Great video. We had the same issue with our setup - even removing all the drawers from the rear and taking off the jerry can holder didnt help. We ended up having to change our vehicle, which was disappointing. Our 105 series is still for sale five months later 😢 For the caravan ATM, we went to Midland Trailers. He inspected and upgraded it - was only around $350 and he was great to deal with 👍
Yeh thats rough, i thought i got it sorted but that rear axle caught me out. I am pretty confident il get it sorted. Ive got stuff in the car thats a nice to have rather then a need because i thought i had the weight to spare. Will see how i go
More vanners should weigh their setups so kudos to you for doing so. I am not a professional in the field like Brett is, but I researched tow and towed vehicle weights so heavily that I know most setups I see on the road are overweight in one way or another - a dead giveaway is the amount of weight that they add to the rear of a van, throwing the entire balance out of whack....which can quickly become a danger to themselves and other road users. Because I knew that I would never come within the legal weights (and more correctly the sensible weights) I ended up having to go to a light truck which more people should look into (actually cheaper in many cases than the "beefy" 4WD) Keep in mind that legal weights do not equal common sense weights as IMO there is no way that the towed vehicle should exceed more than 75% of the towing vehicles weight otherwise it can easily become a matter of the tail wagging the dog. Most of the "rated to tow 3500kgs vehicles" is no more than a marketing push by competing manufacturers which should be governed as the end result is there are many many unsafe setups on our roads.
Yeh so many on the road would be over without even realising it and yes thats why some are going for the light trucks but in saying that i know some of them that weighed in overweight too, they can get a false sense of security thinking they can take everything but still overweight and now not being a 6ton combo they are closer to 10 which can be scary in itself. Ive never stuck to the 75% but always have been a big believer of car should always be heavier then what its towing which is what ive done. Car running with empty tanks and only me as driver is still heavier then the van when its completely full which is the way i like it and its never stepped out on me or wobbled or anything so im really happy with our stability even when braking hardnfor an emergency. Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment, i really appreciate it
An Anderson WDH is amazing with DO35. Considering most travelling from point to point will be on roads dirt and bitumen not issues at all. You would only have to remove the chains the last part to get to your camp. Most 4wd situations will be at considerable lower speed so not that big an issue. This is what we do with a 3.5 t van works amazing and less belting on the tow hit hitch which means smoother drive. Considering you have over 100kg available on the front axel it’s a no brainer to push more weight there. You will also find your steering and braking will improve dramatically. Also chain hitches don’t porpoise like bars do.
Yeh ok i will look at that as a potential option but i would rather not if i don’t have to. We have done a lot of offroad trips in this set up. Recently just did 1200kms of dirt from Birdsville to Oodnadatta etc. so if i can get my weights right without the need for WDH id be happy
Great episode guys thankyou, and good timing for me, I'm currently in S.A so I'll be contacting Svedos to organise a date for a proper weigh. I had it done in W.A ( near Geraldton) a couple of years ago, but it wasn't anywhere near the professionalism of Svedos . Thanks so much.
Thanks for watching and im glad you got something out of it! Definitely contact brett, even when he was being very casual with me he was still very professional
Fantastic video, I thought I knew all about the weight laws but I didn’t know about the 1-1.5 tow ball weight. Great to see a caravaner know that weight is important for safety. I reckon you would be a rarity on the road
Yeh it caught me out, i didnt expect the rear axle to increase as much as it did with my light ball weight. Learning something new everyday is never a bad thing
Maybe you could mount the spare wheel on the front of the roof rack. That will reduce the weight on the rear axle and add a little to the front or mount it on the caravan draw bar and mount it back on the car when you’re travelling without the van. Great video and thanks for sharing. I have two friends that know they’re over weight and just don’t really seem to care.
Ive met plenty if people like that and its not just a little bit overweight. The spare on the roof could definitely help, i don’t want it up there so will make these other changes first and see how i go. Is 40kg and would not be fun to get on and off the roof haha
@scroungasworkshop4663 thanks, in reality i shouldn’t have to tskenit off too often but will make the car too tall for a lot of car parks and drive thrus etc
Why don't you put things like the gas bottle, jerry can and bikes on the drawbar of the caravan? You need to up the towball weight anyway. The trouble with moving your toolkit is if you're not towing then for sure that's when you're going to need it because Murphy's law says so 😂
The easy fix would be to get some factory alloys and some light truck tyres I took over a 100 kilograms off my old rig when I removed big wheels and tyres and it handled and brake far better also got 10% better mileage
Yeh that could be a sensible thing to do but i saved for a long time to afford these rims and tyres 😅 will cull this aftwr stuff first and see how we go
@@Ourwhittleadventure I ran two sets on my last car I thought the 35" were a performance upgrade off-road at the cost of on road performance. But I was wrong 😑the stock size worked better even in soft sand, No one thinks of the larger diameter and heavier wheels effect on braking distance
@kisbushcraftdownunder yeh and they probably don’t upgrade their brakes in that process either. Im only one size up from standard i believe. I think these are equivalent of 33s. Im really quite happy with my milesge considering its an old car and being a 6.4ton combo. And ive upgraded the discs and pads to some heavy duty ones so it pulls up pretty well. I think the extra clearance is what i enjoy most about the bigger tyres
Very helpful video. Hopefully you can get this resolved without too much heartbreak. We certainly learnt a lot when we had ours done. 🤞it goes well for you.
Good episode guys. Can you chuck the jerry and gas onto the A Frame the van? As you know we are waiting for our new van but we have already realised we would be struggling with the Gladiator. This has changed our build dramatically but I am actually loving it as has kept it really lite for when wheeling. Keen to see how you go with the changes. Matt and Leisa
Yeh i think gas bottle will and jerry to rear of van, its a constant juggle hey, id lovdbthe car to be better set up for day trips and camping but can’t have it all when towing. Goodluck with yours, im sure your all over it
Hi great video the only thing that I may have missed forgive me if I did, I would have liked to have seen the different tow ball weight difference with the new height you talked about, the only other thing I would love to have seen was how the weights changed with a weight distribution hitch and what effect that had on your setup, very informative video thank you very much
We did lift it but the footage didnt work out unfortunately. It added 10kg to the ball weight as Brett predicted. I won’t be using a weight distribution hitch, with how much we take this set up offroad its not the avenue i wish to go down but it would potentially solve the problem, i will cull some weight and see how i go. Watch out on Bretts channel called @svedostrippin he has a video coming soon on the townall and different heights etc.
Great video. I love seeing what different setups come up in at with the weights. It’s definitely always a struggle for me to keep on top of everything and keep under weights without constantly spending money on upgrades, however sometimes I wish I would have spent the money at the start and save the headache lol.
Thanks for the informative video. It's quite sobering to be running close to (either side of) the limits. Makes consideration of a vehicle that is over-capable appealing for that peace of mind. (Considering options here as well).
Yeh it sure is. Its hard because we know these cars can handle a lot more, but for legal reasons we need to abide by these numbers. In reality, running lighter is only a good thing, car is working less, less fuel etc. so will cull some weight snd see how we sit
Hello Mark, Won't the increase to the towball weight you are considering to balance the van again add to the rear axle too? Can you get an engineer to increase axle rating on the 100 considering you have an GVM upgrade in a similar nature to the van? My GVM upgrade came with an increase in axle ratings.
We lifted the tow ball and it added 10kg so i just need to factor in that 15kg on rear axle as i remove the other parts. I wont be adding more to the front to suit the 10% its really stable as is so wont be fixing something thats not broken. In regards to rear axle upgrade yes it can be done in some states but is $10-15k and i don’t have that sort of money so culling more weight is only real option for the moment
The engineer who certified the GVM should have also provided a new rear axel limit. Maybe ask this original engineer about this specification. The rear axel is not just the axel it's the chassis, springs, shocks and wheels. Your example and nearly every other Landcruiser have been towing with high rear axel loads yet rear axel system failures are next to none. Bent chassis on Utes on the other hand have become a little more common.
@jebw yeh i opted for the cheaper upgrade just to my existing axle ratings. I can get a GVm upgrade that will take rear axle to 2500kg but thats not a cheap exercise, id rsther just cull some weight off the back for now. Yeh i can’t say ive heard of a rear axle fsilure in a landcruiser personally
I don't know pooh from clay but I agree with the not wanting to put the spare under the car (pooh location) but have you thought of putting it on the roof, again taking into account the weight in relation to roof rack load limit but it looks to be quality and that would fix a lot of the problems. That rear tyre hangs out a fair way and putting it upstairs can move it well forward. YES there are other consideration and as I stated I have no idea what I am talking about, but worth 'considering' PS thank you for the vid well worthy and keep up the good work 👍👍
Take your combination to the rubbish transfer station. Disconnect the trailer and drive the tow vehicle on. Now you know the weight of the tow vehicle. Reverse and hook the van up again. Drive onto the scale and now you know the gross weight of the combination. Unhook the van and drive the tow vehicle off...now you know the weight of the van. All up $50.... Go home and using a 4x2 as a lever, use a home use weight scale to work out your tow hitch downforce...
This is exactly what i was doing before hand but because i didn’t go over one axle at a time i had no idea the rear axle was so far over and you do need to make sure the weighbridge at the WTS is nice and level and you don’t have to drive up onto it otherwise it will throw the numbers a bit. My tip used to charge $36 to do it before we left.
@@Ourwhittleadventure You are right about the rear axle "weight" of course...but the transfer Station will get you roughly into whether or not further investigation is warranted. John Cadogan has done quite a few opinion pieces on this whole caravan towing thing and he concurs with your outlook that there may be many overloaded rigs on the road who either are blissfully unaware... or frighteningly blasé about being knowingly overloaded. There is one other frightening thing that happens to caravans.. the Bernoulli Effect where two slab sided vehicles, one passing the other, squeeze the air between them... and when the lighter one (say a caravan) moves past a curtainsider truck.. the loss of this air pressure suddenly flicks the van's tail sending it out of control with a sway... then it needs an emergency brake only on the caravan to drag the combination straight.... you have 3 seconds to activate the emergency caravan brake. Every caravan brake controller manufacturer needs to have a large red button that mounts on the dash that you slam your hand down on...and not have to look at the controller mounted down low on the dash to find the controller brake knob.
It is amazing how heavy rear draws are, yes they are nice to have according to the 4x4 must have accessory, but think about how much they weigh before you put all your gear in it.
Yeh i think when i removed mine it was close to 80kg just for the drawers. I do miss the organisation i had in the drawers but really wasn’t a necessity for me to have
Interesting video, the weighting process is quite interesting. We are looking at getting our set up weighted, but feel fairly confident it will be under, or at least we hope so🤔 Hopefully you can get it all sorted and back within weight.
Yeh it is quite interesting, i thought i was doing a good job myself but that rear axle with the ratio caught me out. Will get it sorted im not too concerned, it is a manageable number
Well done Mark,very informative.WA is a pain with their gcm laws,(about to change I believe).I have just upgraded my car and van and there is no mention of a gcm on the mod plate or license,and after extensive research I was told by Dept of Transport that it’s a grey area and don’t ask the question.engineers told me no such thing as a gcm on a light vehicle with a gvm of less than 4 t
Only vehicles over 4.5t are required to have the GCM on the compliance plate. Vehicles under 4 t have GCM, my Ranger has a GVM of 3.2t and a GCM of 6 t
If take the spare wheel off the back and put it on the roof rack as far forward as you can that will take around another 40 kg off the rear axle. Say the wheel and tyre is 40kg x 1.5 = 60kg off the back and then only half of that 40kg will go back on the rear axle when its on the roof. Only problem arises when you get a flat and need to get 40kg on and off the roof rack. Just a thought if you wanted to reduce some weight immediately until you can remove the rear bar and sub tank. You will also gain a little by placing the spare back underneath because it will no longer be adding 60kg to the rear axle. You will probably get a 10kg saving just by moving it underneath.
Yeh that is an option. Again id rather not have the spare up top, so will see how i go getting rid of swing arm, gas bottle, fuel etc and see how it sits. It should come pretty close by my math so will see.
If you have capacity on your front axle can you use a WDH when towing to shift weight from rear car axle back to front car axle. Would this be a possible solution?
Yeh 100% it could be an option. Id rather not given the type of travel we do as they are not meant to be used offroad so il do the cull first and see how it sits and then can make a decision from there
We have a gov't weighbridge at Bairnsdale so I guess there others around. You just drive the front wheels onto the pad and note the digital readout and then do the rear. Cheaper ($0) than if the police do it and you are over.
Yeh thats what i had been trying to do also but it is tricky to find nice flat entry ones around the country. This weighing was also good to see the left snd right balance aswell
We got a weigh done from cam( the travelling weigh)who has passed the baton too them, glad they are doing a fantastic service too. We are selling our gvm gcm upgraded 200series here in SA If interested? We pull a newage desert rose which weighs alot more then the owl. 2kids 2adults packed to hilt and never looks like touching the gvm gcm. Great vid guys keep em coming
I got to meet Cam just recently, lovely fella! As much as that would be the sensible thing to do i won’t be parting with the 100 that easily 😅 shes my pride and joy, il cull some more and keep the old girl 😎
Good info Mark, one query is you mentioned not filling one water tank on the caravan to remain within weights. I would think if you were weighed on the road or after an accident for insurance/legal compliance they could dispute this and assume tanks were full. especially if they were ruptured in the accident etc?
Yes possibly i think it would depend on each insurance company and their fine print. Is why we will go down the path of getting this upgrade done sooner rather then later to not run with that issue
The weight is always the actual weight. The bull about deemed full tanks is just rubbish. Otherwise the car would have deemed 80kg nominal people in all seats and towing would be impossible.
@@jebw yes thats why i asked the question as i had watched a few weighs on youtube and vans that were over were advised to not fill all there water tanks yet others had said this could be counted anyway?
I found an engineer over in Qld named David i think. I would have to dif out his contact details but i found him on the government website as an authorised engineer
They don’t work any ore but from my understanding airbags cant help distribute weight off the rear axle it just helps the suspension and ride height, so that could be a way to hekp bring my towball height up. Yeh ATM is when stationary so i personally think the GTM is the more important one as thats when the van is on the road. Either way we can get that sorted easy enough and we aren’t usually that heavy
@Ourwhittleadventure cheers your video was very informative. We will have to have a good look at ours now because on ours we don't have the gtm we have the tare and atm stated. I will be looking at the compliance plate tomorrow to check.
@smurfzilla5756 ah right, typically i think the GTM is the ATM minus the towball weight at Tare. So mine is 3150ATM - 170kg ball weight at tare = 2980kg
Yeh i mentioned in the vid i got an upgrade done and took it to the axle ratings so is now 3500kg. But when we calculated the GCM we used the original 3260kg
I think the reality is that the car manufacturers and the caravan manufacturers both have a lot to answer for. Most of their advertised numbers are completely unrealistic, and realistically you shouldn't be towing a van over 3 tonne even. Most vehicles can only tow their rated weight if the car is completely empty, sometimes even not even having any passengers. Then the caravans can rarely be filled to their max without overloading the rear axle too, so they are culpable too with their misleading advertising. I think it's the responsibility of hte driveer to make sure they are legal, but I feel like the ACCC should crack down on the not false, but misleading advertising that car and caravan manufacturers use. Also, just because you haven't fish tailed off the road, doesn't mean your setup is stable, it just means you haven't been in the situation where it is obvious how unstable it is. That towball weight around 10% is there for a reason.
I do agree with a lot of that, especially in the dual cab utes those numbers can be very misleading. Not to mention ive always been a believer that the van should not be heavier then the car towing it. The 10% rule of thumb has been around for a while but is just that a rule of thumb the engineering of vans have changed a lot over the years, these New Age vans seem designed to have a lighter tbw, so for me with travelling in this set up for over 4 years on and off road without it ever wobbling, swaying, porpoising or stepping out on me. I personally wont be adding more weight to the front of the van to fix something thats not broken. I appreciate the comments, ill hopefully strip the weight off the back of the car and see all green numbers before we leave this area
We were 13kg over our ATM prior to our ATM upgrade I still to this day do not understand why the weight of your van parked in the driveway unhitched is relevant? It is such a minefield! We are close on our rear axle hitched yet over on the front axle unhitched🤦🏻 Great video 😊
Haha yeh with that mentality maybe we should include everyones body weight when we are sleeping in the van too, doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. But is an easy fix. The front axle being over when unhitched must be so easy to do! Who would of thought.
I'm a little concerned about my weights as well. But, I feel if you did a bit of weight transfer you could only be a little over on your rear axle weight. Now, I know it's the law and people are concerned about insurance problems, but there is no way an insurance company would know if your vehicle was a little overweight if you had a bad accident. People say, if you have an accident, they come out and collect the car, caravan and all the bits and pieces and weigh it all, not going to happen, they haven't got the right to do that. If your car drives safely, your van tows safely, so what if you are over by 50 to 100kg. It's the say, an old Prado towing a 3.5T van, that is a big problem. So, for me, move a few items around, remove some items that you do use, maybe only fill your sub tank when only needed and enjoy your adventure.
Yeh i agree with you, if they did decide to pick up all the mess i think the GCM would be the importsnt number, how would they know what was stored in what spot. There are some dangerously overweight set ups out there, small cars towing big vans that there is no real way that it could be stable, even at the cara lightests its hesvier then the van at its heaviest which is think is important. Il cull a few things and not use my sub unless i need to and i think i will be pretty close. Thanks for the comment.
Not necessarily. All my GVM upgrade did was take me to the axle ratings. So car is right for my load just compliance plate numbers out of factory are lower then what its capable of handling. Now i have the right numbers i just need to balance it out better
Oh is that right? I thought cars legally had to nowadays. Will keep an eye on that one, bet thats making it hard for those trying to do the right thing with the new prados
@Ourwhittleadventure yeah it's a bit hard to believe how they got away with it. Lil and Jake talked a bit about it in their recent video; not on any of the paperwork and they own one now. GVM listed, towing capacity listed and that's it. Same thing missing on the Toyota Prado Specs part of the webpage last I checked.
Doesnt a weight distribution hitch..hayman reece or milford... transfer weight from thr rear of vehicle onto the front axle? Visibly when you use WDH the rear of car goes up and the front of car goes down. Surely WDH does what its titke says distribyte weight from the rear of vehicle cos of towball weight to the front axles
Yes 100% your correct, it is an avenue we could go down but with the type of travel we do its not really a suitsble option. They are not intended to be used off road and we have a DO35 offroad hitch for the articulation that you would lose if using a WDH. So for me, culling weight would be the best option but a WDH would be an option that a lot of people could go with in my situation your right.
Interestingly the youtubers "Journey Unknown" have a big new van 4000kgs and have a Lovells upgrade and have a Lovells version of DO45 and WDH bars so apparently you can use WDH with a DO type hitch but yes the articulation mayve compromised
Yeh i guess theres nothing saying you can’t but does seem a bit contradictory to put a WDH on a set up to be used offroad. Im sure they have their own understanding of shat they want
hi maybe check out The Cruiser Company Toyota 100 Series Rear Bar with an Integrated high clearance tow bar they say you save some weight it might be an option for you can't hurt to look, anyway thanks for the video hope you get everything sorted out have a good one. 👍
Thanks i do like the look of those, im not sure how much weight it would ultimately save, probably not enough to make a difference here. But ill weigh again after these chsnges and keep that in mind
Is an interesting read, very knowledgeable and full of the science. I think all should read some of that. He did state that with a large caravan the tow vehicle should be atleast as heavy. The way ive set this up my car is always heavier even when low on fuel and only the driver, it is still heavier then the van at its maximum with all water and gas etc.
Great info. Do they have a recommendation for an Engineer in Brisbane? We have tried several, left messages and no return calls unfortunately. Would be great if they have any names.
Weights weights weights 🤦♂️ nightmare …. Thankfully after 4b gvm upgrade we are all good … 350kg to spare in the truck but 13 kgs over in the van 🤦♂️…. Damm thermomix 😂
about time out GVM / GCM laws had an update. there so far behind especially with the push for EVs that are far heaver we have little to no head room left.
Easy weight loss from vehicle, leave the missus and kids at home, solves multiple issues... lowers the weight, no nagging, no screaming, no are we there yet and the most important one, more beer on board!!!! 😂😂😂
If you move stuff to your van then you tow all weight will go up. Say towball weight goes to 280kg that will increase the rear axle weight by 60kg. Depressing.
Yeh its a constant shuffle hey! The stuff coming off the car probably wont go in the caravan it will just go. Itl just be my tool bag but that wont add a proportional difference to tow ball weight. Will see how i go with the culling and if the rear bar needs to go then it will
Not sure if you watched the whole video or not but even with a smaller van i would have same issue. I need less weight in the rear of the car thats all, or transfer some to front axle. But thanks for taking the time to comment
G'day, I'm not a caravaner however the thing I see and hear most when travelling is people use the biggest number on the tow car and van as a target weight. I don't hear people say we see the biggest nuber on the speedometer and say thats the target safe speed.
Yeh some definitely go to the extreme, Id actually rather be lighter myself but living in this set up with 2 kids and a dog we already have very little “stuff” we have what we need and a few luxuries. Is why we never got the ATM upgrade to start with i don’t really want to be any heavier
Why is it people put more than 50kg onto thier coupling..its the stupidest thing ever..if you want snaking then carry on.... The reason why your caravan snakes is the wheel alignment is wrong..go and get the caravan or trailer wheels laser aligned and you will not believe how out of line they are..
Its a pity that there are not a hell of a lot more portable weigh stataions being utilised by cops and transport officials. The amount of first class idiots towing over weight is ridiculous. People need to lessen their egos and get smaller vans.. Sell the TAJ mAHAL AND BUY SOMETHING SMALLER AND LIGHTER.
Im definitely not opposed to some random weighing being conducted, ive seen some very dangerous set ups on the road and people very unaware of their limitations. Even ne i thought i was good with GVM, GCM and GTM but that rear axle caught me out
Great video. We had the same issue with our setup - even removing all the drawers from the rear and taking off the jerry can holder didnt help. We ended up having to change our vehicle, which was disappointing. Our 105 series is still for sale five months later 😢 For the caravan ATM, we went to Midland Trailers. He inspected and upgraded it - was only around $350 and he was great to deal with 👍
Yeh thats rough, i thought i got it sorted but that rear axle caught me out. I am pretty confident il get it sorted. Ive got stuff in the car thats a nice to have rather then a need because i thought i had the weight to spare. Will see how i go
More vanners should weigh their setups so kudos to you for doing so.
I am not a professional in the field like Brett is, but I researched tow and towed vehicle weights so heavily that I know most setups I see on the road are overweight in one way or another - a dead giveaway is the amount of weight that they add to the rear of a van, throwing the entire balance out of whack....which can quickly become a danger to themselves and other road users.
Because I knew that I would never come within the legal weights (and more correctly the sensible weights) I ended up having to go to a light truck which more people should look into (actually cheaper in many cases than the "beefy" 4WD)
Keep in mind that legal weights do not equal common sense weights as IMO there is no way that the towed vehicle should exceed more than 75% of the towing vehicles weight otherwise it can easily become a matter of the tail wagging the dog.
Most of the "rated to tow 3500kgs vehicles" is no more than a marketing push by competing manufacturers which should be governed as the end result is there are many many unsafe setups on our roads.
Yeh so many on the road would be over without even realising it and yes thats why some are going for the light trucks but in saying that i know some of them that weighed in overweight too, they can get a false sense of security thinking they can take everything but still overweight and now not being a 6ton combo they are closer to 10 which can be scary in itself.
Ive never stuck to the 75% but always have been a big believer of car should always be heavier then what its towing which is what ive done. Car running with empty tanks and only me as driver is still heavier then the van when its completely full which is the way i like it and its never stepped out on me or wobbled or anything so im really happy with our stability even when braking hardnfor an emergency. Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment, i really appreciate it
Awesome! We are booked in with them to get our set up checked next month. Hopefully we are under and not over.
Sweet as! Yeh hopefully you are, weight seems to creep in without realising it
An Anderson WDH is amazing with DO35. Considering most travelling from point to point will be on roads dirt and bitumen not issues at all. You would only have to remove the chains the last part to get to your camp. Most 4wd situations will be at considerable lower speed so not that big an issue. This is what we do with a 3.5 t van works amazing and less belting on the tow hit hitch which means smoother drive.
Considering you have over 100kg available on the front axel it’s a no brainer to push more weight there. You will also find your steering and braking will improve dramatically. Also chain hitches don’t porpoise like bars do.
Yeh ok i will look at that as a potential option but i would rather not if i don’t have to. We have done a lot of offroad trips in this set up. Recently just did 1200kms of dirt from Birdsville to Oodnadatta etc. so if i can get my weights right without the need for WDH id be happy
@ yeah the hitch would be fine with all of that and improve steering on a dirt road
Great episode guys thankyou, and good timing for me, I'm currently in S.A so I'll be contacting Svedos to organise a date for a proper weigh. I had it done in W.A ( near Geraldton) a couple of years ago, but it wasn't anywhere near the professionalism of Svedos . Thanks so much.
Thanks for watching and im glad you got something out of it! Definitely contact brett, even when he was being very casual with me he was still very professional
Fantastic video, I thought I knew all about the weight laws but I didn’t know about the 1-1.5 tow ball weight.
Great to see a caravaner know that weight is important for safety.
I reckon you would be a rarity on the road
Yeh it caught me out, i didnt expect the rear axle to increase as much as it did with my light ball weight. Learning something new everyday is never a bad thing
Awesome video guys. Love your work. Have safe and wonderful travels xx
Maybe you could mount the spare wheel on the front of the roof rack. That will reduce the weight on the rear axle and add a little to the front or mount it on the caravan draw bar and mount it back on the car when you’re travelling without the van. Great video and thanks for sharing. I have two friends that know they’re over weight and just don’t really seem to care.
Ive met plenty if people like that and its not just a little bit overweight. The spare on the roof could definitely help, i don’t want it up there so will make these other changes first and see how i go. Is 40kg and would not be fun to get on and off the roof haha
@ That’s a point, getting up and down would be a problem. Good luck.
@scroungasworkshop4663 thanks, in reality i shouldn’t have to tskenit off too often but will make the car too tall for a lot of car parks and drive thrus etc
Why don't you put things like the gas bottle, jerry can and bikes on the drawbar of the caravan? You need to up the towball weight anyway. The trouble with moving your toolkit is if you're not towing then for sure that's when you're going to need it because Murphy's law says so 😂
If you have an accident and you are overweight, the insurance company will conduct these tests and could invalidate your insurance.
The easy fix would be to get some factory alloys and some light truck tyres I took over a 100 kilograms off my old rig when I removed big wheels and tyres and it handled and brake far better also got 10% better mileage
Yeh that could be a sensible thing to do but i saved for a long time to afford these rims and tyres 😅 will cull this aftwr stuff first and see how we go
@@Ourwhittleadventure I ran two sets on my last car I thought the 35" were a performance upgrade off-road at the cost of on road performance. But I was wrong 😑the stock size worked better even in soft sand, No one thinks of the larger diameter and heavier wheels effect on braking distance
@kisbushcraftdownunder yeh and they probably don’t upgrade their brakes in that process either.
Im only one size up from standard i believe. I think these are equivalent of 33s. Im really quite happy with my milesge considering its an old car and being a 6.4ton combo. And ive upgraded the discs and pads to some heavy duty ones so it pulls up pretty well.
I think the extra clearance is what i enjoy most about the bigger tyres
Very helpful video. Hopefully you can get this resolved without too much heartbreak. We certainly learnt a lot when we had ours done. 🤞it goes well for you.
Im sure i can get it sorted easy enough im not too concerned, thankfully not huge numbers to deal with
Good episode guys. Can you chuck the jerry and gas onto the A Frame the van? As you know we are waiting for our new van but we have already realised we would be struggling with the Gladiator. This has changed our build dramatically but I am actually loving it as has kept it really lite for when wheeling. Keen to see how you go with the changes. Matt and Leisa
Yeh i think gas bottle will and jerry to rear of van, its a constant juggle hey, id lovdbthe car to be better set up for day trips and camping but can’t have it all when towing. Goodluck with yours, im sure your all over it
I am looking at a aluminium drop towbar hitch to replace my 3.5 ton heavy steel tow hitch which is really heavy.
Is the aluminium one rated the same? Id be cautious running an aluminium one myself
Hi great video the only thing that I may have missed forgive me if I did, I would have liked to have seen the different tow ball weight difference with the new height you talked about, the only other thing I would love to have seen was how the weights changed with a weight distribution hitch and what effect that had on your setup, very informative video thank you very much
We did lift it but the footage didnt work out unfortunately. It added 10kg to the ball weight as Brett predicted.
I won’t be using a weight distribution hitch, with how much we take this set up offroad its not the avenue i wish to go down but it would potentially solve the problem, i will cull some weight and see how i go.
Watch out on Bretts channel called @svedostrippin he has a video coming soon on the townall and different heights etc.
Great video. I love seeing what different setups come up in at with the weights. It’s definitely always a struggle for me to keep on top of everything and keep under weights without constantly spending money on upgrades, however sometimes I wish I would have spent the money at the start and save the headache lol.
Its a constant shuffle hey! Thankfully ive had same set up for 4 years but things come and go along the way
Good to see
Gotta love Stevo in his uniform
Looks so professional
Haha he finds it very unflattering actually 😅
Thanks for the informative video. It's quite sobering to be running close to (either side of) the limits. Makes consideration of a vehicle that is over-capable appealing for that peace of mind. (Considering options here as well).
Yeh it sure is.
Its hard because we know these cars can handle a lot more, but for legal reasons we need to abide by these numbers.
In reality, running lighter is only a good thing, car is working less, less fuel etc. so will cull some weight snd see how we sit
Awesome vid guys! We’re probably overweight too, especially from eating snacks late at night while editing! 😂
Im such a chocolate fiend when editing hey!
Hello Mark, Won't the increase to the towball weight you are considering to balance the van again add to the rear axle too? Can you get an engineer to increase axle rating on the 100 considering you have an GVM upgrade in a similar nature to the van? My GVM upgrade came with an increase in axle ratings.
We lifted the tow ball and it added 10kg so i just need to factor in that 15kg on rear axle as i remove the other parts. I wont be adding more to the front to suit the 10% its really stable as is so wont be fixing something thats not broken.
In regards to rear axle upgrade yes it can be done in some states but is $10-15k and i don’t have that sort of money so culling more weight is only real option for the moment
The engineer who certified the GVM should have also provided a new rear axel limit. Maybe ask this original engineer about this specification. The rear axel is not just the axel it's the chassis, springs, shocks and wheels. Your example and nearly every other Landcruiser have been towing with high rear axel loads yet rear axel system failures are next to none. Bent chassis on Utes on the other hand have become a little more common.
@jebw yeh i opted for the cheaper upgrade just to my existing axle ratings. I can get a GVm upgrade that will take rear axle to 2500kg but thats not a cheap exercise, id rsther just cull some weight off the back for now. Yeh i can’t say ive heard of a rear axle fsilure in a landcruiser personally
Thanks heaps loved your video very insightful 😊safe travels ❤
Thanks for watching and im glad you got something out of it
I don't know pooh from clay but I agree with the not wanting to put the spare under the car (pooh location) but have you thought of putting it on the roof, again taking into account the weight in relation to roof rack load limit but it looks to be quality and that would fix a lot of the problems. That rear tyre hangs out a fair way and putting it upstairs can move it well forward. YES there are other consideration and as I stated I have no idea what I am talking about, but worth 'considering' PS thank you for the vid well worthy and keep up the good work 👍👍
It is an option to put it up there. Would be annoying given its weight but possible. Will make this cull n see how we go from there
Take your combination to the rubbish transfer station. Disconnect the trailer and drive the tow vehicle on.
Now you know the weight of the tow vehicle.
Reverse and hook the van up again.
Drive onto the scale and now you know the gross weight of the combination.
Unhook the van and drive the tow vehicle off...now you know the weight of the van.
All up $50....
Go home and using a 4x2 as a lever, use a home use weight scale to work out your tow hitch downforce...
This is exactly what i was doing before hand but because i didn’t go over one axle at a time i had no idea the rear axle was so far over and you do need to make sure the weighbridge at the WTS is nice and level and you don’t have to drive up onto it otherwise it will throw the numbers a bit. My tip used to charge $36 to do it before we left.
@@Ourwhittleadventure
You are right about the rear axle "weight" of course...but the transfer Station will get you roughly into whether or not further investigation is warranted.
John Cadogan has done quite a few opinion pieces on this whole caravan towing thing and he concurs with your outlook that there may be many overloaded rigs on the road who either are blissfully unaware...
or frighteningly blasé about being knowingly overloaded.
There is one other frightening thing that happens to caravans..
the Bernoulli Effect where two slab sided vehicles, one passing the other, squeeze the air between them...
and when the lighter one (say a caravan) moves past a curtainsider truck..
the loss of this air pressure suddenly flicks the van's tail sending it out of control with a sway...
then it needs an emergency brake only on the caravan to drag the combination straight....
you have 3 seconds to activate the emergency caravan brake.
Every caravan brake controller manufacturer needs to have a large red button that mounts on the dash that you slam your hand down on...and not have to look at the controller mounted down low on the dash to find the controller brake knob.
It is amazing how heavy rear draws are, yes they are nice to have according to the 4x4 must have accessory, but think about how much they weigh before you put all your gear in it.
Yeh i think when i removed mine it was close to 80kg just for the drawers. I do miss the organisation i had in the drawers but really wasn’t a necessity for me to have
Interesting video, the weighting process is quite interesting. We are looking at getting our set up weighted, but feel fairly confident it will be under, or at least we hope so🤔
Hopefully you can get it all sorted and back within weight.
Yeh it is quite interesting, i thought i was doing a good job myself but that rear axle with the ratio caught me out. Will get it sorted im not too concerned, it is a manageable number
Well done Mark,very informative.WA is a pain with their gcm laws,(about to change I believe).I have just upgraded my car and van and there is no mention of a gcm on the mod plate or license,and after extensive research I was told by Dept of Transport that it’s a grey area and don’t ask the question.engineers told me no such thing as a gcm on a light vehicle with a gvm of less than 4 t
Only vehicles over 4.5t are required to have the GCM on the compliance plate. Vehicles under 4 t have GCM, my Ranger has a GVM of 3.2t and a GCM of 6 t
Im hearing this more and more. I thought it was a requirement but i seem to be wrong too
Hi just enquiring Do you guys come Come to mildura, just.
Curious on my camp set up that's a little bit odd
Best bet would be to message Brett on Facebook or instagram @svedosweigh or @svedostrippin to see if hes headed that way
If take the spare wheel off the back and put it on the roof rack as far forward as you can that will take around another 40 kg off the rear axle. Say the wheel and tyre is 40kg x 1.5 = 60kg off the back and then only half of that 40kg will go back on the rear axle when its on the roof. Only problem arises when you get a flat and need to get 40kg on and off the roof rack. Just a thought if you wanted to reduce some weight immediately until you can remove the rear bar and sub tank. You will also gain a little by placing the spare back underneath because it will no longer be adding 60kg to the rear axle. You will probably get a 10kg saving just by moving it underneath.
Yeh that is an option. Again id rather not have the spare up top, so will see how i go getting rid of swing arm, gas bottle, fuel etc and see how it sits.
It should come pretty close by my math so will see.
If you have capacity on your front axle can you use a WDH when towing to shift weight from rear car axle back to front car axle. Would this be a possible solution?
Yeh 100% it could be an option. Id rather not given the type of travel we do as they are not meant to be used offroad so il do the cull first and see how it sits and then can make a decision from there
I agree but happy to still use WDH on good gravel roads just not on 4WD tracks, creek crossings etc
@peterdickinson9800 yehbok sweet as, i might end up down that path
We have a gov't weighbridge at Bairnsdale so I guess there others around. You just drive the front wheels onto the pad and note the digital readout and then do the rear. Cheaper ($0) than if the police do it and you are over.
Yeh thats what i had been trying to do also but it is tricky to find nice flat entry ones around the country.
This weighing was also good to see the left snd right balance aswell
We got a weigh done from cam( the travelling weigh)who has passed the baton too them, glad they are doing a fantastic service too. We are selling our gvm gcm upgraded 200series here in SA If interested? We pull a newage desert rose which weighs alot more then the owl. 2kids 2adults packed to hilt and never looks like touching the gvm gcm. Great vid guys keep em coming
I got to meet Cam just recently, lovely fella!
As much as that would be the sensible thing to do i won’t be parting with the 100 that easily 😅 shes my pride and joy, il cull some more and keep the old girl 😎
Great video
Glad your so concerned about being in weight, many more van drivers should
It is a bit of a worry how many people would clearly be very obnoxiously overweight and do not bat an eye
Good info Mark, one query is you mentioned not filling one water tank on the caravan to remain within weights. I would think if you were weighed on the road or after an accident for insurance/legal compliance they could dispute this and assume tanks were full. especially if they were ruptured in the accident etc?
Yes possibly i think it would depend on each insurance company and their fine print.
Is why we will go down the path of getting this upgrade done sooner rather then later to not run with that issue
The weight is always the actual weight. The bull about deemed full tanks is just rubbish. Otherwise the car would have deemed 80kg nominal people in all seats and towing would be impossible.
I would hope as much
@@jebw yes thats why i asked the question as i had watched a few weighs on youtube and vans that were over were advised to not fill all there water tanks yet others had said this could be counted anyway?
Maybe just less stuff or a smaller caravan? Running the vehicle right at its limit wouldn't be the safest option.
Hey mate who did your GVM upgrade job on the HDJ100?
I found an engineer over in Qld named David i think.
I would have to dif out his contact details but i found him on the government website as an authorised engineer
Do you still have the airbag man. Would that help change the distribution ? I thought the atm was for when you are stationary.
They don’t work any ore but from my understanding airbags cant help distribute weight off the rear axle it just helps the suspension and ride height, so that could be a way to hekp bring my towball height up.
Yeh ATM is when stationary so i personally think the GTM is the more important one as thats when the van is on the road. Either way we can get that sorted easy enough and we aren’t usually that heavy
@Ourwhittleadventure cheers your video was very informative. We will have to have a good look at ours now because on ours we don't have the gtm we have the tare and atm stated. I will be looking at the compliance plate tomorrow to check.
@smurfzilla5756 ah right, typically i think the GTM is the ATM minus the towball weight at Tare.
So mine is 3150ATM - 170kg ball weight at tare = 2980kg
Great video lucky people being in tumby bay its great fishing over at gunyah beach over near coffins bay at the moment
Oh sweet when we get a day off we may head that way. Caught a good feed just south of here last week.
Fed 3 families
If you are looking for quality meat try lincoln south butchers their top notch for meat their Devon/fritz is brilliant
@LeighFinn-t3q awesome thank you!!
Did the screen show GVM of 3500? It is 3260 standard, or was the GVM upgrade to 3500.
Yeh i mentioned in the vid i got an upgrade done and took it to the axle ratings so is now 3500kg.
But when we calculated the GCM we used the original 3260kg
great vid......
Thanks mate
I think the reality is that the car manufacturers and the caravan manufacturers both have a lot to answer for. Most of their advertised numbers are completely unrealistic, and realistically you shouldn't be towing a van over 3 tonne even. Most vehicles can only tow their rated weight if the car is completely empty, sometimes even not even having any passengers. Then the caravans can rarely be filled to their max without overloading the rear axle too, so they are culpable too with their misleading advertising.
I think it's the responsibility of hte driveer to make sure they are legal, but I feel like the ACCC should crack down on the not false, but misleading advertising that car and caravan manufacturers use.
Also, just because you haven't fish tailed off the road, doesn't mean your setup is stable, it just means you haven't been in the situation where it is obvious how unstable it is. That towball weight around 10% is there for a reason.
I do agree with a lot of that, especially in the dual cab utes those numbers can be very misleading. Not to mention ive always been a believer that the van should not be heavier then the car towing it. The 10% rule of thumb has been around for a while but is just that a rule of thumb the engineering of vans have changed a lot over the years, these New Age vans seem designed to have a lighter tbw, so for me with travelling in this set up for over 4 years on and off road without it ever wobbling, swaying, porpoising or stepping out on me. I personally wont be adding more weight to the front of the van to fix something thats not broken.
I appreciate the comments, ill hopefully strip the weight off the back of the car and see all green numbers before we leave this area
We were 13kg over our ATM prior to our ATM upgrade
I still to this day do not understand why the weight of your van parked in the driveway unhitched is relevant?
It is such a minefield!
We are close on our rear axle hitched yet over on the front axle unhitched🤦🏻
Great video 😊
Haha yeh with that mentality maybe we should include everyones body weight when we are sleeping in the van too, doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.
But is an easy fix.
The front axle being over when unhitched must be so easy to do! Who would of thought.
@@Ourwhittleadventure the reason unhitched weight of a caravan is important to know, is so you don't exceed vehicle manufacturers towing capacity
@sophie36824 ah yeh thats fair
I'm a little concerned about my weights as well. But, I feel if you did a bit of weight transfer you could only be a little over on your rear axle weight.
Now, I know it's the law and people are concerned about insurance problems, but there is no way an insurance company would know if your vehicle was a little overweight if you had a bad accident. People say, if you have an accident, they come out and collect the car, caravan and all the bits and pieces and weigh it all, not going to happen, they haven't got the right to do that.
If your car drives safely, your van tows safely, so what if you are over by 50 to 100kg. It's the say, an old Prado towing a 3.5T van, that is a big problem.
So, for me, move a few items around, remove some items that you do use, maybe only fill your sub tank when only needed and enjoy your adventure.
Yeh i agree with you, if they did decide to pick up all the mess i think the GCM would be the importsnt number, how would they know what was stored in what spot.
There are some dangerously overweight set ups out there, small cars towing big vans that there is no real way that it could be stable, even at the cara lightests its hesvier then the van at its heaviest which is think is important.
Il cull a few things and not use my sub unless i need to and i think i will be pretty close.
Thanks for the comment.
If you need a GVM Upgrade , you have the wrong vehicle to start off with.
Not necessarily. All my GVM upgrade did was take me to the axle ratings. So car is right for my load just compliance plate numbers out of factory are lower then what its capable of handling. Now i have the right numbers i just need to balance it out better
Amusing Toyota Tidbit. It's not only the 100 series not having a GCM, currently the 2024 Prado doesn't list a GCM that anyone can find (currently).
Oh is that right? I thought cars legally had to nowadays. Will keep an eye on that one, bet thats making it hard for those trying to do the right thing with the new prados
@Ourwhittleadventure yeah it's a bit hard to believe how they got away with it. Lil and Jake talked a bit about it in their recent video; not on any of the paperwork and they own one now. GVM listed, towing capacity listed and that's it. Same thing missing on the Toyota Prado Specs part of the webpage last I checked.
@Sarvimate and none have mentioned if its on the complaince plate or anything?
@@Ourwhittleadventure only vehicles over 4500gvm require GCM on compliance plate.
@sophie36824 oh right, hadn’t heard that before. Seems like the regs in this area could do with a refreshing
Doesnt a weight distribution hitch..hayman reece or milford... transfer weight from thr rear of vehicle onto the front axle? Visibly when you use WDH the rear of car goes up and the front of car goes down. Surely WDH does what its titke says distribyte weight from the rear of vehicle cos of towball weight to the front axles
Yes 100% your correct, it is an avenue we could go down but with the type of travel we do its not really a suitsble option.
They are not intended to be used off road and we have a DO35 offroad hitch for the articulation that you would lose if using a WDH. So for me, culling weight would be the best option but a WDH would be an option that a lot of people could go with in my situation your right.
Interestingly the youtubers "Journey Unknown" have a big new van 4000kgs and have a Lovells upgrade and have a Lovells version of DO45 and WDH bars so apparently you can use WDH with a DO type hitch but yes the articulation mayve compromised
Yeh i guess theres nothing saying you can’t but does seem a bit contradictory to put a WDH on a set up to be used offroad. Im sure they have their own understanding of shat they want
Cool Ep
Thanks mate
How were those flies guys.
I thought they were going to take you away lol
A great video, & very interesting.
They were horrendous! So sticky too
hi maybe check out The Cruiser Company Toyota 100 Series Rear Bar with an Integrated high clearance tow bar they say you save some weight it might be an option for you can't hurt to look, anyway thanks for the video hope you get everything sorted out have a good one. 👍
Thanks i do like the look of those, im not sure how much weight it would ultimately save, probably not enough to make a difference here. But ill weigh again after these chsnges and keep that in mind
Just letting you know if you want the caravan redone midland trailers in Western Australia can do it for you
Sweet thank you
Towing 3.4 ton with a soft SUV ... CRAZY ... see Collyn Rivers
Is an interesting read, very knowledgeable and full of the science. I think all should read some of that.
He did state that with a large caravan the tow vehicle should be atleast as heavy. The way ive set this up my car is always heavier even when low on fuel and only the driver, it is still heavier then the van at its maximum with all water and gas etc.
Great info. Do they have a recommendation for an Engineer in Brisbane? We have tried several, left messages and no return calls unfortunately. Would be great if they have any names.
I can get Brett to respond to you here if he does have any contacts for you
Weights weights weights 🤦♂️ nightmare …. Thankfully after 4b gvm upgrade we are all good … 350kg to spare in the truck but 13 kgs over in the van 🤦♂️…. Damm thermomix 😂
Hahaha yeh it all can add up hey! Is the reason we dont have thermomix or air fryer or anything like that
@ oh forgot to mention the air fryer 🤣
@ouroz_adventures 😅
Meanwhile while you are sorting your van weight out a little car just pulled a ship out on the boat ramp behind you lol
Hahaha i never noticed il have to have a watch again
about time out GVM / GCM laws had an update. there so far behind especially with the push for EVs that are far heaver we have little to no head room left.
Couldn’t agree more
Easy weight loss from vehicle, leave the missus and kids at home, solves multiple issues... lowers the weight, no nagging, no screaming, no are we there yet and the most important one, more beer on board!!!! 😂😂😂
lighter caravans is the answer
Not necessarily in my case. A lighter towball isnt going to fix 130kg on my rear axle, less loadnin the car is my solution
If you move stuff to your van then you tow all weight will go up. Say towball weight goes to 280kg that will increase the rear axle weight by 60kg. Depressing.
Yeh its a constant shuffle hey! The stuff coming off the car probably wont go in the caravan it will just go. Itl just be my tool bag but that wont add a proportional difference to tow ball weight. Will see how i go with the culling and if the rear bar needs to go then it will
Smaller van time.
Not sure if you watched the whole video or not but even with a smaller van i would have same issue. I need less weight in the rear of the car thats all, or transfer some to front axle.
But thanks for taking the time to comment
G'day, I'm not a caravaner however the thing I see and hear most when travelling is people use the biggest number on the tow car and van as a target weight. I don't hear people say we see the biggest nuber on the speedometer and say thats the target safe speed.
Yeh some definitely go to the extreme, Id actually rather be lighter myself but living in this set up with 2 kids and a dog we already have very little “stuff” we have what we need and a few luxuries. Is why we never got the ATM upgrade to start with i don’t really want to be any heavier
Why is it people put more than 50kg onto thier coupling..its the stupidest thing ever..if you want snaking then carry on....
The reason why your caravan snakes is the wheel alignment is wrong..go and get the caravan or trailer wheels laser aligned and you will not believe how out of line they are..
My caravan doesnt snake. Ive had alignment done, good even wear on all tyres. Very happy with how it tows as it is
Its a pity that there are not a hell of a lot more portable weigh stataions being utilised by cops and transport officials. The amount of first class idiots towing over weight is ridiculous. People need to lessen their egos and get smaller vans.. Sell the
TAJ mAHAL AND BUY SOMETHING SMALLER AND LIGHTER.
Im definitely not opposed to some random weighing being conducted, ive seen some very dangerous set ups on the road and people very unaware of their limitations. Even ne i thought i was good with GVM, GCM and GTM but that rear axle caught me out