Bike racks

[Baden87]

Hi all
I am picking my new van up Thursday, it’s a 2019 Autotrail 634 , I have also had the protection bar and Towbar mounted bike rack all through the autotrail brochure,
I have just had a nasty thought about getting on and off the ferry without bottoming the bike rack
Anybody know if I should be concerned?

 

[Masman]

Hiya. Yes be careful. My friend has same fitted. Fist time on ferry bottomed out on bike rack.Ripped electric socket off as Autotrail had put the socket below the rack.Luckily he managed to tye rap it back above.This was on Hull to Rotterdam ferry.

 

[Two on Tour]

How about fitting air assist on the rear suspension.
As well as improving the general ride and handling of your van, when pumped up further ours raises the rear suspension on our van by a good 2" plus which gives even more at the overhang at the back of the van when needed.
The kits are cheap enough if you fit it yourself which are easy to do or there are several options out there to have them professionally fitted

 

[Blue Knight]

By my reckoning you are already close to exceeding your rear axle weight and your tyre load capacities and this is without you adding any water, gear, personal stuff, food, bikes, extra gas, sat, full fuel, etc etc.

You will need to add air-top suspension, tyres and re-register at 3,850kg just to get going.

ABZSteve is the man to help out here.

The following is the basic van (130bhp manual) with only a towbar, rear bar and the basic media pack fitted; it's not looking good but I don't suppose the dealer mentioned the 634's payload to you:

 

[Baden87]

Hi
Surely if the options are fitted by the supplying dealer , it would be legally obligated to inform me if this takes it over the weight permitted

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[Cheshirecat57]

Unfortunately, it appears in this industry no
I would say as Blue Knight has intimated you will be marginal when loaded, especially as a 632 has quite an overhang

 

[Allanm]

I would be inclined to drive straight to a weighbridge and weigh both axles too. That way, you know exactly what you legal payload is likely to be.
If dealers did this before selling you the van, they might not get as many sales as they would like.

 

[Allanm]

According to the Autotrail website for a 634, a free weight upgrade ( providing you have the correct licence ) to 3650 kg, will only give you a payload of around 130kg, which is not much at all. ( but will make the vehicle legal)
Add a couple of bikes for around 40kg.............
As an example, we have a payload of around 800kg, which is just about adequate for the two of us.

 

[Blue Knight]

Hi
Surely if the options are fitted by the supplying dealer , it would be legally obligated to inform me if this takes it over the weight permitted

I'm sorry to say this but I really don't know how the law would be applied in such a case and who would take the ultimate liability.

As far as I know (BTW, this is just guesswork on my part); if a dealer were to supply a new 3.5T registered vehicle weighing 3,400kg to a customer then it's still legal as the van will fall within the 3.5T registered MTPLM legal limit.

The realtime argument then unfolds when you begin to scrutinise what's actually 'fit for purpose' in terms of payload, axle tolerances and vehicle safety.

As I see it the Apache 634 has a standard set of tyres fitted which are rated to 1,030kg each or 2,060kg across the rear axle. The axle is technically rated at 2,000kg since the AT is built on the Fiat Light chassis so, based on what I've mentioned above, it'll only take a few tins of beans and your duvet blanket before you have exceeded the technical safety margins of the vehicle in its basic guise, i.e. no airtop suspension fitted and standard tyres.

Like you, we were seconds away from buying an Autotrail Apache 634 with tow bar and rear bar but when we scrutinised the figures we found that we could barely use it for a night away in Bognor, never mind a trip abroad where we wanted bikes, water, gas and a few spare pairs of socks and pants.

I think you have a watertight case to reject it IMO.

Ooops, I should not have used Autotrail and watertight in the same post - sorry!!

 

[The Wino]

Why go for the towbar bike rack must be more expensive and heavy?. Sorry just seen your other thread you went through those options before .

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