Journey Weights etc

Xliney

New Member
Oct 28, 2020
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Newport qld
Hi all. We have Just bought a new journey outback . It has 3 water tanks 2x fresh and 1 grey. Both fresh tanks are forward of the "axle" pivot or centre point and the grey is between the wheels. 2 x 9kg gas bottles on front. Jayco spec on towball weight is 191kg.
I filled both gas bottles and the fresh tanks and the ball weight measures 290 kg ! Which makes us 40kg over our max of 250kg for the towbar and we haven't loaded clothes or food or other items like pegs, floor mat jockey wheel etc. We need to figure out how to reduce ball weight without affecting sway. Ie move 1 tank towards rear of van, place 2 spare wheels on rear bumper etc. (Or get wife to travel in loo ?) This is made by jayco in this form and appears unusable to me with a 250kg towbar and 2500kg tow limit. Using a Prado 2007. Any suggestions ? Top of my list is sell it.
 

Drover

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Nov 7, 2013
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First up you may need to find out what the van actually weighs as it may be too heavy all up anyway, the 2.5t tow limit really means once you load your tug up and hook the van up your van can really only weigh about 2t or thereabouts, the main thing is the GCM, which is the combined weight of van and tug hooked together which in the Prados case depending on engine, gearbox etc it can be from 5.28 to 5.49t look at this listing https://www.expandasdownunder.com/attachments/vehicle-mass-towing-guide-nov16-pdf.61000/

I would experiment with seeing what happens with water tanks empty then filling one,most only travel with one tank full anyway and if using parks then maybe half a tank, grey water tank is never full or shouldn't be anyway....
Moving a tank won't transfer the whole weight only a percentage will move, to check have tank empty and use jerry cans of water and place them in various spots to see how the weight will change.
If the spare is at the front throwing it underneath at the back will help by 20kg maybe (jerrycan test would show) I did it to my 14.44, found underneath better than on back bar...... somewhere in here https://www.expandasdownunder.com/threads/drovers-14-44-3.4502/ has pics and stuff.

if you have an annex stowed in it, remove it as it could save you 30kgs easy.......

Sell the Prado and get something with 3.5t towing......??????? ........................... Keep asking away though don't be discouraged.
 
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Macca_75

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Aug 3, 2016
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I would empty the water tanks (but leave the gas bottles full - for some reason this is included in your compliance weights) and empty the van of anything else you put in.

Take it over a weigh bridge and weigh it yourself.

If your weights don't match the plate I would take the van back and have that corrected (make sure you get/have a 600kg payload as well (better resale value). This could save you potential headaches down the track.

Back to your issue. I would expect 2 water tanks mid way between the axle and ball to add around ~ 85Kgs (85kgs each, 1/2 the weight supported by axle and 1/2 by ball) to the compliance ball weight.

So what you are finding in terms of weights doesn't seem unreasonable.
 

Drover

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Tare is empty gas bottles and no water....and technically doesnt need to be on a compliance plate....they removed it from heavy vehicles because its not real.
 
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Xliney

New Member
Oct 28, 2020
12
9
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Newport qld
Thanks for all the great tips. I agree tare is empty gas and water. Tare is 1749. ATM 2224, Gtm is 1992.
confuzzled that weight of gas isn‘t included. don’t we all start travels with 2 full bottles ?

considering selling van as it may not be suitable but worried I may never buy another unless I can see the figures fully laden beforehand. Current thinking is that we can only visit nudist colony because can’t afford the weight of clothes. 8-)
 

Crusty181

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Feb 7, 2010
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Generally dealers ask what car you are towing with and mark it on the contract, and as mentioned above weigh it completely empty. If your car detail is on the contract and the weights are out that could be enough to pressure the dealer to at least move the tanks around so its compliant on your car
 

Drover

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Remember its the actual weight on the scales not what is on a plate that matters...also those tow ball scales need the van to be totally level and even then can be 20kg out.
 

Xliney

New Member
Oct 28, 2020
12
9
3
Newport qld
We have booked the van in to have the water tanks repositioned, 2 fresh towards the rear and the grey tank slightly forward.
we have weighed each item we intend to take ( very labourious) and worked out placement of the items to distribute evenly.
This should resolve the issue. Out of interest we were using this formula found at:
https://outbacktravelaustralia.com.au/driving-towing-towing/towball-weight-and-trailer-stability/ and it seems to be pretty good as a desktop exercise.
there are also some good technical docs here:
We will do a weigh to go test after having the tanks repositioned.
Then the discussion will turn to additional solar panel, lithium battery.......
 

Xliney

New Member
Oct 28, 2020
12
9
3
Newport qld
Update.... the van is in the repair shop having the tanks and plumbing rearranged. Will have to see how it goes when we can fill the fresh water tanks and conduct another weigh in. Meanwhile I continue to see vans with a lot of mods driving around, love the modified bumpers to carry all manner of things.
 
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Xliney

New Member
Oct 28, 2020
12
9
3
Newport qld
Oops long delay. Mostly crappy health, but no COVID.
Got the van back after having the tanks repositioned. Starting tow all weight was 239kg.
Moving tanks (empty) dropped to 229.
place spare tire on rear bumper drops to 217.
fill fresh water mid tank over axle, + rear tank + spare on bumper 195.
importantly we loaded the van for a trip filled both fresh tanks, ( mid and rear,) spare on bumper and got 240kg on tow ball. Not perfect but legal.
got the whole lot weighed in at 4500 GCM . Rating is 5400 so well under.
Prado weighs 2424kg and van 2077kg unhitched.
we took a trip down south last week and the van seemed to tow ok, although the Prado steering felt lighter. No dramas to report .
next thing to do is figure out how to best carry 2 ebikes.
Current advice is to go with dual hitch receiver and carry bikes on the car as this doesn’t affect compliance on tow all weight or van weights. Anybody using Dual hitch receivers?
any Ideas if moving the spare from centre rear to offset rear would make a difference.
cheers for help and encouragement.
 

Drover

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Nov 7, 2013
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Weights look good, tow ball of 200kg for that van weight is good, the light steering certainly points to rear springs stuffed I would say, no need for going the expensive GCM upgrade just add some new spring and shocks or use a WDH which will throw more load to the front and give the rear spring a break, contrary to the myth makers a properly set up WDH will make things ride/steer better, problems occur because a lot don't fit them correctly. They aren't sway Bars either... If you have light front end then you may find more lift at speed on freeways etc which can be scary....... Good way to test is drag your rig down one of those lovely undulating rural roads, if you porpoise enough to throw up you know you need a WDH or new springs...........

Adding a rack to your tow bar would technically be counted as hitch weight but all depends if you have room to turn vehicle without leaving a bike imprint in van, tug or both...........

Do you really need to carry tanks full of water ????? We are off grid 95% of the time and rarely travel with full tanks, preferring to have only 1 or maybe just half a tank until near our destination before adding the extra 100kgs......... certainly notice the difference ..... of course west of like St George etc they are full.

Moving the spare to either left or right may cause extended wobble, it really depends on the vans balance at the time and no two vans are the same, experiment with various loadings at times....... a good trick is transfer water from one tank to the other as you travel to see how things go.... of course you do need an empty tank to start off with................ I have found with my genny loaded on the back I have water in the front tank, no genny water is the the rear tank, just did a water transfer while at a smoko stop, half and half then at lunch moved front to back, to see which was better, far easier way to do things on the road than at home running around the block.....
 

Macca_75

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Aug 3, 2016
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We use a iSi bike carrier. worth a few $$$ but will also put about 70Kg onto the ball weight loaded with 4 adult bikes. George will strengthen the rear bar of your van (for a price) and rear mount one but this may make your ball weight to light (and personally I don't like things hanging off the back I can't see when driving)
 
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