Date:         Wed, 05 Oct 94 22:17:40 CDT
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         "J. Walker" <JWALKER@ua1vm.ua.edu>
Subject:      Re: Complete tire list

On Wed, 5 Oct 94 19:22:18 CDT Gerald Skerbitz said:
>> this is all the owners manual/bentley book specifies:
>>   185 R 14 C
>>   7.00-14 8 PR
>>   185 SR 14 Reinforced
>>   205/70 R 14
>
>Is that for a 91?

nope. that's out of an 88 owner's manual and the bentley vanagon book. but
i recall that, except for the 205/70, it was the same for the 80 vanagon i
had. and i would imagine that the 78 and 79 buses were the same, as the
vanagon is only about 400 lbs heavier than the 79 bus. each year got a
tiny bit heavier, though (i think).

>Mine doesn't say that for an 84.  What is the weight of the various
>vehicles that these tires were on?
>The '84 vanagon is a 5270 lb GVW vehicle..

my 88 bus weighs (on the truck-stop scales. cost $5 to weigh it. pretty neat
printout) 3640 lbs with a full tank of gas, my tool box and my 100 lbs of
junk under the front two seats and the rear seat. no people or luggage.

the gross weight of my 88 bus (from the sticker) is 5269 lbs. so the 88 and
84 are the same anyway.

from the book, VW Bus Transporter (by Randolf Unruh), the following info:
              Leergewicht     zul. Gesamtegewhicht
              (empty wt.)      (total vehicle wt.)
1950-54       990 kg (2178 lb)  1750 kg (3850 lb)
1954-55      1000 kg (2200 lb)  1800 kg (3960 lb)
1956-60      1020 kg (2244 lb)  1850 kg (4070 lb)
1960-63      1065 kg (2343 lb)  1865 kg (4103 lb)
1963-66      1070 kg (2354 lb)  2070 kg (4554 lb)
1967-70      1175 kg (2585 lb)  2175 kg (4785 lb)
1970-72      1260 kg (2772 lb)  2260 kg (4972 lb)
1972-79      1320 kg (2904 lb)  2300 kg (5060 lb)
1979-82      1395 kg (3069 lb)  2360 kg (5192 lb)   <1970cc engine>
1981-87*     1465 kg (3223 lb)  2400 kg (5280 lb)   **Diesel engines**
1982-91      1395 kg (3069 lb)  2390 kg (5258 lb)   <water-cooled engines>
1992->       1595 kg (3509 lb)  2590 kg (5698 lb)   <eurovans, gas and diesel>

so your bus figure of 5270 pretty closely agrees with the book, as does mine.
(you know, these things are almost as neat as the old Piper Cherokee Six
airplane that could carry a load that weighed as much as the plane itself).

and in the bentley book for 1963-67 buses, it mentions that after 1963, all
tires should have a six ply rating. so it would seem that we are all pretty
much in the same boat, tirewise, regardless of model year.

joel