lennyhb Posted April 24, 2014 Share Posted April 24, 2014 Although Brian's suggestion of a trailer may be a good idea I have reservations. With such a long overhang there will be long chassis extension which are not normally suitable for tow bar mounting meaning the towbar will be a very large heavy piece of metal to enable fixing to the main chassis and will add considerably to the rear axle loading. As has been said many times on this thread nothing can be done until the van is weighed empty until then you do not have a base reference to work from. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billggski Posted April 24, 2014 Share Posted April 24, 2014 Just pointing out Judge that there's a big difference between being thick and being inexperienced, just reading this forum should make that obvious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mentaliss Posted April 24, 2014 Author Share Posted April 24, 2014 thanks Brian I fully understand the laws of Physics regarding pivot weight and stress and fully understand what I have to do regarding weighing the vehicle etc and I thank you for your in depth analysis of the problem however, I am very disappointed that I appear to have been 'stitched' up by the dealer....But fate has played a hand here as we recently meet another customer of said dealer who also purchased the same model van and also had the same situation, I could go on but I do not wish to name here on a public forem other similar issues that I have found out about...lets just say that Im sure Dethleffs Uk would take a very dim view of the unprofessional hand over procedure and what I consider to be mis-selling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mentaliss Posted April 24, 2014 Author Share Posted April 24, 2014 Latest SVTech advice: Apologies for any confusion in the earlier email. I had missed spotting that you'd already checked the weights and it was probably my mind on autopilot advising the weights be checked. You can appreciate on the weights you have found on yours, that uprating of the gross weight of a motorhome doesn't always cover the problem and that axle loadings are more often a problem also. As you have checked the weights and found the rear axle to be heavy, you will need to cover the changes for the uprated rear axle. This entails the rear axle air assisted suspension and a tyre change to a 112 load rating (225.70R15 tyre). Although you don't require the gross weight to 3850kg, the changes you'll be making to uprate the rear axle will give you the opportunity to gain this weight. The tyre change will fit on the same rim size as you are on now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris Posted April 25, 2014 Share Posted April 25, 2014 This is a very imformatjve thread. Thanks for showing svtech reply. Keep us I formed how you progress. Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris Posted April 25, 2014 Share Posted April 25, 2014 This may sound stupid but....if you put more water in (assuming your water tanks are up front) then would that not balance the weight up? Surely that would raise the back end up a bit like on a seesaw? Ignore me if I am wrong. Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted April 25, 2014 Share Posted April 25, 2014 If the tank is where I think it is under the dinette it is roughly aft of centre of the axles so put a 100kg of water in you will increase the front axle load by approx 40kg and the rear 60kg that will make matters worse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris Posted April 25, 2014 Share Posted April 25, 2014 Thanks for the answer. See your reasoning with it . Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mentaliss Posted May 9, 2014 Author Share Posted May 9, 2014 UPDATE Started fitting the Air assisters today, ...Spare Wheel: fitted rivet nuts in third cross member made up strengthening plate welded it onto the cross member, under sealed the area, will fit the spare wheel into position Sat'........ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pepe63xnotuse Posted May 9, 2014 Share Posted May 9, 2014 Hi mentaliss.. ...I'm assuming that the air assistors form part of your "uprate".?....but I thought you'd said that due to your health restrictions, uprating it wasn't going to be an option...? ..and the weight of the assistors, plus a spare wheel, aren't going to due you any favours without one.. :-S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mentaliss Posted May 9, 2014 Author Share Posted May 9, 2014 As I already owned the air assistors ( fitted on my previous Bolero) it was always my intention to fit them on the Dethleffs even before I found out about the payload issue......... my goal at this time is to get the vehicle 'safe' once that's achieved the vehicle will be weighed at various stage's of load then the decision will be made weather I go for replate or what ever ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mentaliss Posted May 19, 2014 Author Share Posted May 19, 2014 update: now fitted my Dunlop Air Assistors to rear axle, replaced the tyres with the Michelin Agilis camper......yes you've read it right...Michelin :-| took all the experts advice and went for the Michelin over the Continental, hope I don't live to regret that decision.. just modifying a reverse sensor kit so it works then off to the Weighbridge for you know what (!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted May 19, 2014 Share Posted May 19, 2014 You have not mentioned what the weights were with the van empty, you have received a lot of input on this thread so would be nice to have a little more feedback. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mentaliss Posted May 20, 2014 Author Share Posted May 20, 2014 lennyhb - 2014-05-19 11:22 PM You have not mentioned what the weights were with the van empty, you have received a lot of input on this thread so would be nice to have a little more feedback. _________________________________________________________________ Current weight, Rear axle (Garage empty, no bikes/rack, no water, no passenger) : 1820kg Front axle 1440 kg...not that it actually makes a blind bit of difference as the design of the Dethleffs is floored : very large garage that is pointless when considering that the vehicle is already too heavy ( I have now modified frontal chassis cross member and installed spare wheel, this is included within the weights above) With regards to the input, Sorry but not wishing to offend anyone I did appreciate the majority of the advisory posts but how to weigh the axles etc, etc and loading of axles was not actually my topic question :-S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted May 20, 2014 Share Posted May 20, 2014 Thanks Larry, now we know it certainly is an unbalanced van, never seen one so light at the front end. Looks like with your mods the payload will we workable with all the gain on the rear axle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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