Weighbridge payload

[Christy]

Taking my new (to me) Swift to weighbridge tomorrow. Assume I need to empty it of everything. Then just me. I have half a tank of fuel. Should I fill up fresh water tank or go completely empty of everything.

Some have said load it as if you are going away. Not sure this is the best thing?

 

[Parrot Face]

What model of Adria do you have? We got locked down before we could fully load ours up and get to a weighbridge. I would be interested to hear how far things were away from the specification. Thanks

Taken from a previous posting..............Picked up new Adria Matrix Supreme 670DC this April. Straight to Weighbridge. Weighed in at 3180 with nobody in vehicle, one full gas bottle, no water, 20 litres of fuel, one battery. Max weight is 3500, so I have 320 kg to work with. Say 160kg for us two adults. 11kg for dog, 180kg for all essentials. So I am overweight. If I upgrade to whatever I will have the licence issue when I am 70 in a couple of years time and also won't be able to travel on some european motorways without paying for the expensive gobox. As you,ve guessed my weights above give me little fuel. There is a scandal.
other threads dealing with this https://www.motorhomefun.co.uk/forum/threads/motorhome-payload-scandal.204676/page-7#post-3500876

 

[Puddleduck]

We weigh ours fully loaded on the way out for our first journey of the year - with full water, full fuel, but empty waste tanks. We know we can lose about 75kg of fresh water if we need to (but never have had to).

We do keep a spreadsheet of garage stuff as that has a weight limit.

 

[the1andonly]

My view is "give me the data", weigh empty to known condition eg with driver full diesel other tanks empty.
Create wish list of travel load, load up fully with full tanks. now you can make decisions can i add a towbar, spare wheel, yes i weigh everything (sometimes as box worth) all on a spreadsheet. How close to the limit am i , have i enough spare to not worry about throwing in the odd extra or upplate. Give me the data, alternative weigh every journey or wait to get done.

 

[Lenny HB]

alternative weigh every journey

Used to do that as we have a free 24/7 weighbridge 2 miles from home, then we got sensible and bought a van with a decent payload.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Beltie]

Has anyone had any experience of using Reich weigh scales? How robust are they and how accurate?

 

[Pausim]

Has anyone had any experience of using Reich weigh scales? How robust are they and how accurate?

I have some but I never get the same reading when I weigh the van 2 or 3 times consecutively. I now go to a weigh bridge.

 

[tonyidle]

Another vote for the KISS system. Weigh it in full holiday mode - I usually do it when actually on holiday when I spot a weigh bridge. I've been lucky in that only one van I've had was over and even then only by 25Kg on the rear axle. Weighing axles for anyone that doesn't understand how is incredibly easy. Drive on front axle only. Weigh. Move forward until all wheels are on. Weigh. The rest is arithmetic. One other consideration: if you tow a trailer leave it hitched so the nose weight is taken into account. That doesn't apply to a toad that has almost zero nose weight.

 

[HugoBNB]

Well, we got it to a weighbridge today. Full tank of water, 80% diesel,. In the garage 4 x lightweight chairs and table, usual other bits and Bob's and one full gas bottle. Two of us in the vehicle. No clothing in the lockers and no food in the fridge. Guess what? 20kg overweight!
Onto SV Tech now to get it updated.

 

[Larby]

Well, we got it to a weighbridge today. Full tank of water, 80% diesel,. In the garage 4 x lightweight chairs and table, usual other bits and Bob's and one full gas bottle. Two of us in the vehicle. No clothing in the lockers and no food in the fridge. Guess what? 20kg overweight!
Onto SV Tech now to get it updated.

Now it seems you have taken a responsible attitude and fallen foul of payload, but will do something about it. I assume you will have C1?

We have read recent stories that Motorhome sales are buoyant.
I fear that there will be families buying motorhomes and they will become severely overloaded.
Picture the scene, man used to take wife, 2 kids, trailer with it loaded with big tent etc.
He buys Motorhome , 4 berth it says so good to go.
Loads with family, clothes, food, 4 bikes (that went on roof of car), worse still he is heading to Cornwall where it may be a bit crowded !! Where will they stay overnight as sites will be full? parking in day time isn't as easy as using a car.
In for a rude awakening or am I being too negative?

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Compactliner]

As said they make use of the tolerance to give an impression of a higher payload.
Also depends on the manufacturer. Hymer are normally very accurate to the quoted weight, Carthago are nearly alway 130kg over but within tolerance. And don't forget to add {reduce payload by) options, dealer & self fitted extras.
That is why you need a minium of 700 kg of payload for 2 people, a 1000 kg is better.

The other thing they do is to omit any fresh water from the MIRO weight thus instantly 'gaining' 100+ kg of payload...
I got out Carthago weighed as part of the deal...I knew the unladen weight and the weight of the fitted packs... it was pretty well bang on...Carthago's in the UK always come with Packs that aren't in the MIRO, thuu it a just needs to be remembered when evaluating payload.
Our van weighed 2650 unladen, 2850 ish MIRO with driver, gas, some water...
So, 650 payload minus various for packs, satellite, twin batteries etc...
IMHO this is about as good as is gets on a 3.5t van (we are only 6.4m x 2.12m) and to think you're going to get more at this level is dreaming.
You will only get 1000kg (sometimes) on the heavy 4250kg chassis.
I used be very comfortable with my near tonne and a half payload with our previous Carthago on the heavy chassis....now I'm happy with what we have now...
It's when converters look to sell 7.5m multiberth vans on the light chassis that owners are in serious trouble before they turn a wheel

 

[Nigel P]

I noticed in Manic's comment about saving money on the weighing. Many of our local weighbridges do not charge for the weighing of motorhomes unless you require a printout. Simply total weight, then rear axle with a normal payload and the staff will scribble down the readings on the screen for you at no cost. Some weighbridges even turn the reader to the window out of hours so you can visit and do it all yourself.
As others have said there is no point in weighing an empty vehicle! The manufacturer tells you the ULW, all you need to know is whether all your normal travelling kit keeps you within the permitted limits both gross and individual axles.

 

[Langtoftlad]

Well, we got it to a weighbridge today. Full tank of water, 80% diesel,. In the garage 4 x lightweight chairs and table, usual other bits and Bob's and one full gas bottle. Two of us in the vehicle. No clothing in the lockers and no food in the fridge. Guess what? 20kg overweight!
Onto SV Tech now to get it updated.

Depending on how much food & clothing, you're probably ok if you dump the water.
If stopped you get a 5% courtesy allowance before being penalised.
The chances are that if its a paper uprate, the vehicle is technically safe if legally overweight.

I was usually 10-20kg underweight in full trip trim but got fed up making sure I took something out everytime I put something in - so uprated.

 

[HugoBNB]

Depending on how much food & clothing, you're probably ok if you dump the water.
If stopped you get a 5% courtesy allowance before being penalised.
The chances are that if its a paper uprate, the vehicle is technically safe if legally overweight.

I was usually 10-20kg underweight in full trip trim but got fed up making sure I took something out everytime I put something in - so uprated.

Update. Weight was 20kg over on the total permitted weight of 3500kg. The problem is compounded by the rear axle coming in at 1920kg against the plated maximum of 2000kg. This makes the paper exercise of getting a greater maximum weight useless as all the loading of clothes bike etc. goes into the the area beyond the rear axle. I am now having air assist put on the rear axle which increases the maximum weight but, adds the capacity to the rear axle.
As stated by other posters, I could play about with carrying low/zero water to resolve the issue but, that could well restrict us on our travels.
I have ordered the kit and am getting our local caravan guy to fit it all. Then getting the paperwork done.
For things like this I always prefer to have something slightly over-engineered as opposed to running a vehicle right up to its limits.
I was totally expecting this scenario having experienced similar loading issues with our caravan and, from reading the numerous posts on here on this subject.
Thanks to all posters for their contributions. It made the exercise a lot easier for me. Safe travels all.

 

[HugoBNB]

Correct tin rear axle came in at 1980kg

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[gus-lopez]

We are fortunate here in spain in that every vehicle has to have an 'unladen' weight. So the same would apply for motorhomes & it would be shown on the ficha tecnica. My last van appeared to still show the original chassis /cab before conversion but they'd get up to anything 30 years ago.
Today it has to be weighed after conversion & in road going trim & would make no allowance for +/- % that the manufacturers might hope to fool you with.

The PVC i am converting myself when I bought it had an u/l of 1730kgs as shown on the van & ficha. filled with diesel & empty it weighed 2080kgs. allowing 80 kgs for the diesel that meant that the insulation & floor,wall & ceiling boarding weighed 270kgs which I found hard to believe.
Last week I had to weigh it as it is now finished for a new "unladen weight"
Wish I had realised/remembered this as once again it was full of diesel +50kgs water
It weighed 1280 kgs =front axle
1100kgs =rear axle
2380kgs =total weight so payload of 920kgs + as it is at 3300kgs at the moment.I can go to 3500kgs at least without problems & front axle is rated 1750 with rear at 2100 so . Once this is sirted I might increase the mma.
I've no idea what unladen weight mine is goiing to be as I told the engineer it had 130kgs of water & diesel hoping he can lower the U/L but as they want weighbridge tickets I think I'm stuck with what I weighed.

 

[busby]

My view is "give me the data", weigh empty to known condition eg with driver full diesel other tanks empty.
Create wish list of travel load, load up fully with full tanks. now you can make decisions can i add a towbar, spare wheel, yes i weigh everything (sometimes as box worth) all on a spreadsheet. How close to the limit am i , have i enough spare to not worry about throwing in the odd extra or upplate. Give me the data, alternative weigh every journey or wait to get done.

How do you know your axle weights..? BUSBY.

 

[the1andonly]

How do you know your axle weights..? BUSBY.

Given the variability i got on a local weighbridge i got it weighed with a dynamic weighbridge (you have to drive past the sensors at a steady 3mph you get individual weights only. supost be be most accurate system about.
I took an invantory of load. for changes there are spreadsheets in the resource area that do the calculations for you
New front axle load (new F) = F – [L x (O ÷ W)]
New rear axle load (new R) = R + L + (F – new F)

 

[HugoBNB]

Now it seems you have taken a responsible attitude and fallen foul of payload, but will do something about it. I assume you will have C1?

We have read recent stories that Motorhome sales are buoyant.
I fear that there will be families buying motorhomes and they will become severely overloaded.
Picture the scene, man used to take wife, 2 kids, trailer with it loaded with big tent etc.
He buys Motorhome , 4 berth it says so good to go.
Loads with family, clothes, food, 4 bikes (that went on roof of car), worse still he is heading to Cornwall where it may be a bit crowded !! Where will they stay overnight as sites will be full? parking in day time isn't as easy as using a car.
In for a rude awakening or am I being too negative?

Yes, I have a C1.
I agree with you on the scenario in your message. You just have to hope they find this forum before they plough their hard-earned into this lifestyle.

 

[Lenny HB]

Given the variability i got on a local weighbridge i got it weighed with a dynamic weighbridge (you have to drive past the sensors at a steady 3mph you get individual weights only. supost be be most accurate system about.

Interesting as they have the widest tolerance, a plate weighbridge is +/- 110 kg and a dynamic +/- 150kg on each axle.
So if the weighbridge is on bottom tolerance you could be 300 kg over.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[68c]

My local gravel company told me the machine worked to 20Kg tolerance. 110Kg seems rather high.

 

[Dazza 6863]

Took ours on Monday and was both pleased and surprised we came in under, as the drop-down bed, solar panel, and awning were factory fitted. I then added spare wheel and carrier plus gas low system1x6 1x11, we have added a Kampa air pro drive away awning, two bikes, and carrier only 10 litres of water though as we only use sites unless it's a one-night stopover, some other bits and bobs my OH thinks we need !!
came in at 3460kg. front axle 1720kg back 1740kg.

 

[Pausim]

My local scrap yard also says 20kg tolerance. I think they would have a riot if the dealers thought they were underpaying by 110kg. They do our weights front axle first, then whole vehicle and then rear axle. The two axle weights always seem to tally with the overall figure.

 

[busbuddy]

I weighed mine empty 3120kg (me,full fuel and gas onboard) to give me a base weight to start with because I don't go away with the same kit every time
Sometimes the bikes are in the back, sometimes I have the awning room, sometimes I am almost empty but when we go racing its rammed and very close to the 4t limit
I have weighed it a few times in various camping modes, maybe it's because I'm an ex lorry driver

 

[the1andonly]

Interesting as they have the widest tolerance, a plate weighbridge is +/- 110 kg and a dynamic +/- 150kg on each axle.
So if the weighbridge is on bottom tolerance you could be 300 kg over.

Fleet Maagzine is under construction

Just another WordPress site

fleetmagazine.co.uk

Axtec’s dynamic weighbridge is fast too, allowing a six-axle tractor and trailer combination to weigh in just 40-seconds and to obtain individual axle and a gross vehicle weight to an accuracy of +/- 0.25% – the most accurate dynamic weighbridge in the world. The driver simply drives over the flush mounted platform at a constant speed of 2.5 mph before obtaining instant weight figures from a digital read-out.

Wellingborough Norse has also had its new Axtec dynamic weighbridge certified by Northamptonshire Trading Standards, making it available not only for public use, but also for DVSA and for other authorities to carry out inspections.

.25% on 1600kg is 4 bags of sugar sorry 4kg, I wouldn't have spent £18 on a 300kg guess

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Lenny HB]

My figures were the legal requirement they are designed to weigh 44 tonnes so not much as a percentage.
I have found our local dynamic one can vary by up to 50 kg depending how central you are and the speed you drive over. I always used to take 3 of 4 readings, don't bother now as I can't overload this van.

 

[scotzsue]

alternative weigh every journey or wait to get done.

Don't weigh ours every journey, but carry mostly the same stuff when we go. Have not yet been over the limit including carrying a motorbike in the garage 4T van
New one is 3.5 have fully packed it more stuff than we usually take, no big garage so no motorbikeand well within the limits, this was with full tank of fuel and full water tank. Have sine taken some heavier un-needed items out. Need to leave enough weight for bring back the bottles

 

[Nigel P]

Guidance Consolidated code of practice: enforcement weighing of vehicles

Published 20 June 2014

If a single plate weighbridge has been used to weigh individual axles or bogies or to add up those results to produce the gross/train weight of a vehicle, the accuracy limit is +/- 50 kgs per axle or as specified for that weighbridge by a Inspector of Weights and Measures.

This is the standard from the enforcement guidelines that were issued in 2014. The difference between a passenger or no passenger!