Thread: The mass debate - I am sure it's been had before

Anyway, sometimes perhaps it's better to leave sleeping dogs, or something like that, but I blame covid, too much time to ponder things.

I recently decided to put in a set of drawers in the cargo area, so, out with the third row of seats ( -36kg) and in with the drawers (+46.7kg) but it got me thinking about the state of things and just what is the mass of the vehicle and all the "must take" things that seem to find a home inside the 5 doors.

The local S&M place provided the first shock, (that's sand and metal for those of you who are acronym challenged), Front axle 1440, Total 2830 and by furious fingers and toes Rear axle 1390kg. Yep, a bit of a shock, I was expecting a fair bit less. that is a Kerb value (Driver + Full fuel tank) but still a far cry from the spec sheet. The car is detailed below but at the front there is an OL bar, 2 lights and second battery with associated hardware. When you consider the front axle maximum is 1450kg, I am at the limit. How does a winch work with these numbers. Wheels & tyres, GOE 18" and 255/60 R18 at 30.3kg each not a lot in it over the standard 20" with 255/50 R20 (yet to measure them) I would have thought. Other than that, a NAV screen, TPMS, CB and the already mentioned drawers, not a whole lot. If GVM is 3240 then I have 410kg to play with, (for the moment let's ignore the extra 100kg on GVM you are allowed if towing @ <100kph) lets say 200kg towball load from the van, most of which will end up on the rear axle and the remaining 200kg distributed in the cargo area and 2nd seat, opps, yeah the other half as well in the front, fortunately she doesn't read the forum or weigh much but I now have 140kg, so.........

The stuff that gets a ride, recovery kit = 18kg, Air compressor = 12kg, Tool roll = 15kg, First aid box = 3kg, fridge (empty) = 22kg, when we travel with the van we have an inflatable boat and electric motor = 65kg, also take a water tank = 10kg and 80L of water = 80kg, roof platform = 40kg and sometimes spare fuel...........not necessarily all of this stuff every trip all of the time but I think I will quit while I am behind.

Consulting the owners handbook, GVM = 3240, Front Axle = 1450, Rear Axle = 1855 (for my car), and because every ones car is different I am not going to get out the calculator here, it's just a discussion after all, but you can see not a pretty sight.

So then I pondered the things I have previously considered, like fitting the winch that sits on the shelf in the shed, or for a while a long range fuel tank, never mind the fuel mass and it just doesn't add up, just food for thought.

Peter

Originally Posted by Tombie

Oh heck, forgot some kit. I’ll edit my post


Yeah - fill my Aux tank and GVM is done.
I have an Engineer looking at a GVM upgrade using Armoured D4 parts.

Just duck down to ARB with an open cheque book,i am sure they will sort it for you....