vehicle GVM

you forgot to add you and your passangers

dont worry they are already awake to it. Couple of days ago somebody on this forum was on about the law getting heavy on illeagil 4bys with big tyres and such like so its finally up to u as your insurance also comes into this equation, ie over load no insurance.This same sinario is in the trucking ind. the aussy rules for a truck is max load on front axle is 6tonnes some trucks come in just under this figure, they fit a bull bar plus the weight of the driver and his gear and over they go. Col

The authorities are already aware of it, as too are the insurance companies, if you are over gvm not only are you illegal your insurance will probably be null and void as well. Most station wagon 4wd's are within cooee of their GVM with a full load of passengers in the 7 or 8 seats let alone any accessories or camping gear.
While you can get your GVM upgraded ( engineers report, upgraded springs etc) you will be approaching the max rated load of the drivetrain at 100% duty which decreases the life of those components.
This is why later model vehicles seem to wear out parts that hardly ever failed in the old days, because they are designed to do a job which may be max load for 20% of the time but when we use a vehicle mainly for fully laden outback trips wear a transmission out in 100k because we exceed the GVM 100% of the time.
To compound the problem you may find that insurance companies will no longer insure you as you now have a modified vehicle.
Remember not so long ago in NSW the max weight of a vehicle that could be driven with a C class licence was 2.5 tonne, as 60 series cruisers broke that barrier it was realised that most people movers and 4wd's were well over that so now the limit is 4.5 tonne GVM.
Peter

You really have to be terribly unlucky to be pulled over and found to be exceeding your GVM. Not that I condone it , but I towed an overweight caravan around Aus for 5 years doing all the major highways and the police did not even glance at me. A 27ft Viscount behind my old Nissan looked awesome. The van weighed in at 3.2 tonne. Plus then I had a roofrack on the Nissan with lots of gear up top. But I have re-organised my vehicle now and even with two overweight humans and 190litres of fuel and everything that you need, I am still 200 kilos under the GVM. I sold the van. Sick of towing things.Cheers, Willem
Never a dull moment

Darrin,

Same goes for me with my GU. Fully loaded gets to 3200kg, confirmed over weighbridge. I do have heavy duty coils & No bull suspension supports, but no re- vamped GVM from an engineers report.

Like Willem, have got rid of the thing that hung off the drawbar.Rick: dreaming & planning are half the fun.....doing isn't so bad either!

Just recently checked out my 2002 GU 4.2TD over the weighbridge in its standard running around town setup - i.e. full roller drawers, full fuel tanks, bull bar, tow bar, empty roofrack and me (90 kgs). Total weight was 2880 KG spread evenly over front and rear axles. That leaves me 160KG before I exceed GVM of 3040KG. By the time I add the wife and camping gear I'm gone. I also tow an ofroad caravan with a ball weight of 200KG so with that on I have a real problem, although I can offload a fair bit of gear to the 'van.

Kevin - sitting here, thinking of there
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2002 GU Patrol ST 4.2TD
2000 15' Supreme Getaway

Just had my supatrupa weighed..... hmmm 3100kg, not loaded with anything extra. No wonder the poor old springs look a bit saggy. Royce www.funshow.com.au