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Hi all,
Has anyone got any information on the weight of the set ups with Telstra Canopies? I'm looking to buy one and set up for a trip but have heard GVM may be an issue? Would be good to get an idea on weight of an empty pod so I know how much gear I can carry.
Thanks
Check out our one, but bear in mind that I fitted it out after previously touring in a bus based motorhome which influenced what I wanted, so it is on the heavy side. I have a 3900kg GVM upgrade & with full water & fuel tanks, sufficient supplies to last us a month (& a Tvan tow ball weight of 110kg) we just scrape in under the GVM figure. Despite a few merchants of doom who predicted we would regret the weight , we are now into our third year on the road, have seen plenty of outback tracks, high clearance tracks & corrugations without major mishap. We did break a rear leaf spring on the Munja Track, but still managed another 1000kms until we could get it sorted. The key (for us at least) is to travel slow. Faster travel puts greater stress onto the vehicle, & combined with weight makes damage a greater risk.
It is very easy to exceed the GVM. A coil cab is 3050kg I believe. Ours a leaf sprung cab chassis has a factory GVM of 3400kg. I was confident that my fit out would fall within that & was dismayed when it was 300kg over, including two people. That's when I got the GVM upgrade.
http://cuppa500.com/Blog/modifications/
To stay within the stock GVM, especially of you have a coil cab, you would need to think in terms of keeping everything as basic & simple & light as possible.
Thanks Cuppa I did spend a a fair bit of time reading through your whole thread that's the only reason I thought of it! Haha. What's involved in a GVM upgrade? I think my set up will be a lot more basic than yours but would be good to know the empty weight before I started fitting out. Might make a trip to get it weighed (once I find a telstra canopy to buy)
Cheers
Getting a gvm upgrade probably varies from state to state. Basically for me, in Vic, it was just a matter of money. Lovell’s have a kit with approvals for 3 litre Patrols. I had to use this, has to be installed by a Lovells approved installer, & cos the kit doesn’t have approvals for the 4.2 it had to be ‘ engineered’ including dynamic braking tests etc. Not a cheap exercise, so yep, keep it light & basic if you can. It helped that there was a local engineer with knowledge of the Lovell’s kits, used previously on local mine vehicles.
Those old XL bodies weren't light by modern standards. I seem to recall somewhere around 250 -300 kgs...Quote:
Originally Posted by JJONES2431
If you already have a tray then you may find it cheaper and lighter to just get a basic alloy hood and go from there...