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Pete-B

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I'm taking my van to the local weighbridge tomorrow but I won't be able to take my 750 kg box trailer with me which I usually tow because I'm having a wheel bearing replaced.

 

When I get back will it be just a simple matter of adding the 50kg trailer nose weight to the back axle's weight or aren't things as straight forward as that?

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No, not as straightforward as that. Is it ever? :-) The overhang from the tow hitch to the back axle will tend to increase the actual rear axle load above the nominal 50kg trailer noseweight static load, with the difference deducting from the front axle load. In effect, loads added behind the rear axle impose a load greater than their self-weight on the rear axle with the difference deducting from the front axle load, as the rear axle becomes the fulcrum for leverage.

 

It works a bit like a see-saw, but the total of the + on the rear axle and the - on the front axle will always equal the load actually applied.

 

Simplest, if you can manage it, would be to wait until you can take the trailer as well, and then take both 'van and trailer, fully laden, to the weighbridge and get the actual loads on all three axles, as you'll then know whether any axle is overloaded, whether the van is within its MAM, whether the trailer is within its MAM, and whether the combination is within your permissible Gross Train Weight (GTW)) - and you should then get a weighbridge ticket to prove it! :-)

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This Caravan Guard webpage explains how to calculate the effect on a motorhome's front and rear axle loadings of adding weight at the vehicle's rear.

 

https://www.caravanguard.co.uk/news/how-to-calculate-your-motorhome%E2%80%99s-safe-weight-limits-4104/

 

Pete-B's motorhome is a 2020 Autosleepers Warwick XL panel-van conversion (length 6.36 metres). Given the motorhome's specification, the likelihood is that placing a 50kg load on the tow-ball would increase the rear-axle loading by about 70kg and reduce the front-axle loading by about 20kg, (and obviously increase the vehicle's total weight by 50kg).

 

But as the Warwick is going to be weighed, calculating the exact effect of 50kg on the tow-bar will subsequently be easy to do once the distance from the centre of the rear-axle to the tow-ball has been measured.

 

(I think the wheelbase of the Warwick will be 4045mm and its rear 'overhang' will be 1380mm, but the distance of the tow-ball from the vehicle's rear would need to be added to the 'overhang' figure to permit an accurate calculation to be made.)

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Derek Uzzell - 2022-01-04 8:22 AM

 

This Caravan Guard webpage explains how to calculate the effect on a motorhome's front and rear axle loadings of adding weight at the vehicle's rear.

 

https://www.caravanguard.co.uk/news/how-to-calculate-your-motorhome%E2%80%99s-safe-weight-limits-4104/

 

Pete-B's motorhome is a 2020 Autosleepers Warwick XL panel-van conversion (length 6.36 metres). Given the motorhome's specification, the likelihood is that placing a 50kg load on the tow-ball would increase the rear-axle loading by about 70kg and reduce the front-axle loading by about 20kg, (and obviously increase the vehicle's total weight by 50kg).

 

But as the Warwick is going to be weighed, calculating the exact effect of 50kg on the tow-bar will subsequently be easy to do once the distance from the centre of the rear-axle to the tow-ball has been measured.

 

(I think the wheelbase of the Warwick will be 4045mm and its rear 'overhang' will be 1380mm, but the distance of the tow-ball from the vehicle's rear would need to be added to the 'overhang' figure to permit an accurate calculation to be made.)

 

Thanks for that Derek, you're a champion, your information will be a great help.

 

I did get down to the weighbridge with wife in passenger seat but as we got there she reminded me all the cushions were still in the loft where we keep them over winter, so I need to weigh them separately tomorrow.

 

Anyhow this is the result. Total weight 3260kg. front axle 1660kg. rear axle 1600kg. This does include wife's weight and a full tank of fuel and also I had E&P levellers fitted before Christmas. So, apart from the cushions food in the fridge and what few clothes we take plus a few litres of water that's about it in the van. The rest goes in the trailer which, when loaded, had a nose weight of 48kg when I last measured it.

 

The vans now back in storage with the hand book in it and because the boss had to get back home quickly I didn't get chance to read the axle weights plate etc when we left the van.

 

Thanks again Derek for your help.

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You should find weight-related data in your motorhome's handbook in Section 8 (Technical Specification). I've copied below the relevant table from the latest A-S handbook and - for a Peugeot Boxer-based Warwick XL - the axle-related weights are given as

 

FRONT AXLE

Mass in running order weight - 1629kg

Maximum weight - 2100kg

 

REAR AXLE

Mass in running order weight - 1437kg

Maximum weight - 2400kg

 

 

 

handbook.thumb.png.c8adc7de09839b573ea0d2c22a96453c.png

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Derek Uzzell - 2022-01-05 7:21 AM

 

You should find weight-related data in your motorhome's handbook in Section 8 (Technical Specification). I've copied below the relevant table from the latest A-S handbook and - for a Peugeot Boxer-based Warwick XL - the axle-related weights are given as

 

FRONT AXLE

Mass in running order weight - 1629kg

Maximum weight - 2100kg

 

REAR AXLE

Mass in running order weight - 1437kg

Maximum weight - 2400kg

 

Thanks Derek.

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