tonyg3nwl Posted September 23, 2013 Share Posted September 23, 2013 Hi, just took the (new to us) Starfire to the weighbridge as there are some non standard items on it. Bike rack, Awning, and towbar, so thought it would be worth a checkup. Suspension has also been upgraded to an airide system. Front, 1180 kgs Rear, 1680 kgs. Diesel full, water empty, 2 gas bottles, one person on.the driver. Seem about ok, or does anyone have a different view.. Pressure for airride system is 2.5 bar, is this ok Figures suggest margin for personal items is approx 400 kgs.and max 3400 overall.Within my Licence! Any comments Tonyg3nwl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harvey Posted September 24, 2013 Share Posted September 24, 2013 You need to compare your individual axle weights to the axle weights on the vehicle plate. You can be within the total max vehicle weight but still be over on an individual axle. Harvey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted September 24, 2013 Share Posted September 24, 2013 1180kg + 1680kg = 2860kg. Assuming that your Starfire's Gross Vehicle Weight is 3400kg, that leaves 540kg 'spare' for passengers, baggage, bikes, water, etc. Whether this is adequate will depend on how many passengers/bikes you carry (and how heavy they are) and the amount of water and baggage. As Harvey advises, there's also the matter of how close the 1180kg/1680kg figures are already to the front/rear maximum permitted axle-loadings shown on your motorhome's VIN-plate, and the effect adding the weight of passengers, baggage, etc. will have on the axle loadings you've obtained. I'm not saying it's pointless weighing a part-loaded motorhome, but it should be plain from the observations just made that it's best to weigh the vehicle at its MAXIMUM 'operational' weight (ie. with all passengers, bikes, baggage, water on board). Otherwise some finger-in-the-wind calculations will be needed to decide whether or not the vehicle will be legal when fully loaded. Difficult to comment usefully on your 2.5bar air-bellows pressures question. This 2008 MHF thread http://www.motorhomefacts.com/ftopic-43645-0-days0-orderasc-.html suggests that 2.5bar (36psi approx.) should be well within the design maximum for this type of bellows. Whether this is the optimum pressure for your motorhome will depend on what effect the bellows are having on the vehicle's rear springs and what you want the bellows to do. If you used a high inflation-pressure for the rear tyres and a high pressure for the air-bellows, it's likely that the ride would end up pretty hard - but you might like that. If you are happy with the way your (fully loaded) Starfire rides and handles with the bellows at 2.5bar and the tyre-pressures at whatever you are using, then leave things alone. If you aren't, then (as far as the bellows are concerned) lower or increaee the pressure if you want a softer or firmer ride. You'll see from the MHF thrad that some people were using 15-22psi, while others used 40-50psi, so this isn't an exact science. As it's easy enough to alter the bellows' pressures, you could always experiment to discover what suits you best. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrianBW Posted September 24, 2013 Share Posted September 24, 2013 Hi Tony, What are the plate figures, as seen on the front member above the radiator. Your weights should be under as indicated on the plate. You don't mention the overall weight, should be under the 3.5 tonnes. Briangw3xhd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted September 24, 2013 Share Posted September 24, 2013 Tony's motorhome is a 2005 Autocruise Starfire, an example of which is shown here http://www.becksmotorhomes.com/vehicle/2005-autocruise-starfire-el On-line adverts suggest that the model was built on a 3400kg GVW chassis, which tallies with Tony's "...max 3400 overall..." statement. Dunno off-hand what the maximum axle loads were. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyg3nwl Posted September 24, 2013 Author Share Posted September 24, 2013 Just checked plate figures. Front 1750 Rear 1900 Both 3400 ? 5400 Is the 5400 figure the train weight. Water tank size 50 ltrs, waste size 70 ltrs. Waste tank rear of rear axle, freshwater tank forward of axle From this I conclude that bikes would push close to limit on rear axle, and it would be preferable to dump all waste tank contents before moving off each day.. Has airide mod improved capability of rear axle?. Cant find any plate mod anywhere. Thanks for comments to date. Tonyg3nwl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted September 24, 2013 Share Posted September 24, 2013 sounds like it... 2000kg sounds about right re the air suspension just play about with the settings and see what feels best,,cornering roundabouts a good test..never let them go to low..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyg3nwl Posted September 24, 2013 Author Share Posted September 24, 2013 Derek queried number of passengers. There are only 2 belted seats, driver plus front cab passenger side. Dont remember when rear seatbelts were legally required (2005 van), but rear seats are only side facing anyway, so wont be taking passengers, sorry folks. Tonyg3nwl. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pepe63xnotuse Posted September 24, 2013 Share Posted September 24, 2013 tonyg3nwl - 2013-09-24 11:07 AM Has airide mod improved capability of rear axle?. Cant find any plate mod anywhere. Tonyg3nwl ...They may(will) have improved it's "capabilities" but unless it's been re-plated(up!), then they wouldn't have improved it's "capacity"... ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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