Weight plate info needed (1 Viewer)

[Jaws]

Tyres.. £300 for the right ones.. but I expect i will get a few shillings back on the ones I am taking off as they are still like new ( only have about a 1000 miles on them )

Just waiting for the chap from the kit supplier to ring me back now and all systems will be go

 

[Jaws]

Double checked on tyres.. Seems I made an error and the ones fitted are plenty good enough for the axle weights expected. So no new tyres need ( phew ! )

The air assist kit is now on order from VB Air in Blackburn.. Very nice helpful young lady by the name of Kate quickly sussed out exactly what I needed ( nooooo,,, not a slap ! )

Total kit cost ( kit is called a semi-air kit ) is £383.93 including delivery ( downside is they accept payment by cheque or BACS only, so will probably have to wait for the cheque to clear etc )

Next step once I have the kit is to fill in the forms and send another small pile of my hard earned off to SVTech to get the certificate and plate

More info and more story as it unfolds !

If this is boring or of no real use admin, please feel free to delete )

 

[Jaws]

Update on kit..
Sent cheque on Wednesday, got the invoice back to day with a hand written Merry Krimble from kate on it
Apparently my kit should be here early next week ! Hoping to get it al sorted and done before Christmas

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[Jaws]

Kit never arrived early part of the week
Kit never arrived middle of the week
Phoned VB Air on Thursday
To start with guy said he knew nothing about an order
Then said he had found the order but it had not been paid for
I pointed out that I had a receipt and a thank you from his company in my hand

Oh THAT order ...

Finally arrived Friday too late to make use of the time I had booked and paid for in a nice big dry HGV workshop

Kit is sort of ok and I am adding a few extra bits to it so it will be a monitored balanced system, but in all honesty for the money I was charged not that impressed.. Two air units, a couple of rolls of air line and some cable clips. £389 including postage.
Looking at the instructions it is possible I have parts missing from the kit but I really cannot be dealing witjh the firm any more :Sad:
I shall sort it all out myself

SvTech folk have been an absolute godsend so far and helped as mush as pos to expedite the matter.. Big thanks to Graham for helping with the paper work and sussing out the tyre issue for me !

But I think VB Air need to take a look at themselves ..
No idea if this is true or not, it is merely a gut feeling I get
The boss is a chap called Oliver. Seems a nice sort of guy but .... and this is the gut interpretation of how I felt the matter was dealt with.. I believe either he is losing interest in the firm and hoping it will run its self, or he is spending too much time on the gold course and not enough time behind the desk

As I say, that is proly NOT factual at all, merely how I feel about it all but I certainly cannot offer a recomendation I am afraid


Ok, pics of kit and installation details to follow ( when I can book it back in to the workshop )

 

[Norrie]

If this is boring or of no real use........ )

Jeez, far from it....I'm riveted!
I'll be going down a similar route soon as I married a woman who does not understand travelling lightly. Yet.

Norrie

 

[Jaws]

Cheers
Had a fone call from a lovely lady from SvTeck on the 24th to let me know they had received the payment and would be issuing the new plate and paperwork on the 4th when they return to work.. but by sorting out the invoice and payment before the hols I avoided the VAT hike .

As already said, every single person I havve dealt with at Sv have been extremely helpful and informative.. taking me through the process one small step at a time

I have also received a cheque from VB Air to cover the postage I was inadvertently over charged,,
Whilst the individuals at VB Air are charming and I am sure very honest folk they do not make life easy for them selves or the customer.. I am sorry but I would recommend a search around for the actual kit ( David Newall springs immediately to mind as they are VERY proper people to deal with )

I felt all I wanted was the basic kit and fitting it myself is very very easy
The moment the snow and wet clears and dries up I shall pop the kit on.
It is a very quick and easy bolt on jobby.. I envisage no issues at all and I shall post pics if I can sort out a working camera !

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[laika]

Re plating up or down

Hi be carefull and give this a lot of thought , as to plate up will re strict you in europe to having to buy a go box etc , and also at 3500 your vignettes will be cheaper and you will not be affected by the 3500 weight restrictions in nearly all the towns and villages regards Laika:thumb:

 

[pappajohn]

Hi be carefull and give this a lot of thought , as to plate up will re strict you in europe to having to buy a go box etc , and also at 3500 your vignettes will be cheaper and you will not be affected by the 3500 weight restrictions in nearly all the towns and villages regards Laika:thumb:

while this is very true, Jaws is already 200kg overweight (3700kg on a 3500kg van) with next to no payload onboard, or the missus, so the advantages of uprating far outweigh the disadvantages.

as far as speed limits go.....technicaly you are restricted but could you tell the difference between a 3500kg motorhome and the same one weighing 4000kg ?

speed camera's cant nor can a police camera car.
providing you stick to 60mph on A roads and 70mph on motorways no-one will be any the wiser.

 

[hitch hiker]

sorry to sound thick but what is a go box, is it like a dart card, for crossing the bridge over the thames.is it compulsary to have one if you are over a certain weight [ we will eventually have a fifth wheel] are there advantages i.e. can you put lots of credit on it so you wont have as many handling charges and currency exchanges. many translations for vignettes on line, in what context are you using it.
hitch hiker

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[Jaws]

I suspect it might the toll in Austria that is being referred to over 4t and it is €55.00 rather than the normal €7.00 ..

However, as I was told last year, unless you declare it no one will check and no one is actually interested ( unlike the greedy buggers in France and Switzerland ! )

On a couple of the automated toll roads in France we registered as a lorry anyway .. In one day the tolls reached over €200 oh:
Being as I hate Switzerland and am not exactly keen on France, we are more than happy to use the completely free roads of Germany and pay the €7.00 to pass through Austria

Mind you, some of the alpenstrasse' now have tolls on them ( notable Timmelsjoch )

But all in all I can only see advantages to getting this done..
I will no longer have to panic every time I see a VOSA vehicle to start with !
I will also be able to take the chief cook and bottle washer with me and I personally can remain a fat git !!

I have now had the confirmation from SVTech and they are sending me the new weight plate on Monday..

Just got to send of the V85 to the DVLA and that will be that ! ( oh, must inform the insurance company too ! )

So far, although not the cheapest thing I have ever done it has not been that painful either ( for peace of mind ).
Total so far £598.98

If I had plumbed for the 3.7t option it would have cost £230.00 but that would have meant a massive slim down of our kit and a constant concern and awareness of what was going in the van

I have worked out what our weight was last year on the big Euro trip.. We was ( as near as dammit ) 4020kg !!!!!
Ok, I had the bike in the garage and the big genny on board but nothing unusual for us at all..

There are those who have asked why I bothered given I did 7000 miles last year oblivious to any issue..
Simple really. I decided ( again for peace of mind ) to pay the tenner and get it on the weigh bridge ( that covers front, rear and total weighs ).
If I had not done that I could easily have ended up with a tasty fine and points..
A small overload might get a slap on the wrist and an order to unload.. the sort of overload I was totting would have got somewhat more than that !!

And remember this folks.. Apart from an automatic sat system and an extra leisure battery my van is standard.
It came from the manufacturers with a payload of less than 150kg !!!!

 

[hawkeye6007]

Speed Limits over 3500kgs

Speed limits in UK are NOT based in Gross weight but unladen weight so upgrading the chassis should not make any difference.

See this link for more info: http://www.ukmotorhomes.net/faqs.shtml#speed

 

[pappajohn]

Speed limits in UK are NOT based in Gross weight but unladen weight so upgrading the chassis should not make any difference.

See this link for more info: http://www.ukmotorhomes.net/faqs.shtml#speed

we knew that...we just chose to forget....

correct....it will make no difference to many 3500kg gross motorhomes though as many will be under 3050kg unladen. no water, gas, food, clothes, genny etc.
uprate it and the unladen weight stays the same.

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[Jaws]

Anddd..................

At last it has stopped raining / snowing /freezing long enough for me to nip out there and fit the air suspension things.

Looking at the instructions I had an idea it was an easy job, but by the cringe !!
I would say someone who has no idea what to do with a spanner could do it in an hour.
The whole job took me just over 30 minutes and that included being REALLY fussy with the air line run.

Obviously the following is appertaining to the pre-face lift boxer Pug, but it is pretty much the same process for any vehicle fitted with leaf spring rear suspension.

1) Place ( supplied with motor ) jack under the body on one side and jack up good and high. This will allow lots of space twixt the bump stop and the top of the axle/spring mounting point

2) Unscrew original bump stops ( those fitted on my van had castellation cut outs allowing the use of a hammer and drift .. a couple of taps to release and it spun off easily )

3) Fit air lines to suspension unit. This is very easy.. You will need a 12mm spanner to do this bit. Slide a natty crimp nut onto the line. Push the line onto the suspension unit. Slide the crimp nut back up to the suspension and tighten up..

4) Slide in air susp. unit. On my van it is held in place by the weight of the van and a locating pin that goes in to the hole left when you unscrewed the bump stop.
Absolutely nothing to bolt up at all.

5) I used 6mm cable tacks to attach the airl line to the underside of the van in nice twee straight lines ( actually it was THIS that took the longest !)

6) Eventually I will be fitting an on board pump with gauge and relay valves, but as they have not arrived yet I simply run the air lines in to the gas locker.

7) Terminate each air line with one of the supplied Schrader valves. These fit on the end of the air line in the same way as the other end fits on the suspension units, but in this case you will need a 10mm spanner to stop the schrader from turning while you tighten up the crimp nut

8) Now pump em up ! I set my ones to 2 atmospheres and the ride is bloody excellent :thumb:


I know this was not a cheap exercise but it has been fairly painless and I am happy that if I should get a tug this coming summer, I will be within my weight limits ( oh, AND the road tax is £40 a year cheaper ! )

 

[scottie58]

interesting thread! I have a Hymer B584 with a max weight on it's plate of 3400kg, yet the V5 has 3850kg on it? Any ideas whats going on there? Bought it in Oct 09 and haven't yet had a chance to get to a weighbridge.

 

[Jaws]

After I started this I have spoken to a few people with the same problem
Some are mistakes and some are downright scams perpetrated by the van converters !

being as you have a Hymer I think you can eliminate option 2 !

Sooooo

Two possibles
While the new plate ( as indicated in the log book ) SHOULD be next to the original one, but Hymer live by their own rules ..
Have a look around the door jams and in weird places around the engine bay

If no joy contact Hymer direct with your chassis number
If it was originally plated higher they should be able to confirm and give you written proof.
I would then contact SvTech and they should be able to supply you with a corrected plate ( but I suspect it is going to cost you !:Sad:

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[pappajohn]

just looking at the second pic and the bellows looks extremely close to the brake caliper.

Link Removed



it could be an illusion but is there enough clearance when the bellows is compressed ?

 

[Jaws]

Hi PJ ,, Tis indeed an optical illusion.. There is a good big gap there..
And,,,, The pics were taken with the air bags fully deflated and as wide as they ever could be.
Now they are pumped up ( 2 atmospheres of about 30lbs )they are much narrower and even more of a gap to spare

 

[pappajohn]

we ran an LDV spec frame recovery truck with very similar bags fitted but they were full air, not supplimentary..so much higher pressure than 30 psi.

you know when one fails.....stick yer lug next to a 12 bore shotgun barrel when its being fired.

yes...fast to fit, even though these were bolted it only took about 30 mins including freeing the rusted bolts.

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[Reallyretired]

Interesting thread.

Took my van to the weighbridge today, free if you don't need the printout, and guess what, overweight by 65 kg ! and thats without SWMBO on board:Sad:. I think I'll need to sort out some of the accumulated junk. That probably needs doing anyway so not such a bad thing as it's getting hard to find things.

The van is uprated to 3850 and is supposed to be a 4 berth, though in practice there are usually only us two.

Do I really need to carry a bottle of Armagnac just on the offchance that JayDee may come round ?:Blush:

 

[Jaws]

we ran an LDV spec frame recovery truck with very similar bags fitted but they were full air, not supplimentary..so much higher pressure than 30 psi.

you know when one fails.....stick yer lug next to a 12 bore shotgun barrel when its being fired.

yes...fast to fit, even though these were bolted it only took about 30 mins including freeing the rusted bolts.

LOL ! Yup.. for a few months I stood in for a guy who was ill who worked on HGV's

Someone was testing one and it let go .. Jeez ! Talk about heart attack country !!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Jaws]

Interesting thread.

Took my van to the weighbridge today, free if you don't need the printout, and guess what, overweight by 65 kg ! and thats without SWMBO on board:Sad:. I think I'll need to sort out some of the accumulated junk. That probably needs doing anyway so not such a bad thing as it's getting hard to find things.

The van is uprated to 3850 and is supposed to be a 4 berth, though in practice there are usually only us two.

Do I really need to carry a bottle of Armagnac just on the offchance that JayDee may come round ?:Blush:

Wellllllllllll.. I do not really need to carry two hoovers ( 12v and mains ) and a gallon of scotch, but hey, both are useful sometimes

I have no doubt if I really watched every last item that went in and did everything for lightness I could have gotten away with the 3800 limit, but that is not really me to be honest.
I tend to just enjoy motorhoming as it relaxes me so..Having to start being careful would definately put a crinkle in my winkle so to speak :Blush:

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[wildbri]

Hi, you describe yourself as an " old fart" , as you will know over 70's need a medical to


renew their licence to drive over 3500t so there is another £75 to consider, when

upgrading the vehicle. regards bri

 

[Autoquest]

Did you complete all the paperwork with SVtech before fitting the airide or was it all ongoing at the same time? I only ask because my Dunlop Airide is currently sat in a box in the garage and I was going to fit it first before getting back to SVtech - I suppose I could just fill out the installation certificate now and send it off...? Is it really, really, easy peasy to fit?

 

[Emmit]

JawMC,

Sorry if this has been mentioned already on this thread (I did look but couldn't find it mentioned)

Way back in December you started this thread by saying that you had been to the weighbridge and as a result of having a weight of 1720 on the front axle and 1980 on the rear you are overladen by 200kgs.

YOU ARE NOT OVERLADEN!!!

You do not add the actual front axle load and rear axle load to get the total weight.
What you have done is two thirds of the weights you need. So far you are underweight on the front axle by 130kgs and the also under on the back by 140kgs.

Did you weigh the whole 'van.???

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[TonyIsh UK]

JawMC,

Sorry if this has been mentioned already on this thread (I did look but couldn't find it mentioned)

Way back in December you started this thread by saying that you had been to the weighbridge and as a result of having a weight of 1720 on the front axle and 1980 on the rear you are overladen by 200kgs.

YOU ARE NOT OVERLADEN!!!

You do not add the actual front axle load and rear axle load to get the total weight.
What you have done is two thirds of the weights you need. So far you are underweight on the front axle by 130kgs and the also under on the back by 140kgs.

Did you weigh the whole 'van.???

I'm not sure if this is correct reasoning ? Anyone else comment ?:help:

 

[pappajohn]

JawMC,

Sorry if this has been mentioned already on this thread (I did look but couldn't find it mentioned)

Way back in December you started this thread by saying that you had been to the weighbridge and as a result of having a weight of 1720 on the front axle and 1980 on the rear you are overladen by 200kgs.

YOU ARE NOT OVERLADEN!!!

You do not add the actual front axle load and rear axle load to get the total weight.
What you have done is two thirds of the weights you need. So far you are underweight on the front axle by 130kgs and the also under on the back by 140kgs.

Did you weigh the whole 'van.???

from what i can see Jaws has weighed the van in the same manner as Vosa would at the roadside or vosa weigh station.
front axle, rear axle and whole vehicle.

he is still overweight on the gross vehicle weight by 200kg regardless of the individual axle weights.(max gross = 3500kg...actual gross = 3700kg)

having 'spoken' to jaws he did, in fact, have the whole (gross) weight checked as well as each axle.
unfortunately he didnt mention this in the original post.

i appreciate the combined axle weights will always total more than the gross to allow for uneven loading but the gross or individual axle limits must never be exceeded.

if the rear OR front axle is loaded to the plated limit then this weight must be deducted from the gross and the remainder is the 'other' axles limit.
ie: rear axle max limit = 2500kg....gross = 3500kg then the front axles limit is 1000kg.......1000kg + 2500kg = 3500kg...not what it says on the plate which may be (example)1700kg

 

[Jaws]

Spot on PJ and many thanks for clearing it up

As you said, I did not make it too clear in the original post as, to be honest, I was unsure back then if anyone was interested or even what I was going to do about it ..

It is entirely thanks to the know how and know where of the Funsters that I have now got it all but sorted out !! ( just got to run it up to be MOT'd at its new weight and send off the log book and VEL malarky )

Autoquest..
Yes, it really was THAT easy to pop them on !
So easy in fact that if anyone else wants it done and you are in this area pop in and I will either do it for you or help and point a lot

What order you do it in is up to you.
I did the paper work after I took delivery of the units ( so same as you are at the moment)
I fully expected to be fitting the units before they paper work came back, but of course the snow came !!!

If you want to do the paperwork first that is fine as long as you do not use the van with its new plate weight ( if you see what I mean )

My van will not officially take on its new ability until after the MOT and the V5 has been sent off and returned


Do not forget to tell your insurance company !!!

And finally to Wildbri..
Tis ok, I have 10 years afore I fall foul of the 70 year old rule but appreciate your input..
In all my other endevours I AM the old fart by quite along way too .. so I just kinda stick with it

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[Autoquest]

Last question for you - Did you just sign the Dunlop certificate and send it back with a covering letter to SVtech? (I don't have any paperwork from them - just verbal over the phone)

I assume they then send you an invoice then they send you the new plate?

Great thread by the way

 

[Jaws]

I had NO paperwork for my bags at all but the folk I bought them from work hand in hand with SvTech so I would say they could simply ask them to make sure I had indeed bought them !

You need to ring Sv, tell them what you are doing. They will send you the paper work which you will fill in.
Some is easy some is not so easy to understand.. But it is only a few questions and took less than 5 minutes to fill out completely.
Fort the questions I could not answer I foned Sv up and they talked me through the odds and sods in less than a minute

Sent it all off with a cheque and pretty much by return the new plate was with me along with a certificate and even the form to send to DVLA with the V5 ( another easy to complete form )

I can honestly say that thanks entirely to the lads and lasses on here, and the amazing help received from Sv, the whole deal really could not have been simpler

The only fly in the ointment ( and I am sorry to say this but must speak as I found ) was the folk I bought the kit from.
Very poor service and seem completely disorganised I am afraid.

 

[Jaws]

Just been on to the forestry commission depot and booked the van in for plate MOT
It is a type 7 MOT and will cost £55.00 and is going in on Wednesday morning.

As the van would have had to have its first MOT at the beginning of April anyway ( £40 ? ) this not really a hardship AND of course I will getthat few bob back from the VEL !

Will let you know how it gets on

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