Does the Ram 1500 cut it? Caravan weigh day for our big lap setup
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 22 ส.ค. 2024
- We throw back to before we left on our big lap, when we had our whole setup weighed. We wanted to make sure that we were within all the legal weight limits before we took off on our trip to caravan around Australia.
Does the Ram 1500 make it easy to be within all the weight limits? We were confident that we would be within the limit for Gross Combined Mass (GCM), but after packing the van and caravan we weren't too confident about the Gross Vehicle Mass (GVM) and the Aggregate Trailer Mass (ATM).
To rectify the issues we had to remove a number of items form the car and the caravan. To give you an idea we had a 45L ARB fridge in the tray which included some food in it, a fold out kids table, max trax, recovery gear, tools, 2x 20L of unleaded fuel, a few bags of toys and other miscellaneous items. We also had a battery box with a 100Ah lithium battery in there. The battery and one full 20L Jerry can was all that remained in the tray. We moved a number of items to the caravan and left some items out all together (such as the fridge and the table). We also moved a number of items into the storage tubs in the floor at the rear of the cab to try and move weight forward to the front axles. We even removed the kick step at the rear of the tray.
We had our setup weighed by Ric at VanWeigh who is situated in Perth. If you would like to have them weigh your setup, you can get a hold of him at VanWeigh.com.au.
For those who would like to know the specifics with regards to what our setup weighed before and after the changes, the details are below.
Legal Limits for our vehicle:
GVM: 3450
GCM: 7713
Front Axle:1860
Rear Axle: 1860
Tow Ball Mass: 350 (restricted by hitch)
Braked Towing Capacity: 3500 (restricted by hitch)
GTM: 3150
ATM: 3500
First weigh in:
GVM: 3604 (154 over)
GCM: 7016 (697 under)
Vehicle front axle: 1639 (221 under)
Vehicle rear axle: 1965 (105 over)
Tow ball mass: 293 (57 under)
Braked towing capacity: 3705 (205 over)(restricted by DO35 other wise would be 4500)
Caravan GTM: 3412 (262 over)
ATM: 3705 (205 over)
Second weigh in:
GVM: 3440 (10 under)
GCM: 6568 (1145 under)
Front Axle: 1636 (224 under)
Rear Axle: 1804 (56 under)
Tow ball mass: 310 (40 under)
Braked towing capacity: 3438 (62 under)
Caravan GTM: 3128 (22 under)
ATM: 3438 (62 under)
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Rick is a smooth and professional operator. His presentation is on point and high lights the key factors. Thanks to all involved.
Thanks for your feedback, Ric was a legend!
Most informative video on weights for caravaners I've watched. Good on you rick. From ex interstate truckie, now a caravaner. Safe travels.
Thanks Margaret. We wanted to try and put some useful information out there to make people aware of the importance of weights. Rick was very helpful and knowledgeable. I’m sure you’ve seen a thing or two on the road during your time!
The best bit of advice I got from this is the percentage.
Don't go up to 100% of capacity.
85% seems to be the go.
Just a bit over is over..
You can't be just a bit over when drunk and get away with it .
I try and keep it under 80% of rated tow capacity. That works out to 24,000lbs conventional (30,000 lb tow rating) and just over 26,000 lbs on a gooseneck (33,000 lb tow rating). With the standard 10% ball weight on conventional and 15% on a bed mounted hitch I have about 2,600 lbs of payload left when at my self imposed maximum on with conventional and around 1,100 lbs of payload when maxed out (my max number, not Ford) with a bed mounted hitch.
Well done guys for putting yourselves out there and giving a real world example of how it actully happens. And a BIG thank you to Ric, his insights are invaluable. Wishing your family happy travels.
Thanks for your feedback, we found these sort of videos useful when we were starting out so it’s good to pay it forward. It’s a difficult job to get right but well worth the effort. Cheers
Hi guys…only just watched this video and I wanted to say firstly…what a beautiful family and it’s so special to get all these wonderful experiences at this stage of your lives. Well done for taking weights seriously. This was an excellent video with lots of great information….thanks for sharing. I have an LC200 with a GVM/GCM upgrade and also a stage 2 which enables 4t towing capacity plus 400 kilo tow ball weight. So I loaded tools etc in the car to make it heavier and the van lighter. Got a mobile weigh bridge out to weigh my setup and all good…………except the rear axel😫120 kilos over. Anyhow with a bit of effort (which you are well aware of) it’s all good now. It’s so important to know what’s happening. You guys went to the effort of sharing this on TH-cam and have no doubt helped plenty of others. Good on you. Hope you are enjoying your adventures.
Hey John, thankyou so much for your lovely comment. We have enjoyed the adventures that caravanning has given us! We are glad this video has been useful to so many people and appreciate your feedback. Great to hear you managed to sort out weights, that rear axle is a killer! Enjoy your travels, we might see you out there. Cheers, Elle
Well done! We had a similar issue after buying a second hand van, we were under the limits by a fraction, but have since been able to maneuver things and remove weight to enable a safe transportable combination. Certainly a shock and something that should be done more often. It's a shock to see how the GVM & ATM can exceed quickly.
Thanks Brad & Ally. As Rick said, there would be so many people on the road who are over weight. For us, it wasn’t worth the risk. It really is so easy to go over those limits though, and you have to be so mindful of what you’re taking.
I have to say that this is one of the genuine weight check video I have seen so far. The rest of the videos seems like people are doing it for you tube likes. They are all under GCM which makes me wander if they would have done some rough weights and remove some of the staff before they go for youtube weighing.
Thanks very much, we like to record it as it is. We think it’s important for people to know that weights aren’t always easy and we think a lot of people on the road would be overweight and not even realise. Hopefully it helps someone out.
That's the first time I've heard "car to caravan ratio" it's simple physics, a 2.5t ute should not be towing something 3.5t, in a sticky situation it has no control. Very informative video and like old mate said 65%of cars and vans are overloaded
Thanks mate, yep it’s often harder to be legal than over. We are constantly culling on the road to stay under too.
Thanks for sharing.
Very informative and helpful.
Rick’s insights are extremely valuable.
Thanks Scott, glad it was useful. Rick was a great help and lovely guy.
I could be wrong about this, as I am simply making this comment based purely off memory and gut feeling, but I swear I served overseas with this young bloke in the Pacific back in 2010.
Great video mate. Excellent content and well edited.
Haha, that’s right! I deployed in 2010 to the Solomon Islands. Can’t believe that was 13 years ago 😂 Thanks for the feedback, hope it was of some use to you and hope you’re well 🍻
@AussieFamilyLiving ahh yes, it was actually late 2009 we got there as I remember enduring Christmas there and welcoming in 2010 with a colourful patrol through Honiara that night led by our fearless leader named Matthew.
Good times. Thank you for your service.
Brilliant video. Thanks for that. Ric is a wealth of knowledge. He reminded me of a couple critical things I had actually forgotten about when towing on the HR licence.
Great to hear, glad it could be of use. Ric was a great operator. Thanks for your feedback!
Cool vid very interesting and educational for trailer towers
Thanks Darren, glad it was of some use to you. It’s all about making people aware. Safe travels 😊
Just starting our caravanning journey. Boy, have I got a lot to learn.
There is a heap to wrap you’re head around Warren. Have you purchased anything yet?
@@AussieFamilyLiving MY23 MU-X arrives in 4 weeks. We will sort out the mods and vehicle weight and then go looking for a caravan.
How exciting. Just make sure you have your head wrapped around your limits before buying a van. Like Rick said, may say 3.5T towing, but realistically it’s usually not (I don’t know limits for MUX, just an example). If you have any questions feel free to shoot them through on our socials and we will try to point you in the right direction.
Hope you don’t hit any speed humps, might see you on the road 😉
Very informative and an eye opener as to what’s required for caravaners and towing in general 😮
Thanks for your feedback, it’s not an easy task getting it right, well worth the effort though.
Well done guys, it must have been a big relief to make that weight after all. Got to stay safe !
Thanks so much Tom, it definately was a huge relief after many days spent culling and reassessing. It was important to us to be safe and legal and we see lots of setups on the road that are not. It’s a difficult but worthwhile task!
very interesting. I learnt a lot.
Thanks for your feedback, glad it was useful!
Great guy with some good knowledge. Bloody sucks they derate the yank tanks here .
Totally agree! Cheers
Great Video.
Very informative.
Thanks for taking the time.
Appreciate your comment, definately worth the effort of weighing for safety and insurance purposes.
@@AussieFamilyLiving Absolutely! Can you update the description field to show the before and after numbers? Its a bit hard to hear the video. Be great to be able to see the numbers. Ive booked in for GVM upgrade on our Ram 1500, but dont think our ball weight will be that high... Who knows though ekkk
Hey guys, I have written our numbers in the description for your reference. Hope you can follow how I have written it. If you need anything else or have any questions just reach out. Good luck with the weigh in
Updated the description field. Hope that helps. Goodluck with your numbers, it’s a nervous ‘weight’ ;) let us know how it goes!
Unfortunately, most vans and tow vehicles out there are overweight, and they don't find out until they try to make an insurance claim.
Good on you for going through the process to find out upfront.
My guess is that it also must include people travelling in the car?
PS - this is why I went with a motorhome based on a truck chassis as I knew I would end up going overweight.
Thanks so much for that, it was important to us. Can totally understand your reasoning for a motorhome, it’s not easy to sort out weights but well worth the effort. Yes the calculations need to include the weight of all people travelling when towing. Cheers and safe travels!
Impressive. Absolutely great to watch and very informative
🐢🌻
Glad you got something out of it Elizabeth ☺️
Thanks for the great info. Very interesting
Glad it could be of some insight, there was way more to it than we first thought. Appreciate the comment. Cheers
Very helpful video, but please, ditch the wailing background music while we're trying to hear the dialogue, which we're here for. 🇦🇺
Thanks for the feedback Chris, we’ll keep in mind for next time.
Is this was a brilliant informative video really helpful for someone like me use new to the caravaning gig and move to Australia. Thanks a bunch
Glad it was helpful! Thanks for your feedback, if you have any questions just let us know 😊
@@AussieFamilyLiving can I ask what you thought of the caravan ? Is It too big for one person? Looked pretty spacious
We have a 22ft van which for a family of 5 quickly feels small when we are all inside. But it has everything we need including a bathroom with shower, toilet and sink. It also has a full kitchen with oven and full size fridge. It really depends on what you desire. Ours has a lounge with table and queen size bed. There’s plenty of cupboards for storage. If you’re confident towing then I’d personally love the space as a single person but it might be too big? Definitely check a few out to gauge how you feel before committing to one. Hope this helps.
@@AussieFamilyLiving yes it does. Thanks very much.
Just a bit of weight info about gas bottles. One time I had a 9kg gas bottle refilled and it was done by weight. When full of gas the bottle weighed 18kg so don’t take any notice of it being described as a 9kg gas bottle.
Thanks for the info Shane. It can be a bit deceiving. We reduced to 4kg gas bottles to save on weight, one lasts us (family of 5) about 8 days, enough to keep us going.
The 9Kg is the weight of the gas in the bottle.The rest is the weight of the bottle and the valve.
Awesome video guys and how nerve wrecking getting your weights right! We're yet to do all of this with our y-62 which is on order! 😬
Definately nerve wracking but it was a good learning experience for us to show that we really don’t need as much as we think we do. Taught us a lot about the vehicle and the van. We’ve actually taken heaps more out of the van since we were cleared for take off. It feels better with less anyway. Good luck with it all, safety and insurance is so important.
Whats with the music?
Next time dont put music with ur videos.
And make sure we can here what the guy is saying
To much background noise
Hope you were able to get something from the video Mick. Unfortunately there were a bunch of lorikeets right where we were weighing. We have taken on board the feedback about the music as well.
I was told a while ago that if you were stopped and weighed it
Dosent matter what your weights were when you started out but what youf erights ard at the time if you are pilled over and weighed
That’s right Mick. But if we didn’t get weighed to start with we would have been way over if we were pulled over. At least we knew we were underweight when we took off. We will review our weights as we go.
So would a GVM upgrade had or sold all of your issues, that if they had them back them, (looks like now you can get them for the 1500). Great vid guys.
If they had a stock GVM upgrade (tough dog or Lovells) for the DT we probably would have got it, it would have meant that we could have taken more in the tray of the car. We had to remove our fridge as well as a heap of other things to be legal. Glad it was of some use for you Noah, feel free to reach out if you have any other questions.
Is your 3.5t hitch limiting your capacity or making these numbers. Would a good old tow ball 4.5t hitch change everything. NSW truck licence alcohol isn’t zero it’s 0.02. Can’t talk for any other states. Obviously zero is the way to go. This whole weight thing is very scary. Awesome post cheers.
Hi Geoff. Our hitch is just a 3.5T hitch but that’s because our van is only a 3.5T van so there is no need to have anything bigger. Having a 4.5T wouldn’t have changed the numbers because we were still over our GVM. In the end we were within our weight limits though. Glad you got something out of the video. Happy travelling ☺️
Interesting figures Ram doesn’t do any favours with a max rear axle load of 1770kg on Ram 1500, and rear axle isn't the strongest with the wheel bearing inner running directly on the axle & an outside bearing housing thickness of approx 3 mm think. Even the LC 200 has a rear axle load of 1950 kg. Personally I think Ram could do better.
We agree Ian. It’s a bit strange that the rear and front axles have the same rating. You would expect more from a vehicle that’s rated to tow 4.5T.
@@AussieFamilyLiving yes, I meet a guy recently when travelling in N.T. he cracked the rear diff housing where the axle bearing area located, he said apparently common when used hard off-road , Jmacx are doing a housing strengthening mod he told me.
The 10kgs will go up with the kids in a couple of months.
Assuming you are at his 87% recommendation you are fine.
Other wise you guys are back to square one again.
Seems he was being nice at the end but thinking did they even pay attention to the 87%
There well with in that truck specs on weight and towing capability in the United States so is it just a licensing thing ?
When the trucks are shipped to Australia they are derated by our regulators, we have different rules over here.
Sorry guys but I got lost when Ric said you had 690 kg spare on your GCM ....yet you were 154 kg over on your GVM and 205 kg over on your BTC. How does this work when your GCM=GVM+ATM (BTC). Thought you should be way over your GCM ?
Hey mate, the GCM of the Ram 1500 7713kg, because it can tow 4.5T the GCM needs to be a lot higher to allow for the weight being towed and the vehicle weight.
However in our case the BTC was 3.5T, but that was only because we had a DO35 which is restricted to 3.5T, if we had a 4.5T hitch then our BTC would be 4.5T. Hence it wasn’t a limit of the vehicle as such.
All limits are set by the manufacturer, some manufacturers have a GVM that is lower than GVM + BTC, it’s something that you really need to be careful of if you’re purchasing a vehicle. Some vehicles can be within limits on both their GVM and GCM but way over the GCM.
It can be hard to get your head around. All the weight details for our weigh are in the description, this may help you get your head around it. Hope this helps.
@@AussieFamilyLiving Arh ok didn't realize your BTC was only 3.5T...that makes complete sense now....thanks, great video.
Id like to know if his scales are weights and measured certified , and did it have current certification, having said that it’s a good idea
I’m pretty sure the scales were calibrated to within 1kg, but we didn’t see any certification.
10 kg under.... so we can put something in the boot? 🤣🤣 Hilarious!
Hahahahahahaha got rid of 300 odd kilos, there’s a few things I’d like to add back 😅
Can ask a couple of RAM questions? Why did you do a 2” lift prior to doing a weigh? I can understand springs/airbags in the rear, but not the lift. Did you consider other tow vehicles? We are considering a Patrol at the moment, but the pre-historic interior is killing me from committing lol. We love driving the RAM, but we are just worried about support as we travel if anything goes wrong.
Thanks for reaching out. We got the 2 inch lift because the car was sagging a bit when we had the van on and also for extra clearance. I’m glad we did, there have been a few times on the beach where the car has sunk right down and if we didn’t have the lift we would have bottomed out. The springs we got put in are heavier duty springs so they will handle the towing better. We did try and find a GVM upgrade compatible lift but there were no approved kits for the DT out there as it was a relatively new car to Australia.
We looked into all kinds of vehicles. The LC200 series was not being sold anymore, in WA if you want to do a GCM upgrade, it needs to be done pre rego. If we did a GVM upgrade we would still be restricted by the GCM. The payload of the LC is only 610kg, which we thought would be way too low (tow ball weight of 300kg, half the payload is gone). The 300 series specs hadn’t been released yet. The patrol was in the same boat as the 200, not enough payload, probably could have looked into a GCM/GVM upgrade. The 79 series was a bit basic with no rear air bags for the kids but has a great payload. Land Rover seemed like a good option but we were a bit put off by some horror stories about after sales service/longevity of the vehicle.
We have similar concerns with regards to parts for the ram. There are a number of dealerships around the country and the vehicles are just getting more popular so it is just something you need to take into consideration. We haven’t had any issues yet (fingers crossed) and the car tows very well.
Let us know if you have any other questions. Good luck with the decision making.
@@AussieFamilyLiving Thanks so much for the super detailed reply. We've been back and forth trying to decide which car we will get. We have a Patrol on order, but the RAM is readily available. If we go the RAM, wifey says we have to get the Laramie for all the creature comforts (I tend to agree🙄the express it a bit like the 79 series of american trucks) but I still find it hard to justify the price difference. I know the Patrol is definitely going to need more aftermarket work (tow bar, elec, bags, springs....) just to get it set up right, and all I would need for the RAM would probably be bags and anderson plugs to get going. Still, it's a lot of money to make up the difference.
@@i.m.peterrific, our pleasure, we’re happy to help people learn from our own experience. We totally understand where you’re coming from, we were in the same boat about 2 years ago. I (John) didn’t want to fork out the extra for the Laramie as the same motor is in both vehicles, but it is so much nicer inside. It really just comes down to your budget I guess. There are plenty of people out there making it work with a patrol, just need to be even more mindful of weight and you will have to upgrade GCM/GVM if you’re towing 3.5T because I can’t see how you can keep the weights below payload. Don’t be fooled by the 1500 4.5T towing though, as you saw with us, you still need to be very mindful of weight. Think about the extra you add (bull bar, winch, suspension, battery) it adds up quick.
The other option is a Canter or Isuzu truck. No need to worry about weight with them, but they are a truck, harder to manoeuvre through town and tight tracks and not as comfortable inside. If you got a 2500 also wouldn’t need to worry about weight as much, but might have to worry about $$$.
What people forget is E=MC2 so roughly 10 kilo over at 100kph is equal to 100kg over so very quickly the tug has no hope in hell. Like that pothole at 20kph and your 100kg over, cricket's.
Yep better to be under and safe!
In his summary. He failed to include the risk of a criminal charge if an accident involves death.
True, a very sobering thought.
Ric did mention it at approx. 18:15 when he was referring to why he got into the weighing.
Let's be realistic, stated ratings are conservative. Look at our regs on weights, capacities, towing limits and alcohol limits in the US compared to ours. Australia is the bureaucratic nanny state of the world.
Legally, an insurer would be extremely hard pressed to deny a claim based on overloading, unless they could prove the damage was caused by or contributed to by the overloading.
If weight gets critical, drop all the water from your tanks before you travel. Fill at your destination.
If there isn't suitable water there, install an awning catchment system and pray for rain and/or install a suction system with filtration.
We agree about Australia being stricter than US stevo, but we still need to work within the rules that are here. When you have so much money tied up in these assets it’s not really something that you want to risk.
ditch that music , hard to hear the facts with the birds , what happened to the good old days when you tow a car on a metal trailer behind a 6 cyl HQ holden
The good old days are long gone if you want to covered by insurance in the event in an accident. The birds were definitely frustrating!
Quarter of a tonne from the van ..far out
It was a hard slog Paul, we did pack the van with everything we wanted to take the first time so there was a bit in there that we could cull, but it was a difficult task.
a ram 1500 is a toy--- you need the 2500 to be fair dinkum
Yeah a 2500 would be nice. The 1500 has been good though.
Yet another muppet with all the gear and no idea!
Haha! Wow you sound like a fun guy! Keyboard warriors are tough! Hoo Ha!
No offence guys but that dumb music is too loud in the background I couldn't hear anything.
None taken, any specific part?
@@AussieFamilyLiving the whole episode. It's so annoying it totally ruined what would have otherwise been a good episode and content.
Cheers 🇭🇲👍🍻
We appreciate your feedback, it’s good to hear what we can improve on. Cheers
Really enjoyed your video. One problem. The screeching of the rainbow lorikeets combined with music had me constantly going back and replaying what you guys were saying. It was pretty frustrating but I also really wanted the information being presented. At 69 most people have lost a percentage of their hearing so most younger people wouldn’t have this issue.
The rainbow Lorikeets drove us nuts, we even scouted the location the day before and they weren’t there, once we got to editing the video we realised how bad it really was, but by this stage it was too late. Hope you were able to get something from the video. Will try and keep all this in mind for future videos. Thanks for your feedback Richard.
Great video showing how easy it is but it looks like you dropped 300k-ish on a 1500 and caravan and did no research at all into what you should/ could tow with it? The 1500 (or any yank tank for that matter) are GREAT towing vehicles... in the US. They are garbage here because they are derated to suit our ridiculous license laws and it makes them borderline useless for anything other than a trip to the beach.
The F150 only has a payload of 600 and something kilos! Your ball weight alone eats half of that weight. Chuck in a tank of diesel and two adults and you cant take the kids, seats etc.
I love the yank tanks, I want a 2500 but Im going to get a 3500 (or rerate the 2500) and my LR licence because they are as useless as tits on a bull here.
But really good video showing just how easy it is to cock it all up. Thank you for putting yourself out there and showing others how easy it is to be overweight
I won’t bother you with our story but please watch this clip and pay the money for a professional,it will save you thousands if you listen to their advice. ❤️🙏🦘🐨🇦🇺. The dogs are watching 👁️👁️🐕🦺and take great delight in having a chew on your leg.