What weight could/should I up rate to? (1 Viewer)

[Billy23]

This is my plate off my Transit 2.4 TD twin wheel MH, I want to increase the max weight from 3.5 ton. Can somebody let me know what I can go to please.

 

[tonka]

Have a look here...
http://www.svtech.co.uk/vehicles/motorhomes/

You first need to establish what the technical weight can be, based on chassis, tyres etc
Sometimes it's not possible at all... There should be a form somewhere on the website, fill in and send off then you will get an answer of what is possible...

 

[daveandsan]

@Billy23 I have exactly the same Ford Tranny as you and sv tech uprated mine to 3850kg.
Since then I have had air assisted suspension put on the rear so I don't know if that would allow me to increase it.
Dave.

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[Scotties]

You will not get a upgrade on either axle, just the total up to max 4050

 

[Billy23]

You will not get a upgrade on either axle, just the total up to max 4050

I do understand that this may be a daft question: if neither of the axles can carry more, how does one get the motorhome to have a greater carrying weight?

 

[Judge Mental]

I do understand that this may be a daft question: if neither of the axles can carry more, how does one get the motorhome to have a greater carrying weight?

spot on.....you don't! axle capacity trumps....

but ford rear @ 2250? I seem to remember? better then Fiat @ 2000. unless you go for Maxi @ 2400

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[Billy23]

Sooooo, my MH at the moment is registered at a max weight of 3.5 ton, does that mean that my axels, can carry the extra weight to take the total weight to say 4.25 as I thought my twin wheeled tranny was a 4.5 chassis. But of course I may be wrong.

 

[hilldweller]

Get on the svtech site, let the pros advise you rather then the ramblings of FUNsters.

 

[Reallyretired]

If you look at the Gross vehicle weight you will notice it is quite a bit less than the sum of the axle weights. Although the gvw can be upgraded in most cases, the individual axle weights remain the same and cannot be increased or exceeded. The train weight also doesn't increase with an upgrade to the gvw so any increase in gvw comes off the weight you can tow.

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[Billy23]

Get on the svtech site, let the pros advise you rather then the ramblings of FUNsters.

Thanks @hilldweller problem is it is Spanish registered, so I was looking for a few pointers to get a few ideas of the sort of weight I should aim for. I need more as the MH come in at 3t with most of the gear we take but by the time I put in the "extras" and the 2 of us, it's tight, so I thought if I am going to up rate would 3800 be enough or perhaps while I am doing it go for the full monty ......whatever that is.

 

[Bill_OR]

I used SVTech to work out my options and was able to increase GVW from 3650Kg to 3850Kg and uprate rear axle from 2000Kg to 2240Kg by adding air suspension and higher rated tyres.

 

[Billy23]

Ah, so 03 and C8 on the picture above, are the carrying capacity so if I add them together I get the total that it can be up rated to =4.050. If that is correct then by George I think I have got it.

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[Badknee]

Should I go for the full monty ......whatever that is.

Ah, I can help you with that one. It involves dancing on stage with some mates in front of a room full of drunken wimmins and then ripping your clothes off.
Hope that helps

 

[Minxy]

I think your Transit can be uprated to 3850kg as it stands but the max axle weight capacities will stay as they are. We had a twin rear wheel transit (2006 model) a few years back and at the time I remember enquiring about uprating and believe this was the figure I was given. I'm not sure if you'll need to fit air assisted suspension though -we already had it.

Some info here about the process - you don't have to ues SVtech.

http://www.motorhomefun.co.uk/forum...one-done-it-themselves-not-via-svtech.108656/

 

[Minxy]

Ah, so 03 and C8 on the picture above, are the carrying capacity so if I add them together I get the total that it can be up rated to =4.050. If that is correct then by George I think I have got it.

NO!

There is always an allowance for uneven loading so you won't be able to go up to 4.050! Most I think you'll get at present is 3850kg.

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[hilldweller]

Thanks @hilldweller problem is it is Spanish registered,

I doubt that matters, give them the facts they'll get ot more likely have the data. It's not rocket science, what will the wheel/tyre stand, what will the axle stand ? They know these things.

They did ours, I even visited them, just a bunch of engineers in a small unit near Preston.

 

[daveandsan]

@Billy23 When I had mine uprated to 3850 the axle weights stayed the same which on yours will be 1600 kg front and 2450 kg rear so you still have to be careful not to exceed the axle limits and that is easy to do if you start hanging things off the back of your motorhome.
Where is that vin plated located, is it under the bonnet or on the door pillar? On my motorhome the one under the bonnet had 3850 on it and the one on the pillar had 3500, a lot of motorhome builders down rate them to 3500 for obvious reasons.
Has someone has said, talk to the experts.

 

[Billy23]

@Billy23 When I had mine uprated to 3850 the axle weights stayed the same which on yours will be 1600 kg front and 2450 kg rear so you still have to be careful not to exceed the axle limits and that is easy to do if you start hanging things off the back of your motorhome.
Where is that vin plated located, is it under the bonnet or on the door pillar? On my motorhome the one under the bonnet had 3850 on it and the one on the pillar had 3500, a lot of motorhome builders down rate them to 3500 for obvious reasons.
Has someone has said, talk to the experts.

The plate in the picture is on the door post, I do have another plate but that is from Rimor. I figure the one on the door plate is the important one as it is from Ford. From the sounds of it I should expect to up rate to (as you suggested) 3850. I have a company here in Spain that will do it and the cost is 131 Euros, the reason for the OP was to find out what sort of weight I should expect to get and if it was say..well you could go up to 4050 but it would be better to stay at 3850 then I would have asked them to rate it at 3850. But as it seems that I cannot go above 3850, then that is exactly the answer to my OP.

Thank you all for your posts and of course you @daveandsan

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[tonka]

SPANISH REGISTERED.... I think that may open a fresh can of worms..
You should have mentioned that at the start,,

Also check where you stand with license..

 

[JeanLuc]

Normally the motorhome builder's plate replaces that of the base vehicle manufacturer. So I would expect the Rimor plate to be the current 'official' one.

 

[Minxy]

Normally the motorhome builder's plate replaces that of the base vehicle manufacturer. So I would expect the Rimor plate to be the current 'official' one.

Agree, the converter's plate trumps the base vehicle manufacturer plate.

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[DBK]

Ah, so 03 and C8 on the picture above, are the carrying capacity so if I add them together I get the total that it can be up rated to =4.050. If that is correct then by George I think I have got it.

Possibly, but there are other factors to take into account, particularly braking and whether the brakes are up to stopping a heavier vehicle. As others have said contact svtec, you can fill in a form on their website I seem to remember, but you will need to mention what is on that second plate.

 

[Billy23]

SPANISH REGISTERED.... I think that may open a fresh can of worms..
You should have mentioned that at the start,,

Also check where you stand with license..

No can of worms, already checked.

Didn't need to mention Spanish registered as the question was about the up rating and it's very similar to uk hence the question ( already checked) it is just a paper exercise, just like the uk. Price 131 Euros.

Licence, fine.

 

[Billy23]

Agree, the converter's plate trumps the base vehicle manufacturer plate.

Well, which ever plate doesn't seem to matter because I have already been told by traffico that it is not a problem to up rate, they just didn't mention to what, hence the OP, the cost is 131Euros and in Spain Traffico is the word of the Lord. Amen

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[Billy23]

Possibly, but there are other factors to take into account, particularly braking and whether the brakes are up to stopping a heavier vehicle. As others have said contact svtec, you can fill in a form on their website I seem to remember, but you will need to mention what is on that second plate.

I would think that ALL MH that are up rated have a manufactures plate at less the the vehicle makers and they are up rated. If as is being said the Rimor plate means more that the manufactures plate they would be challenging the Ford motor companies design team that says it can indeed weigh more the Rimor body team say it can. I thought that MH manufactuers DOWN RATED the MH to sell more.

But I do stand to be corrected.

 

[DBK]

We seem to be on a bit of drip feed here!

We have mentioned SVTech as they have been nominated by Fiat as their agent, so to speak, in the UK for advising DVLA if a vehicle can be uprated and to what.

I would have thought in Spain, which I assume is where you are based something similar might apply and you will need some sort of engineer's report to advise on the suitability of any upgrade, taking into account things like tyre ratings and of course axle ratings. Even in the UK you don't have to use SVTech, it has been done without them but they had to find a suitable engineer to endorse the upgrade.

In Spain I don't know but I would be surprised if they just took the word of the owner but perhaps they do?

 

[Billy23]

We seem to be on a bit of drip feed here!

We have mentioned SVTech as they have been nominated by Fiat as their agent, so to speak, in the UK for advising DVLA if a vehicle can be uprated and to what.

I would have thought in Spain, which I assume is where you are based something similar might apply and you will need some sort of engineer's report to advise on the suitability of any upgrade, taking into account things like tyre ratings and of course axle ratings. Even in the UK you don't have to use SVTech, it has been done without them but they had to find a suitable engineer to endorse the upgrade.

In Spain I don't know but I would be surprised if they just took the word of the owner but perhaps they do?

No they don't take the word of the owner, they check the chassis number with the Ford (in this case) motor company to find out what the design weight of the vehicle is and that has been done. Or, you can have/get an engineers report - more expensive- so the best way is by chassis number. It is just ( in the Spanish way) they didn't - as yet - tell me to what, I will go and see them again soon as I want to finish the process by Jan 2016 - it takes 3 weeks- I just asked the question to get a bit of an idea in the meantime, I know it may be different in the UK but if somebody had already done it in the UK with a tranny (and somebody had) they could give me a guesstimate of the likely up rate weight.

As the vehicle is already registered in Spain they know the vehicles in's and outs already, they have a much stricter vehicle licensing dept than the UK.

But I would like to thank all the members for the imput on this post.

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[Jaws]

The plate fitted by the converting company is the important one.
The original one ( in your case the Ford one ) becomes out of date and obsolete
The reason ?
When the chassis cab was built that original plate was relevant as the chassis was built to a certain spec with certain tyres etc
When the conversion is done things like spring weight and tyres are changed to suit and the vehicle is then replated to the new specifications

 

[pappajohn]

Ah, so 03 and C8 on the picture above, are the carrying capacity so if I add them together I get the total that it can be up rated to =4.050. If that is correct then by George I think I have got it.

Now try to get the Spanish authorities to agree.

Good luck

 

[Don Quixote]

No can of worms, already checked.

Didn't need to mention Spanish registered as the question was about the up rating and it's very similar to uk hence the question ( already checked) it is just a paper exercise, just like the uk. Price 131 Euros.

Licence, fine.

@Billy23 - Can you PM the details of the company that will do this as I was told by ITV centre here that this could not be done. If you rate it to 3850, I would have thought you need C1 here in Spain and not just a car licence as for 3500.

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