Need Help...Please!!.....

What sort of vehicle do you have now ?? Did the salesman tell you how much the van weighed empty ?? Not sure why your limited to a cruiser or rodeo, plenty of other 4wd's, there are others with higher towing capacity.. Bit more info !! Regards Steve

Hi
I am wondering what you drive at preent and can you look at updating ( if need be ) the Jayco at 21 ft is a fair size van. It is possible to have a smalle van and manage well with 4 of you. We had 4 and a dog live in a 15 ft for 5 months, it is a matter of adjusting to the vehicle and what you can aford
Brian

You are going to have to buy something to tow 3000 k.g by the time you load the van with all the gear and food

Karen

You need to consider both the van and tug at the same time. Towing capacity is a big deal and remember that any weight (if accurate) will not include water and personal gear. If the van is stated as 2400 then it will be over 2500 loaded and so you need to look at the towing capacity very closely.

Also have to consider the GVM (weight of vehicle, van and contents of both) of the tow vehicle as piling all the gear into the back of a tow vehicle may not keep GVM legal and void insurance

The higher the weight of the van the more limiting the vehicle gets. Need to survey ball weight and towing capacity of possible tow vehicles.

You need to get a van that suits your requirements and a tow vehicle that suits the towing requirements for the van.

Don't buy one without considering the other.

Alan

This is what you need to do

Look at the compliance plate on the van

It will have these weights

TARE the lightest weight The van empty

Jayco weigh them at the factory as ordered so check that that one hasnt had anything added afterwards as that comes out of payload

ATM the heaviest weight and this should NOT BE EXCEEDED

This includes everything you put in the van Water gas clothes food the lot

GTM is the weight on the wheels when the van is hooked up to the car.


Ball weight is usually the difference between ATM and GTM.

A single axle van usually has a weight capacity of 300kg including the water

A tandem van 400kg.

Also your tow vehicle has similar limitations.

So if you have say a Cruiser with 640kg of payload you firstly have 140kg of fuel, perhaps 200kg of ball weight. Dad and mum 150kg, 3 kids 100kg.

Thats 590 kg and you havent put any gear in the back yet.

Lots to think about Eh

Also a full van on a lighter 4wd may reduce the load capacity in it a bit depending on the model.

Find out accurate figures and add to the thread Not really helpful posting unknown figures.

Karen,

I just checked the Jayco website and the Expanda comes in two forms:

1. Poptop
2. Full height van

The tar weight of the heaviest of these is, not surprisingly, a full height 18' body length(before expanding) and it has a tare weight of a shade over 2000kg. And, as Graham says, it will be a tandem and will have a payload of about 400kg making it, in theory, of being able to be towed by a vehicle with a capacity of 2500kg, but that is a bit close for comfort.

However, there are many other variants of the Expanda, still 18' which are quite a bit lighter..at around 1700kg Tare and that would make your loaded weight (ATM) around the 2000 to 2100kg mark and there are plenty of vehicles around you could tow that with easily and no..., a Golf isn't one of them.

Hi Karen, there are plenty of good 100 series Land Cruisers available which will do the job you require, many are below $30,000 but earlier than 2007 yet are still very good vehicles with a lot of miles left in their lives, if serviced regularly.

You sound as though you are not keen on Land Cruisers Do you feel they are too big for you and your hubby or is there another reason which is colouring your thinking. They are really one of the toughest vehicles on the road today.

Nissan Patrols also fall into this category and are also more than up to the task you require of them.

A friend of mine had a Pajero towing a Jayco Sterling 21 footer but he found it was not up to the task and so he bought a 98 model 100 series Land Cruiser from a Toyota dealer in Nowra and is more than impressed with its performance.
This vehicle had 168,000 kilometres on it and after a detail it was in showroom condition. They are out there. By the way he paid around $22,000 for it.
Fuel consumption is a bit of an issue with them but there are alternatives available to remedy that problem.

Hope this helps.
Regards, Bruce.