Help required for towing limits

[Johnstons]

Hi we are having a problem with our towing limits after taking our 16.49.1 to a weigh bridge.

Van plate limits are as follows

ATM - 1777
GTM - 1629
TARE - 1477
BALL WEIGHT - 148kgs roughly

Our shock was being told that the van weighed 1820 and we didn't even have half the stuff we require in it!!!!

We will be towing with a 2000 Patrol 3lt Turbo Diesel. Any advice would be great.
Cheers

 

[Burnsy]

I had to get a weigh ticket for rego and found it differed also, mainly ball weight, makes you wonder at which stage Jayco weigh it. We have packed what we need and use but I'm not game to weigh again. Just wondering why you weighed anyway?

Cheers.

 

[Johnstons]

We weighed because we are new to the game and am planning on going around Oz in Novemeber so want to do it all right but now wish we were more unorganised and ignorant to the fact!!!!!

Do you know much about putting airbags on van?

Cheers

 

[crackacoldie]

Is your Patrol Auto or Manual? This changes the limit of what a Patrol can tow. Remember the wieghts on the van are done Tare, in Jayco's case generally before awnings and options. Also the tare weight does not include water in the tank. I think they allow for 300kgs of equipment between tare and ATM, this isn't alot when you take into account the 60+kgs of water, gas and any extras that have been added to the van.

Also remeber with towing limits that you cannot exceed your tow vehicles GCM, with the weight of the car and van loaded.

Cheers

Cracka

 

[Johnstons]

Hi Cracka, Patrol is a manual which can tow 3200 but van cant cope with anywhere near that.

So what can we do to up vans limits.

Cheers

 

[Johnstons]

Does anyone else have this problem and what are people doing to rectify it?

 

[chartrock]

I think a lot of us just play 'ostrich' and bury our head in the sand.

 

[Mike7]

Gday mate,

Unfortunately you are stuck with a payload of 300kg (1777kg-1477kg). The weight of water in the water tank and the gas in the cylinders will also come out of the 300kg. My van has a payload of 325kg so we just pack carefully. For touring you can actually still get a descent amount of stuff into the van when it comes to food/clothing etc. If you need around half a tonne of stuff you need to look at what you can cull back on. Its amazing how easy it is to have the weight go upwards. I tend to move some stuff into the back of the car whenever I can to keep the van within limits, we have 2 kids and they want their bikes, scooters etc.

There is a guy I found on the net that had an expanda that had a beefed up chassis etc and he could carry some serious weight but it required an engineering certificate. Another option which I now wish I took was to opt for the dual axel van which have almost 500kg of payload. However all this has to be organised at the build stage obviously.

In a couple of recent caravan accidents the damaged vans were weighed by the authorities so I think what you are doing by having an accurate idea of what your weights are is a very good idea. The insurance company will drop anyone that is overweight like a hot rock.

Cheers
Mike

 

[Bushman]

Well given those figures you are well within the Patrols limits

Put also going on those plate numbers you should be around 1925kg


Tare is the totally empty weight 1477
Add your 300kg load limit 300
Gives you the GTM 1777
Add the given Ball Weight 148
Gives your ATM 1925

 

[Johnstons]

LOL I have noticed that 154 people looked at these comments but only a few have made a comment which seems to me that Chartrock is right and most people just stick their heads in the sand and hope that nothing goes wrong!!!!!

We are still looking into this and hope to be able to increase vans limits soon.

Cheers

 

[icetechaus]

Well given those figures you are well within the Patrols limits

Put also going on those plate numbers you should be around 1925kg


Tare is the totally empty weight 1477
Add your 300kg load limit 300
Gives you the GTM 1777
Add the given Ball Weight 148
Gives your ATM 1925

I just checked this against the RACQ website and you are not quite right here.
Tare is the empty trailer
ATM is the fully loaded trailer
GTM is the ATM less the ball weight.
The figures on the plate are correct.

 

[Holden_man]

Hi mate,
You may have already, but i reckon its worth looking into light weight gear and really assess what you want to leave home I reckon. We didn't have any gear to start with so we looked for the lightest stuff we could get, right down to lightweight knives and forks. We haven't put ours across a weighbridge, and doubt I will. But we did weigh every single item that we carried into the van, we have 475kg to use on load and we had it packed with 75kg up our sleeve, that included 160kg for water and 18kg for gas.
Any options on the van added after manufacture by the dealer will not be included in van TARE, for example if they added any batteries.
Stick some of the heavier items in the truck I reckon
Jas

 

[Johnstons]

Cheers thanks guys.

It's great to hear others opinions and see what everyone else is doing.

 

[Bushman]

I just checked this against the RACQ website and you are not quite right here.
Tare is the empty trailer
ATM is the fully loaded trailer
GTM is the ATM less the ball weight.
The figures on the plate are correct.

Yes correct, however the total "TOWED" weight is ATM which includes ball weight.

 

[randl007]

Our ATM is 2465kg and when we weighed it we were just touching 2495 so we were over, what we have had to do is travel without the water tanks full which brings us back under the ATM we are slowly culling what we have in the van and are not using. Not sure if it was this site but someone suggested putting red dots on all the things you have out in and if after a year the red dot is still there maybe you don't need it.
We are goings to weigh again soon to se if we have been successful.

Good luck with yours

Richard

 

[Xpandafan]

. Not sure if it was this site but someone suggested putting red dots on all the things you have out in and if after a year the red dot is still there maybe you don't need it.
Richard

I posted the red dot idea a while back, which like most things with me and my caravan, is not original idea, but one I picked it up from someone else. Easy part is sticking the dots on: hard part is then discarding stuff you don't really need. My Expanda has so much storage space the temptation is (for my wife) to fill it all. Even after living in our van continuously for 5 weeks now there's lots of stuff we haven't touched. Hardly shopped and pantry and fridge are still chock-a-block. We've got enough cutlery and crockery to cater for more people than we actually know well enough to invite for a meal! Good luck.

 

[andrea]

This had been an interesting thread. I might take the scales away with us next time and see how we go. I'd be surprised if we were over though. Most of the overheads are empty, under the back bed is too... And we've never gone away with something missing...

 

[Gaz70]

there has been a few good articles in recent caravan mags lately (Caravan and Motor home on tour.. issue no. 180 page 179 Tow vehicle how much can it tow?)
not only do you need to look at your vans overall weight, but also your vehicle..
example if your vehicle weighs 2200kg with drive and a tank of fuel (how most manufactures weigh vehicles), your vehicle might have a gross weight of say 2750kg, remeber this is just the vehicle, by the time you put on a bullbar, winch, rearstep/carrier, long range tank, roof rack and all the other accessories you can think of...this may weight say 350kg, you know have a vehicle weighing 2550kg, at your ball weight of 150kg, you now have 2700kg, 50kg for all your family the dog and everything else you put in the back..not quiet enough kilo's left, remember this is your tow vehicle weight. the only way to get more carrying capacity of your Jayco van is to put heavy duty spring and axle, wheels and tyres and have it re certified, maybe/maybe not you will need to ungrade the chassis...remember tho heavier van, more ball weight, more weight on your towing vehicle, more GCM!! a very confusing topic, thats why we bury our head in the sand and hope nothing goes wrong...PM me if u want more info..hope i haven't confused too many!!

 

[achjimmy]

been discussed before as i weighed everything we had for the van at the time.

http://www.expandasdownunder.com/showthread.php/300-Van-payload-wieghts?highlight=payloads

From our original van i weighed everything at the time and this is what i came up with.

As i have sold the van, most of the stuff was sitting in the cellar in one spot, so i decided to weigh it. Result FYI,

Generator 22
Annexe 10
Poles 7
Ropes, peg etc 8
outside table 6
latern 5
BBQ 12
Solar panel 10
hoses, leads etc 10
outside chairs *Try posting a bit more so your post isn't boring* 12
Camp oven 5
Auspit 10
plates,
condiments etc 44
Mesh wall 6

167 kg

water, 2 82l tanks 164
Gas 18

Total less cloths, sleeping bags, grog & food
349kg

 

[drewy]

I've been through the same dilemma recently, after a weigh bridge shock I decided to remove all of our gear and any accessories that I'd added then re-weigh the van. Jayco's original figures were spot on, they weigh the van's after all of the factory options are fitted but with no gas and water including the water in the HWS and toilet.

The other issue I had was ball weight which was also over after adding an aluminium box to the draw bar housing our BBQ, hoses, lead and other minor gear + a 150mm tube accross the front to carry rods and poles. I corrected this by adding a new rear bar with a drop down wheel carrier, now the tow ball weight is 30kg under. The only down side is the rear bar cost us 23kg from our payload, considering a carton of beer is about 15kg that's alot of beer!

I then weighed each item I added to the van and managed to cull 75 odd kg's, with one tank filled and all of our standards camping gear we have 115kg left for food clothes and bedding which is ok for us.

I was also thinking in the beginning adding a rear swing away bike carrier with 4 bikes, that would have weighed a total of 100kg! So it goes without saying that that idea was scrapped, I preferred it when my head was in the sand, this has been a painful process but it was an eye opener and great reassurance!