Do you have a Scooter on a rack?

[Barryd999]

I am thinking of changing vans and currently have a Honda Vision 110 on an Armitage Scooter rack on the back of my Swift Kontiki.

 

I have started asking questions about various vans but I am struggling to find the right vans that have enough payload to take a rack and scooter so I thought I would ask on all the forums and try and compile a list of motorhomes that have racks and scooters that are within the payload limits.

 

Ideally I Want another rear lounge van preferably on an Alko Chassis.

 

So the questions are.

 

Do you have a rack and scooter?

 

What scooter is it?

 

What van do you have?

 

What was your total available payload before fitting and what was available on both axles and what payload did you have left overall and on each axle after fitting the rack and scooter?

 

Thanks

Barry

[RogerThat]

Just out of interest, how much does the average scooter weigh?

 

[Barryd999]

You will struggle to get anything useable under 100KG. Our Honda Vision is 103kg. Most 125cc scooters are 115-130kg.

[747]

Hi Barry,

 

You mentioned carrying a Scooter on a Tag axle van elsewhere but said you could not find out the payload on older vans.

 

There are plenty of pre 2007 vans with the 2.8 JTD engine (very reliable engine) with a MAM of 5 Ton. My old Burstner was 5 Ton and could even be replated up another 200 Kg. The British vans you are looking for should be identical in MAM.

[Barryd999]

747 - 2016-03-22 8:51 PM

 

Hi Barry,

 

You mentioned carrying a Scooter on a Tag axle van elsewhere but said you could not find out the payload on older vans.

 

There are plenty of pre 2007 vans with the 2.8 JTD engine (very reliable engine) with a MAM of 5 Ton. My old Burstner was 5 Ton and could even be replated up another 200 Kg. The British vans you are looking for should be identical in MAM.

 

Thanks.

 

I started a thread on FACTS and have been looking at the payload on the autotrail range in particular the Arapaho Tag. http://forums.motorhomefacts.com/20-motorhome-chitchat/178370-bessacarr-kontiki-autotrail.html (see page 2)

 

Its only 760kg payload and max weight 4500kg. Do you reckon it could be uprated to 5000KG then?

 

There is also some confusion about the Apache payload which it states in the brochure on the 3850kg chassis is 670kg but the one I looked at was on a 4250kg chassis and quoted to me at 800kg.

 

Its all very confusing. I would before buying insist on putting it on a weighbridge so I Can do my own maths rather than rely on pdf brochures or what the dealer says but before all that I would like to eliminate the lightweights and compile a list of contenders which of course must have the right layout.

[747]

A phone call to SV Tech might be useful as they have uprated hundreds of motorhomes.

 

I would guess on the typical British tag axle van of that era that the most you might need to do is change the tyre size.

 

My current van has the same Alko chassis as the 5 Ton 747 I had. It even has the next size bigger tyres but is plated at 4.5 Tons. It still has a very good payload for us and has roughly equal spare weight on the back and front axles. I am certain that uprating to 5 Ton would only be a paper exercise.

 

It's a pity that you don't like the European layout as my old van is back up for sale at the local Dealer. It was very light on the back end. You could probably carry 2 Scooters on it. :D

[Barryd999]

747 - 2016-03-22 11:14 PM

 

A phone call to SV Tech might be useful as they have uprated hundreds of motorhomes.

 

I would guess on the typical British tag axle van of that era that the most you might need to do is change the tyre size.

 

My current van has the same Alko chassis as the 5 Ton 747 I had. It even has the next size bigger tyres but is plated at 4.5 Tons. It still has a very good payload for us and has roughly equal spare weight on the back and front axles. I am certain that uprating to 5 Ton would only be a paper exercise.

 

It's a pity that you don't like the European layout as my old van is back up for sale at the local Dealer. It was very light on the back end. You could probably carry 2 Scooters on it. :D

 

Thanks.

 

Yes the choice would be far wider if we could settle for a European layout but its none negotiable.

 

Ideally I dont really want a tag thats nearly 8 or 9 metres, I would rather settle for Kontiki or Apache size around the 7-7.5 metre. The main reason as its already a military exercise getting the thing on the drive as the road is quiet narrow and its a bit of shunt to get it in and out, ill probably have to reverse a tag onto my neighbours drive to get it lined up straight enough to slot it in. As you can see its a bit tight.

 

 

[Barryd999]

747 - 2016-03-22 11:14 PM

 

A phone call to SV Tech might be useful as they have uprated hundreds of motorhomes.

 

I would guess on the typical British tag axle van of that era that the most you might need to do is change the tyre size.

 

My current van has the same Alko chassis as the 5 Ton 747 I had. It even has the next size bigger tyres but is plated at 4.5 Tons. It still has a very good payload for us and has roughly equal spare weight on the back and front axles. I am certain that uprating to 5 Ton would only be a paper exercise.

 

It's a pity that you don't like the European layout as my old van is back up for sale at the local Dealer. It was very light on the back end. You could probably carry 2 Scooters on it. :D

 

Thanks.

 

Yes the choice would be far wider if we could settle for a European layout but its none negotiable.

 

Ideally I dont really want a tag thats nearly 8 or 9 metres, I would rather settle for Kontiki or Apache size around the 7-7.5 metre. The main reason as its already a military exercise getting the thing on the drive as the road is quiet narrow and its a bit of shunt to get it in and out, ill probably have to reverse a tag onto my neighbours drive to get it lined up straight enough to slot it in. Its a bit tight!

 

http://s9.postimg.org/6nwv88qtr/hank_drive.jpg

 

 

 

[snail]

We have Honda innova 125cc @ 109kg, had our hymer up plated by SV Tech from 3850 to 4100, but more importantly it raised the back axle load from 2120 to 2300, this we were told was the maximum for our Fiat heavy chassis 2005 built 16inch wheels, the later 250 chassis can go to 2400 on back axle, we had to fit air ride to achieve this, also went up a notch load wise on rear tyres as we were getting close to limit, we do have a long overhang and have to be sensible about loading, visit the weighbridge every year fully loaded for a six month trip and can achieve the margins set

 

There are Hymers with rear lounges out there or bar versions, most tag axles have 1500kg on each axle so shouldn't be a problem

 

Not sure how the Merc chassis stands against Fiat for rear axle weights a few auto trails on them?

 

If I were to change? Hymer s700 twin rear wheels bar version, Hymer 694 tag bar with huge garage, or auto trail chieftan tag which would be near perfect as could be, but long

 

Good luck

Snail

[Barryd999]

snail - 2016-03-23 3:14 PM

 

We have Honda innova 125cc @ 109kg, had our hymer up plated by SV Tech from 3850 to 4100, but more importantly it raised the back axle load from 2120 to 2300, this we were told was the maximum for our Fiat heavy chassis 2005 built 16inch wheels, the later 250 chassis can go to 2400 on back axle, we had to fit air ride to achieve this, also went up a notch load wise on rear tyres as we were getting close to limit, we do have a long overhang and have to be sensible about loading, visit the weighbridge every year fully loaded for a six month trip and can achieve the margins set

 

There are Hymers with rear lounges out there or bar versions, most tag axles have 1500kg on each axle so shouldn't be a problem

 

Not sure how the Merc chassis stands against Fiat for rear axle weights a few auto trails on them?

 

If I were to change? Hymer s700 twin rear wheels bar version, Hymer 694 tag bar with huge garage, or auto trail chieftan tag which would be near perfect as could be, but long

 

Good luck

Snail

 

Thanks for that. I have contacted SVtech to ask them specifically if the Kontiki 645 can be upgraded from 4005kg to 4250kg and the rear axle from 2300 to 2400. I think from info I gleamed on here from an old thread that the 645 is max 1850 on the front and 2300 on the back with an max gross payload of 525kg. An extra 100 on the rear may be enough I dunno as I havent got the flipping thing yet! :D

 

I would have a Hymer or similar but I just dont think I am going to get the layout I want. As you say I think there was a coachbuilt classic but I seem to remember it wasnt on an Alko chassis (Could be wrong) and the payload was poor.

[Robbo]

Looking at a 2004 Hymer brochure there are only a few rear lounge models available.

 

The only real contender is the B Class 634 with A Class cab, 6.39m long. Only rated at 3500Kg but you might find some with Maxi chassis taking it to 3900Kg. I think most were built on an ALCO chassis except the cheaper Classic range.

 

So, I think you can safely cross Hymer off your list.

[tugga]

Barry, our neighbour has a Lunar Champ and they have a scooter on the back of that (on a rack). I don't know the layout as I have never been inside it.

 

So, have you given up on your Kontiki now that you have had so many problems with it? Poor old Hank