mentaliss Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 I did find some old posts regarding this issue but probably out of date My van Dethleffs Avantage 3.5kg fiat ducato, standard 215/70/15 109 rating tyres and my van is 100klgs over weight :-( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 Welcome to the Out&AboutLive forums. Although it's possible to DIY the uprating process (and that would be the cheapest method) the usual procedure has involved a company called SVTech http://www.svtech.co.uk/ This link http://tinyurl.com/nw6z2vc lists previous forum threads that refer to "SVTech" and should be informative. The simplest/cheapest approach would be to reduce your motorhome's weight to keep it within the 3500kg maximum (eg. by travelling with fresh-water anfd waste-water tanks near empty, using light-weight gas-bottles etc.) If that's not practicable (and it may well not be as some Dethleffs Advantage 3500kg models have very limited user-payload to begin with), you may be OK uprating the maximum overall weight by a smallish amount (say from 3500kg to 3650kg) without any ''technical' changes needing to be made. However, if the present 100kg overweight-ness has pushed your motorhome's rear-axle loading beyond the 2060kg that your tyres' 109 Load Index indicates, you'd need to uprate the rear tyres to cope (and perhaps also add 'air-assistance' to the rear springs). I believe there's no suitable 215/70 R15C tyre with a Load Index higher than 109, so the logical alternative would be 225/70 R15C tyres with a 112 Load Index (2240kg axle loading). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laimeduck Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 100 litres fresh water = 100kg 100 litres waste water =100kg 1 toilet casette full =15-20kg spare tyre on rim = 20kg gas cylinders = 10-15kg leisure batteries = 20-25 kg Wife = ? (I plead the 5th amendment here!) *-) Empty the van, then leave out what you don't use and don't need. Or uprate to 3850 via Svtech & become a private HGV with its disadvantages & a few advantages eg cheaper tax. Depends how you use your van of course. If you use sites you don't need to carry water, spare gas etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mildi Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 mentaliss - 2014-03-24 1:41 PM I did find some old posts regarding this issue but probably out of date My van Dethleffs Avantage 3.5kg fiat ducato, standard 215/70/15 109 rating tyres and my van is 100klgs over weight :-( mine is up rated from 3500 to 3850kg it was done by the previous owner through SVTech but the extra 350kg is on the front axle, the rear is still 2000kg max load so check before you do it. Checked mine at the weighbridge before we went off for six months, just under on the rear and 200kg spare on the front. Cheaper tax but got stung in Austria with go box and you will have plan you routes carefully in Europe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rolandrat Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 Probably one way to overcome a weight issue would be to tow an Ifor Williams BV64 Box Van trailer, it's unbraked and is rated at 5cwt. It won't affect your driving licence if that is a consideration. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Archiesgrandad Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 In my motorcycle racing days we sought to " add more lightness", ie., take off anything you don't need, substitute a lighter alternative for everything you do need, and drill holes in anything else. We were also told to keep our head down, our toes, knees and elbows in, and try a diet at the start of the season. I would be a bit cautious about suggesting the last one to the missus though. AGD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 You may need to change your tyres to 225's as your current ones LI of 109 will limit rear axle load to 2060 kg. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyishuk Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 probably use a decent trailer (Benderup or similar ) Rgds Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rupert123 Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 Rather than trying to guess take Dereks advice and contact SV Tech. If you phone them and give them your van specs they will probably be able to tell you over the phone what needs doing. They also have a form on their web site you can fill in but they are pretty helpful over the phone. A van I had done needed no work to upgrade by 200kgs but that was gross weight with nothing added to rear axle. My Swift I had upgraded from 3300 to 3500 needed rear spring assistors but this added 100kg to rear axle so was more useful. It all depends on the van so phone them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billggski Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 If it's only 100Kg over forget it, it's within tolerances and my 3850 kg rated advantage us on the same tyres. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike 202 Posted March 26, 2014 Share Posted March 26, 2014 Mentalis, are you overweight with a full tank of fuel, most tanks hold 80 to 100 Ltrs of fuel, so even taking into account the specific gravity of diesel 1/2 tank of fuel will save you 35/45 kilos. I realise that at some point you will have or need to travel with a full tank but at 27mpg or 6 mile/litre the you will be losing approx 1 kilo per 6 miles. Just a thought but the following may be of use. When I travel through France/Spain I may be 10 or so over my 3500 Kg but at 1/4 tank I will be around 50 kg (60 - 10kg) under weight . regards Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gocro Posted March 26, 2014 Share Posted March 26, 2014 Loosing unused gear , only filling water 1/4 full, empty waste at every opportunity , and diet are definitely the cheapest, most simple way to get rid of those extra kilos. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mentaliss Posted April 8, 2014 Author Share Posted April 8, 2014 Derek Uzzell - 2014-03-24 3:46 PM Welcome to the Out&AboutLive forums. Although it's possible to DIY the uprating process (and that would be the cheapest method) the usual procedure has involved a company called SVTech http://www.svtech.co.uk/ This link http://tinyurl.com/nw6z2vc lists previous forum threads that refer to "SVTech" and should be informative. The simplest/cheapest approach would be to reduce your motorhome's weight to keep it within the 3500kg maximum (eg. by travelling with fresh-water anfd waste-water tanks near empty, using light-weight gas-bottles etc.) If that's not practicable (and it may well not be as some Dethleffs Advantage 3500kg models have very limited user-payload to begin with), you may be OK uprating the maximum overall weight by a smallish amount (say from 3500kg to 3650kg) without any ''technical' changes needing to be made. However, if the present 100kg overweight-ness has pushed your motorhome's rear-axle loading beyond the 2060kg that your tyres' 109 Load Index indicates, you'd need to uprate the rear tyres to cope (and perhaps also add 'air-assistance' to the rear springs). I believe there's no suitable 215/70 R15C tyre with a Load Index higher than 109, so the logical alternative would be 225/70 R15C tyres with a 112 Load Index (2240kg axle loading). thanks for your input, we weighed our Dethleffs ADVANTAGE T6571 the morning we set off to Spain half a tank of fuel, 15 ltrs of fresh water and to our horror the rear axle weight was 2210, 210 over weight,! according to the Manufactures tech' details max payload weight is 350...the worst in the Advantage class!! I believe this overweight issue has come about due to several things the first having a Fiamma 4.0 mtr Awning fitted plus me fitting an under body fit spare wheel, plus an Fiamma Bike rack and two bikes...none of these are fitted from the factory so I intend to move the spare wheel as far forward as possible that will help but it will not resolve the total weight issue, I will fit my Dunlop rear spring assistors which I kept from my previous Rapido do you know if 16" wheels shod with 225/70/16 would help what about reworking the rear springs with a additional helper leaf......I suppose I will not be able to resolve this issue without spending lots of money :$ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StuartO Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 Dare I suggest considerng changing the motorhome as a cost effective approach? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peter21 Posted April 9, 2014 Share Posted April 9, 2014 Derek Uzzell - 2014-03-24 2:46 PM Welcome to the Out&AboutLive forums. Although it's possible to DIY the uprating process (and that would be the cheapest method) the usual procedure has involved a company called SVTech http://www.svtech.co.uk/ This link http://tinyurl.com/nw6z2vc lists previous forum threads that refer to "SVTech" and should be informative. The simplest/cheapest approach would be to reduce your motorhome's weight to keep it within the 3500kg maximum (eg. by travelling with fresh-water anfd waste-water tanks near empty, using light-weight gas-bottles etc.) If that's not practicable (and it may well not be as some Dethleffs Advantage 3500kg models have very limited user-payload to begin with), you may be OK uprating the maximum overall weight by a smallish amount (say from 3500kg to 3650kg) without any ''technical' changes needing to be made. However, if the present 100kg overweight-ness has pushed your motorhome's rear-axle loading beyond the 2060kg that your tyres' 109 Load Index indicates, you'd need to uprate the rear tyres to cope (and perhaps also add 'air-assistance' to the rear springs). I believe there's no suitable 215/70 R15C tyre with a Load Index higher than 109, so the logical alternative would be 225/70 R15C tyres with a 112 Load Index (2240kg axle loading). We looked around for replacements for our gaslow 11kg refillable bottles to save some weight but couldn't find anything suitable....any suggestions on this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pelmetman Posted April 9, 2014 Share Posted April 9, 2014 We like to take a few extra's :D....................... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will86 Posted April 9, 2014 Share Posted April 9, 2014 Food. How much do you carry ? Cups Mugs Plates Tins of Beans etc all add up. Buy as you go. Shoes Botts Wellies & more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted April 9, 2014 Share Posted April 9, 2014 peter21 - 2014-04-09 We looked around for replacements for our gaslow 11kg refillable bottles to save some weight but couldn't find anything suitable....any suggestions on this? Alugas Aluminium refillable bottle a pair of 11kg ones will save 10-12kg, imported by Autogas 2000 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Jones Posted April 9, 2014 Share Posted April 9, 2014 On the "bigger picture," I can't help thinking it's really time the industry took this issue seriously. Brochures usually only include "payload" among all the other statistics, not highlighted in any way; salesmen never mention it unless you ask them, and at both points the way it's calculated is rather vague. For a newcomer to the hobby, there's no realistic way to estimate, even roughly, whether the payload of a particular van is likely to be enough for your needs. We could do with a test case, I suppose, to show that a 4-berth motorhome with a ridiculously small user payload is "not fit for purpose!" The continual adding of extra (often heavy) "toys" to MH specifications, when so many people are limited to 3500kg, is crazy. And since licence limits aren't about to change, that means MUCH more thought will have to be put into MH design and spec. Every MH designer's drawing board should have "PAYLOAD" in big letters engraved at the top, and the same word should be on posters around all MH showrooms! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muswell Posted April 9, 2014 Share Posted April 9, 2014 Tony Jones - 2014-04-09 9:34 AM On the "bigger picture," I can't help thinking it's really time the industry took this issue seriously. Brochures usually only include "payload" among all the other statistics, not highlighted in any way; salesmen never mention it unless you ask them, and at both points the way it's calculated is rather vague. For a newcomer to the hobby, there's no realistic way to estimate, even roughly, whether the payload of a particular van is likely to be enough for your needs. And, unless I'm mistaken,that model has a garage which suggests to the unwary that you can fill it with stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StuartO Posted April 9, 2014 Share Posted April 9, 2014 peter21 - 2014-04-09 6:46 AM We looked around for replacements for our gaslow 11kg refillable bottles to save some weight but couldn't find anything suitable....any suggestions on this? Safefill make lightweight re-fillables which should be lighter: http://www.safefill.co.uk/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted April 9, 2014 Share Posted April 9, 2014 Any van I have bought I knew more or less exactly what payload I had to play with. Seems some have not a clue what they are getting involved in and just buy blindly. Either cut right back and carry essentials. Shop for food as you go, or cut your losses and change van or upgrade....... a quick call to SVTech will help put your mind at rest, but be aware going over 3500 kg has its own set if restrictions Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StuartO Posted April 9, 2014 Share Posted April 9, 2014 Our first motorhome, bought from a dealer whose salesman never mentioned payload, was a Laika 57S and we merrily loaded it up without a thought. A back tyre burst one day, as we were going down a hill on a motorway, speed risng above 65mph with the gradient - but only for about thirty seconds. Bang! Fortunately I was able to slow down and get on to the hard shouder under control. Had it been a front tyre I suspect it would have been a different story. I put it down to a bad tyre and replaced it. Similar thing happened again; sustained high speed for less than a minute down a motorway hill and Bang! So I worked out that the problem was overloading the tyres. We might have been overloaded by as much as 200 kg or so, I never found out. The critical load limiting factor was however clealry the tyre's load limit. The payload on that vehicle, when I checked, was under 200 kg. It was also under-powered and getting into the drop-down bed was a gymnasitc manoeuvre, so we took the opportunity to change motorhomes for one with, among other things, lots of payload. (The other approach, cutting down the weight carried, was never going to be an option with my OH.) It's very difficult to get your choice of motorhome right first time and payload isn't something you intuitively consider. Salesmen should explain it to you, but they don't. We managed to sell our motorhome without loss and buy a replacement at a reasonable price too. Buying well and taking the trouble to sell privately allowed us to improve the payload relatively easily! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mentaliss Posted April 9, 2014 Author Share Posted April 9, 2014 StuartO - 2014-04-08 10:05 PM Dare I suggest considerng changing the motorhome as a cost effective approach?[/quote nice advice but not helpful as we bought our DETH' from PULLINGERS 20TH Dec dont dealers have some responsibily to inform customer of the pit falls of weight?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted April 9, 2014 Share Posted April 9, 2014 mentaliss - 2014-04-09 5:05 PM StuartO - 2014-04-08 10:05 PM Dare I suggest considerng changing the motorhome as a cost effective approach?[/quote nice advice but not helpful as we bought our DETH' from PULLINGERS 20TH Dec dont dealers have some responsibility to inform customer of the pitfalls of weight?? caveat emptor...buyer beware, motorhomes a serious and expensive undertaking! you wouldn't buy a house without a survey would you. Yes of course the dealer has a responsibility, your sales contract is with him. if the van does not have a reasonable payload, its not fit for purpose, of merchantable quality or as described, it fails under sales of goods act... what model van is it, did you weigh it when you first got it..empty. how many people travel. surely you can lighten the load if you think about it. but unless you let us know what spare capacity you have how can we help? you need to gather facts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.