol to keep the caravan towing bastards honest.
While I was loitering in the car park, having finished every conceivable prep job I could think of, including the obligatory two hour wait for my wife to make herself beautiful, I staggered over to have a chat to these guys who were also loitering in the carpark having a chat.
In a friendly discussion, I raised the issue of weights and caravans with them and during the discussion pointed over to my Y62 in the car park.
They inferred that they would usually never target such a monster to a weight check when there were so many other flagrant abusers of the rules, unless I was clearly breaking them.
Even though my beast is better than most for meeting the legal towing weights, I still make sure that I have no distraction in my jerry can holders (2) on the roof rack or in the boot of the Y62, bikes on the back or front of the caravan etc.
So I basically have a "clean skin" that does not look anywhere near overloaded even thought when water tanks are full, I would be very near to GCM and GVM.
I also use my rear Y62 airbags to ensure the car and van are beautifully level.
So getting back to Yobarr's point, many rigs out there "LOOK" ridiculously over loaded and dangerous and I honestly wonder if some of these idiots know the laws they are breaking and the financial dangers they are placing themselves into.
I mean when the road guys see things like I have seen recently such as:
a Jeep with a huge van on the back with so much TBW that the front of the Jeep looked like it was taking off into outer space.
a Y62 (great starting point) with a very heavy Kokoda van (looked fabulous) with off road motorbike hanging off the rear end of the caravan, two spare wheels, two cycles strapped to the front of a massive toolbox with generator slides and probably 1000 watts of solar panels and three Jerry cans.
numerous 4 cylinder utes with what looked like 3.5 t vans strapped to the back........
Is it any wonder that the traffic guys tend to focus on these idiots rather than those of us who at least look like we are obeying the law?
And I am still waiting for my wife to make herself beautiful to which she replies, "hey this doesn't just happen".
-- Edited by Pradokakadudavid on Saturday 9th of July 2022 05:57:19 PM
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Nissan Patrol TIL and highly modified Retreat Fraser full offroad version
The caravan looks like a large model lightweight euro van like a Bailey or Adria. It probably only weighs around 2ton.
They have such small diameter wheels & huge overhangs.
Seen lots of them scrape coming out of servos.
3.7 tonnes payload, over 4 tonnes gross on a Freelander. No problems (not my car). Freelander has a 350kg max towball weight & 2000kg towing. From what I was told no issues towing what so ever (UK private road).
3.7 tonnes payload, over 4 tonnes gross on a Freelander. No problems (not my car). Freelander has a 350kg max towball weight & 2000kg towing. From what I was told no issues towing what so ever (UK private road).
More likely to get a blister for not covering your load
In today's Canberra Times newspaper (Sunday 10th July on page 2) there is a story called 'Weighty Issues With Increase In Caravans' about a roving business called 'Your Weight' run by Tony and Debbie Ogden. They travel around the southern region of NSW and set up at popular caravan stopover points, and caravan shows when held, to weigh caravans using their portable scales.
For a standard fee of $270 they provide a comprehensive breakdown of all their combined car and caravan weights and loads.
They report that around one third of the car and caravan combinations that roll over their mobile scales are overweight, and the problem is a growing one.
Mr Ogden is quoted: "Some people just don't want to know. They just assume they are legal, hook up their car and go. But you can tell just by looking at some set-ups that they are way overweight."
Does that sound familiar?
They discuss all the add-ons onto the tugs, insurance, legal aspects and so on of being overweight.
Murray
PS: Sorry I don't have a scanner like Yobarr has otherwise I could include the complete article.
In today's Canberra Times newspaper (Sunday 10th July on page 2) there is a story called 'Weighty Issues With Increase In Caravans' about a roving business called 'Your Weight' run by Tony and Debbie Ogden. They travel around the southern region of NSW and set up at popular caravan stopover points, and caravan shows when held, to weigh caravans using their portable scales.
For a standard fee of $270 they provide a comprehensive breakdown of all their combined car and caravan weights and loads.
They report that around one third of the car and caravan combinations that roll over their mobile scales are overweight, and the problem is a growing one.
Mr Ogden is quoted: "Some people just don't want to know. They just assume they are legal, hook up their car and go. But you can tell just by looking at some set-ups that they are way overweight."
Does that sound familiar?
They discuss all the add-ons onto the tugs, insurance, legal aspects and so on of being overweight.
Murray
PS: Sorry I don't have a scanner like Yobarr has otherwise I could include the complete article.
Thanks for this, Murray. Because I am not flash on this technical stuff, when I wish to share an article or whatever I simply take a photo of the relevant script and include it with my post. Perhaps someone more skilled than I can give better advice on this? Cheers
At $270 a pop I'd would tell the they are a riffoff IMHO.
Unless they have 6 portable plates, then thats a waste of time.
Unless they have calibraton certificates for all plates, then thats a waste of time.
Unless the plates are setup in a level surface, then thats a waste of time.
There are too many things that can go wrong with portables, thus their readings are not accurate.
Good points there Graham, and from my own experience the operators of these things, even if they know, will not tell you anything that they think you don't want to hear. Although they certainly know how to weigh things, within the limitations you describe, they often are not aware of the various relationships between the weights, or the various limitations of different models. IF you are lucky enough to find one who knows what he's talking about I'm sure they would be helpful, but there's no way for a newbie to determine whether the person he's dealing with is erudite. Far better to visit a weighbridge, weigh front axle then weigh whole car. Drive forward and drop whole van, on its jockeywheel, on the weighbridge and take total weight. Hook van back onto car and then take weight on van wheels, which will allow you to calculate the approximate towball weight of van. It then is easy to do various calculations, using formulae, but if you're not confident doing that you may want to take front axle weight and total weight of car with no van attached. If you have tge gift of the gab you can get weights done on many weighbridges for no charge, but you may have to pay up to $50. Cheers
The digital scales and load cells are far more accurate than most weighbridges which often weight in increments of 20kgs.
In WA we have Mobile Caravan Weighing Service run by Gary Thorn.
Gary is a caravanner himself and also is someone I know from motorsport.
Motorsport uses the same digital weight scales for corner weighting a car and they have to be very accurate.
Gary is full bottle on the various rules surrounding van weights and is ultra familiar with this sort of equipment.
Last time to me he charged $250 which considering travel, time and investment in equipment, I thought was very fair.
The end result was a very accurately laid out certificate with all the weights including Yobarr's favourite, the good old axle loadings.
Yes I did have my favourite McHitch and WDH on Yobarr.
Greg, as an aside. The errors of each scale (typically 0.1-1%) are additive. this means that the error in using 8 plates to weigh a tandem axle van and tow vehicle is no more accurate than a weigh bridge. The display may be in units of 1 Kg but this it not how accurate the system is.
Also as a comment I see no sign of any scale plates or such equipment in Yobarrs post. They may just be looking at a crook tyre.
-- Edited by Brenda and Alan on Tuesday 12th of July 2022 07:56:25 AM
Greg, as an aside. The errors of each scale (typically 0.1-1%) are additive. this means that the error in using 8 plates to weigh a tandem axle van and tow vehicle is no more accurate than a weigh bridge. The display may be in units of 1 Kg but this it not how accurate the system is.
Also as a comment I see no sign of any scale plates or such equipment in Yobarrs post. They may just be looking at a crook tyre.
-- Edited by Brenda and Alan on Tuesday 12th of July 2022 07:56:25 AM
Those Euro style van's are very long with large overhangs but they're light compared to a lot of others on the road. The bikes on the cars roof may have attracted the coppers interest?
The digital scales and load cells are far more accurate than most weighbridges which often weight in increments of 20kgs. In WA we have Mobile Caravan Weighing Service run by Gary Thorn. Gary is a caravanner himself and also is someone I know from motorsport. Motorsport uses the same digital weight scales for corner weighting a car and they have to be very accurate. Gary is full bottle on the various rules surrounding van weights and is ultra familiar with this sort of equipment. Last time to me he charged $250 which considering travel, time and investment in equipment, I thought was very fair. The end result was a very accurately laid out certificate with all the weights including Yobarr's favourite, the good old axle loadings. Yes I did have my favourite McHitch and WDH on Yobarr.
Only problem is Greg after 7 days the certificate is null and void.
The digital scales and load cells are far more accurate than most weighbridges which often weight in increments of 20kgs. In WA we have Mobile Caravan Weighing Service run by Gary Thorn. Gary is a caravanner himself and also is someone I know from motorsport. Motorsport uses the same digital weight scales for corner weighting a car and they have to be very accurate. Gary is full bottle on the various rules surrounding van weights and is ultra familiar with this sort of equipment. Last time to me he charged $250 which considering travel, time and investment in equipment, I thought was very fair. The end result was a very accurately laid out certificate with all the weights including Yobarr's favourite, the good old axle loadings. Yes I did have my favourite McHitch and WDH on Yobarr.
Only problem is Greg after 7 days the certificate is null and void.
The "Certificate" is "valueless" when you are sitting on Authority's scales .... KB
I had a Geist LV535 van - total length of 24', tare of 1,260 kgs and an ATM of 1,700 kgs. With my only 'extras' being my clothes, a notebook computer, 3 small kitchen appliances, crockery and cutlery, I am certain that the van's 'laden' weight did not exceed 1,700 kgs. I towed it with my Falcon which had a (braked) towing capacity of 2,300 kgs.
During my travels, a handful of know-it-alls (possibly members of this forum?) told me that the van was too big for the Falcon.
Even a roadworthy certificate is only valid on the day of issue
As said in most these pics where the authorities have pulled travelers over its pretty obvious they are overloaded !! I remember a couple in WA pulled over in a car like a Nissan Pulsar towing a 20ft van . They came from
Adelaide. Sheesh !! But then I look back at some things we towed way back . Horse floats etc Older Aust & British 6 Fords and Holdens were not that heavy . We tent to think about having the power to tow ? But its more dynamic than that .
