Up Rating

[Russ N Tracey]

I'm thinking of uprating from 3500kg to 3850kg.
I'm looking at putting semi air suspension on first (going to have a word with suppliers at the NEC next month).
What are the down sides if any? And has anybody got any recommendations?

 

[Phill D]

You may need to look at wheel size and tyre loads as well as adding semi air.

Particularly if you want to add payload to the rear axle.

 

[Ava the Adria]

I'm thinking of uprating from 3500kg to 3850kg.
I'm looking at putting semi air suspension on first (going to have a word with suppliers at the NEC next month).
What are the down sides if any? And has anybody got any recommendations?

It's all about the payload, innit! We dropped onto a weigh bridge one day out of curiosity to find that we were at 3450kg when we were setting off on trip with not very much at all with us. Legals aside, we were worried about overloading the suspension and that looking heavy bordering overloaded would draw unwanted attention, never mind any safety aspects, so decision made.

We uprated AVA (Adria Matrix) from 3500kg to 3850kg with Dunlop Airtech(?) pump up system on the rear axle only. Could have gone to around 4000kg if we'd changed the front suspension struts as well, but the extra money didn't seem proportionate to the small extra 150kg or so payload gained. It was straightforward for me to DIY, took some time to feed the air pipes from rear to front out of sight, but it works well and has improved the ride. Needed a long spanner to loosen the leaf spring clamps, but it was straight forward. We used SV Tech for the paperwork and stickers for the actual up-plating, and that all went well too. Used our local garage to "certify" the work for the DVLA paperwork.

Ava drives much better now, with a couple of bar pressure in the balloons, lifting the worst of the weight off the leaf springs and levelling her up.

I would recommend you go onto a weigh bridge and see exactly where you are wrt the 3500 limit, and do the maths! The issue is always payload - they sell you these things and never tell you how much payload you actually have left after all the extras have been added!

 

[Russ N Tracey]

Thanks for the quick replies, I have done just that, went to a local weigh bridge fully fuelled and watered and was 3362kg and that was without the shopping, clothes for the week and just me in. I've already been in touch with SvTech and with the semi air on rear axle it'll be just a paper exercise for them to finish off the job. We've both got C1 on our licences.
I've not contacted the insurance yet to see how it will affect that.
I can't think of any downsides to uprating, can anybody think of any before I take the plunge and spend the money?

 

[Oldrat]

Thanks for the quick replies, I have done just that, went to a local weigh bridge fully fuelled and watered and was 3362kg and that was without the shopping, clothes for the week and just me in. I've already been in touch with SvTech and with the semi air on rear axle it'll be just a paper exercise for them to finish off the job. We've both got C1 on our licences.
I've not contacted the insurance yet to see how it will affect that.
I can't think of any downsides to uprating, can anybody think of any before I take the plunge and spend the money?

If folks have any worries about the resale value of an up plated vehicle (perhaps smaller market) then it is just as easy to down plate too.

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[dunnah01]

You fall into the PHGV class so LEZ charges can become even more extortionate if your engine isn't compliant. It's up to £100/day for our Euro IV engine which effectively mean cities are becoming no go areas. You do get cheaper road tax though.

 

[Russ N Tracey]

We're on a 22 plate euro 6, (ducato rollerteam)

 

[Phill D]

Check where that paper exercise to go to 3850kgs gives you the extra.
Does it give you more than the std 2000kgs over the rest axle. If not you may still be over on the rear when at 3850 it’s difficult to increase load over the front axle.

 

[tonka]

Remember that van weight engineering are the other approved company for the upgrade paperwork plus a big price difference.

 

[Ava the Adria]

Thanks for the quick replies, I have done just that, went to a local weigh bridge fully fuelled and watered and was 3362kg and that was without the shopping, clothes for the week and just me in. I've already been in touch with SvTech and with the semi air on rear axle it'll be just a paper exercise for them to finish off the job. We've both got C1 on our licences.
I've not contacted the insurance yet to see how it will affect that.
I can't think of any downsides to uprating, can anybody think of any before I take the plunge and spend the money?

Insurance not been affected and Private HGV VEL is cheap as chips. Speed limits are not affected by uplating as this is down to the plated unladen vehicle weight, not the maximum weight (sorry, the table's not worked)

Speed limits

A limit of 30 miles per hour or 48 kilometres per hour usually applies to all traffic on all roads with street lighting

www.gov.uk

Single carriageways mph (km/h)	Dual carriageways mph (km/h)	Motorways mph (km/h)

Motorhomes or motor caravans (not more than 3.05 tonnes maximum unladen weight)	60 (96)	70 (112)	70 (112)
Motorhomes or motor caravans (more than 3.05 tonnes maximum unladen weight)	50 (80)	60 (96)	70 (112)

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[Ava the Adria]

Thanks for the quick replies, I have done just that, went to a local weigh bridge fully fuelled and watered and was 3362kg and that was without the shopping, clothes for the week and just me in.

We only travel with 20 litres water in the tank (more only if there's no water where we're going). I also don't fully fill the fuel tank unless rolling a long way and need the range (120 litre long range tank weighs a lot full), but at least the fuel tank weight is over the front axle where as the water is over the rear. We also keep as little weight as possible behind the rear axle, eg I've brought the bikes off the rear wall and put them inside the garage which has moved them about a metre forward.

 

[IRHP]

Didn't alter my insurance but they do note it. You will need a C1 on you licence. As previously mentioned Vanweightengineering are a log cheaper than SV TECH. I haven't used svtech so can't compare but I was very happy with the great service from Dee at Vanweightengineering

 

[AJM2]

Did all the paperwork myself, contacted Hymer directly who were excellent and gave me the letter (charged me for it) to send off to dvla. It was a very straightforward process and dvla responded with the updated stuff within a few weeks

 

[Googlebot]

Van Weight Engineering sorted ours.

Very good Dee was too.