Motorhome weight label

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Chris116

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101,102
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Hi, As a newbe can I just ask for confirmation of the meaning of the different weight limits shown on the Burster label on our TD745 please? I believe it's showing Max Gross weight 3850, Max towing weight 5750, 1 = front axel 1850 & 2 = rear axle 2000. If so my trip to our local weigh bridge gave me a shock 2160 at the rear with only basic ready to go holiday stuff on board, BBQ, table chairs, wind break, ramps etc full fuel 10ltrs water, food, 2 adults + dog



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Yes, you are correct.

You can uprate the rear axle to 2240kg by fitting semi air rear suspension, for a Fiat chassis you can do it yourself for about £500 or fitted about £1000. If its an Al-Ko chassis cost is about £3000.
If you have 15" wheels you will need to change the tyres to 225 section.
 
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Hi and welcome to the Fun house! 😄

If this is what you have there's no way you are going to be able to run at 3500kg as it only had 370kg payload originally (if you believe them!).


Assuming it's on the Fiat chassis at the rear then semi air will raise your rear axle capacity to 2240kg then you just need to get the increase certified by SVTech (you can't do it yourself).

It'll cost about £800-£1000 I suspect but otherwise you're stuck with a white elephant.

If you bought from a dealer then first thing I'd do is remove everything so it's back as it was when you collected it and get it weighed again then visit said dealer to get them to sort it out as they appear to have sold an unusable MH. They may agree to pay for the work to update etc, or contribute at least. Certainly worth a go.

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Minxy said:
Hi and welcome to the Fun house! 😄

If this is what you have there's no way you are going to be able to run at 3500kg as it only had 370kg payload originally (if you believe them!).


Assuming it's on the Fiat chassis at the rear then semi air will raise your rear axle capacity to 2240kg then you just need to get the increase certified by SVTech (you can't do it yourself).

It'll cost about £800-£1000 I suspect but otherwise you're stuck with a white elephant.

If you bought from a dealer then first thing I'd do is remove everything so it's back as it was when you collected it and get it weighed again then visit said dealer to get them to sort it out as they appear to have sold an unusable MH. They may agree to pay for the work to update etc, or contribute at least. Certainly worth a go.
Click to expand...
Just looked at your link 7.65m at 3500kg that's a joke, almost impossible to run any van over 7m at 3500kg.
 
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Chris116 said:
Hi, As a newbe can I just ask for confirmation of the meaning of the different weight limits shown on the Burster label on our TD745 please? I believe it's showing Max Gross weight 3850, Max towing weight 5750, 1 = front axel 1850 & 2 = rear axle 2000. If so my trip to our local weigh bridge gave me a shock 2160 at the rear with only basic ready to go holiday stuff on board, BBQ, table chairs, wind break, ramps etc full fuel 10ltrs water, food, 2 adults + dog



View attachment 977490
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What was the front axle and gross weight?

Maybe possible to move stuff forward if they are OK
 
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Did you think you were going to run at 3500 or did you know it was heavier? Do you have a C1 license?
 
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Chris116 said:
Hi, As a newbe can I just ask for confirmation of the meaning of the different weight limits shown on the Burster label on our TD745 please? I believe it's showing Max Gross weight 3850, Max towing weight 5750, 1 = front axel 1850 & 2 = rear axle 2000. If so my trip to our local weigh bridge gave me a shock 2160 at the rear with only basic ready to go holiday stuff on board, BBQ, table chairs, wind break, ramps etc full fuel 10ltrs water, food, 2 adults + dog



View attachment 977490
Click to expand...
As an aside, I presume you have a 'C1' driving licence to enable you to drive up to 7.5t ?

(As you would not be the first person to be sold a motorhome when you only have a conventional car driving licence and therefore can not legally drive the vehicle you have bought)

Also re weight.
You may find by moving a few heavy items forward of the rear axle that the weight will considerably reduce.
There is a complicated calculation the the further the fixed weight is from the rear axle causes an increasing weight on the rear axle.

So a couple of heavy items moved, may go a long way to curing the problem.
(Such as empty the water tank, but put 10L in a jerry can in front of the axle., same weight, different location)

Long term, you probably want to get the weight limit upgraded.
 
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Brains said:
As an aside, I presume you have a 'C1' driving licence to enable you to drive up to 7.5t ?

(As you would not be the first person to be sold a motorhome when you only have a conventional car driving licence and therefore can not legally drive the vehicle you have bought)

Also re weight.
You may find by moving a few heavy items forward of the rear axle that the weight will considerably reduce.
There is a complicated calculation the the further the fixed weight is from the rear axle causes an increasing weight on the rear axle.

So a couple of heavy items moved, may go a long way to curing the problem.
(Such as empty the water tank, but put 10L in a jerry can in front of the axle., same weight, different location)

Long term, you probably want to get the weight limit upgraded.
Click to expand...
Load behind the rear axle acts like a seesaw. A 10kg load in the garage might be lifting 2kg OFF the front axle, and adding 12kg to the rear axle. Placing a 10kg load to a locker in the middle of the van will put roughly 5kg on each axle. So by moving a 10kg load from the garage to a middle locker, you might take 7kg off the rear.

I think you'll make quite a big dent by moving heavy stuff forwards in the van. With a kit diet, you might get it below 3850kg. But long term, you probably need to look at getting a payload upgrade.

I once worked on a project where we were analysing the requirements for a highway recovery vehicle. They needed to carry a lot of recovery gear. All the shortlisted vehicles were all SUVs, but we were having issues with payload limits. One vehicle type was overloaded on the front axle, so we were looking at what kit we could remove to get it back within limits. We actually made it worse by removing the spare wheel... seesaw.

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Brains said:
As an aside, I presume you have a 'C1' driving licence to enable you to drive up to 7.5t ?

(As you would not be the first person to be sold a motorhome when you only have a conventional car driving licence and therefore can not legally drive the vehicle you have bought)

Also re weight.
You may find by moving a few heavy items forward of the rear axle that the weight will considerably reduce.
There is a complicated calculation the the further the fixed weight is from the rear axle causes an increasing weight on the rear axle.

So a couple of heavy items moved, may go a long way to curing the problem.
(Such as empty the water tank, but put 10L in a jerry can in front of the axle., same weight, different location)

Long term, you probably want to get the weight limit upgraded.
Click to expand...
Hi and thanks, yes I’m ok with the license I looked into it before we took the plunge from caravan to motorhome. I’ll go back to basics and strip everything out and weigh what we really need relocating some stuff during transit should help as both gross & front axel were under the maximum.
Lenny HB said:
Just looked at your link 7.65m at 3500kg that's a joke, almost impossible to run any van over 7m at 3500kg.
Click to expand...
Thanks Lenny, the van is rated by Burstner at 3850 gross tyres are the original 16” 225x75 I’ve not checked the max load rating but assume they’ll be well within the 2000kg rear axel limit. Not sure how to tell if the chassis is Alko or Fiat however according to the logbook MIRO is 3268kg so I should have a payload of 582kg hence the shock as I’m certain I don’t have anywhere near that so it’s back to stripping everything out and weighing stuff. Weigh bridge weights were 3840 gross 1680 front and the rogue 2160 rear. Thanks for the advice on uprating the rear.
 
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They will be OK for up to 2500kg rear axle.
Fiat chassis has leaf springs and painted white. Al-Ko has torsion bar suspension and chassis is galvanised.
 
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Hi and thanks for all the previous replies and advice on this post.
We’re looking into going down the rear air assist suspension route and having the van up-plated.
A visit to the NEC and chatting to a few suppliers gave a bit of a shock regarding the cost of the complete upgrade I’ve tried a couple of local suppliers to compare prices SAP Doncaster & Lincoln Towbar & Mobility Centre prices vary by about £150. Can anyone recommend these or anywhere else I can obtain further quotes from? Unfortunately purchase of the MH has left little spare cash😞 I’m also getting feedback that DIY fitting may not be an option for up-plating due to paperwork requirements.
Many thanks in advance
 
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Chris116 said:
Hi and thanks for all the previous replies and advice on this post.
We’re looking into going down the rear air assist suspension route and having the van up-plated.
A visit to the NEC and chatting to a few suppliers gave a bit of a shock regarding the cost of the complete upgrade I’ve tried a couple of local suppliers to compare prices SAP Doncaster & Lincoln Towbar & Mobility Centre prices vary by about £150. Can anyone recommend these or anywhere else I can obtain further quotes from? Unfortunately purchase of the MH has left little spare cash😞 I’m also getting feedback that DIY fitting may not be an option for up-plating due to paperwork requirements.
Many thanks in advance
Click to expand...
I have had two vans done by SAP. I personally would be very happy for them to do work on my next van. They have a lot of business uprating Fiat Ducato chassis ambulance suspensions
 
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Not knocking any company but for Fiat chassis any hall capable mechanic can do the work needed to install the rear air.
Paper work you can do yourself but I would suggest SVTech, simple but a bit of cost.
Last semi air on fiat was about £300 for kit, think SV was about £250.
 
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Out of interest, did you ever strip the van back to "as sold" weight, and then re-weight it?
Just to find out the 'real' payload they sold the vehicle with.

It would be worth posting that weight so that a future person buying that make/model but without a C1 licence, would fast realise they are being sold white elephant.

Pay money to upgrade it but then it becomes undrivable on a normal licence.
Upgrading a licence to C1 is the wrong side of a grand and needs lessons and a test etc.

Bottom line is there are very few (if any?) motorhomes that are much over 7m and under 3,500kg loaded with the recommended 400+kg for two people.
(It means the "as sold" weight needs to start with a '2')
 
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I
1967bowesj said:
Not knocking any company but for Fiat chassis any hall capable mechanic can do the work needed to install the rear air.
Paper work you can do yourself but I would suggest SVTech, simple but a bit of cost.
Last semi air on fiat was about £300 for kit, think SV was about £250.
Click to expand...
I have recently fitted a Martech kit, it is an independent system with twin gauges but no compressor ( I don't need one). It is a good piece of kit, which cost £229, was easy to fit myself and SV Tech cost another £280 plus vat.
 
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TrudeandDall said:
I

I have recently fitted a Martech kit, it is an independent system with twin gauges but no compressor ( I don't need one). It is a good piece of kit, which cost £229, was easy to fit myself and SV Tech cost another £280 plus vat.
Click to expand...
Yes SV seem to vary a fair bit on price for what seems like comparable work.
Still be a fair bit cheaper for the op than getting some company to do the work and then still needing the paperwork doing
 
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What is unusual about that plate is that the front and rear axel weights are the same as the gross weight of 3850kg so it would be very difficult to load the van up correctly.
Have you tried weighing it with the dog on the dashboard. 😀

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Mikeco said:
What is unusual about that plate is that the front and rear axel weights are the same as the gross weight of 3850kg so it would be very difficult to load the van up correctly.
Have you tried weighing it with the dog on the dashboard. 😀
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That's because it's already been uprated by the converter to the maximum gross, which would be 3850kg, from the 3500kg as a paper upgrade hence the need to further uprate the rear with air suspension to raise the gross above that which came out of the factory.
Most 3500kg vans are factory downplated from a higher gross weight, 3850kg in this case, to allow B licence (car) to drive them.
 
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DuxDeluxe said:
I have had two vans done by SAP. I personally would be very happy for them to do work on my next van. They have a lot of business uprating Fiat Ducato chassis ambulance suspensions
Click to expand...
Great firm t deal with over the phone but the most pricey quote however still my local top choice so far
 
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Mikeco said:
What is unusual about that plate is that the front and rear axel weights are the same as the gross weight of 3850kg so it would be very difficult to load the van up correctly.
Have you tried weighing it with the dog on the dashboard. 😀
Click to expand...
Might be better to place wifey on the front bumper too🤣
 
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1967bowesj said:
Not knocking any company but for Fiat chassis any hall capable mechanic can do the work needed to install the rear air.
Paper work you can do yourself but I would suggest SVTech, simple but a bit of cost.
Last semi air on fiat was about £300 for kit, think SV was about £250.
Click to expand...
Thanks for this. Quotes so far are Around £800-900 for basic self inflation kit £1250-1430ish for the VB Comfort kit inc VAT & fitted

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Brains said:
Out of interest, did you ever strip the van back to "as sold" weight, and then re-weight it?
Just to find out the 'real' payload they sold the vehicle with.

It would be worth posting that weight so that a future person buying that make/model but without a C1 licence, would fast realise they are being sold white elephant.

Pay money to upgrade it but then it becomes undrivable on a normal licence.
Upgrading a licence to C1 is the wrong side of a grand and needs lessons and a test etc.

Bottom line is there are very few (if any?) motorhomes that are much over 7m and under 3,500kg loaded with the recommended 400+kg for two people.
(It means the "as sold" weight needs to start with a '2')
Click to expand...
Van in storage striping back to basic weight is a bit impractical (no storage!). Gross weight is 3850kg as I have a C1 license so no issue the rear axle weight with moderate weight onboard was a surprise.
 
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1967bowesj said:
Not knocking any company but for Fiat chassis any hall capable mechanic can do the work needed to install the rear air.
Paper work you can do yourself but I would suggest SVTech, simple but a bit of cost.
Last semi air on fiat was about £300 for kit, think SV was about £250.
Click to expand...
Interesting, I’m a reasonable mechanic but info seems to indicate up plates need an engineers report is required for up-plating. Still waiting for a reply from SV on the DIY option
 
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TrudeandDall said:
I

I have recently fitted a Martech kit, it is an independent system with twin gauges but no compressor ( I don't need one). It is a good piece of kit, which cost £229, was easy to fit myself and SV Tech cost another £280 plus vat.
Click to expand...
👍 Can you provide details please
 
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Here's my thoughts get a smart car/toad ditch the adults let the dog drive and you follow in the toad.

Not sure if it's as practical as some other suggestion

Good luck whatever you decide
 
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