Date:         Sun, 24 Nov 96 14:33:32 CST
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Joel Walker <JWALKER@ua1vm.ua.edu>
Subject:      Re: Vanagon weight

On Sun, 24 Nov 1996 13:39:21 -0600 you said:
>All right, one of you gurus explain to me what the gross vehicle weight
>rating (GVWR) found on the sticker in the doorjamb really means.  Is it
>the actual weight of the vehicle?  My '81 Westy has a GVWR of 5093 lbs.
>If this is not the actual weight, what is?

it is the MAXIMUM weight that the suspension/body design can handle.
it's the "Gross" vehicle weight, i.e., the bus and everything that can be
put into it or on it. :)

your camper probably weighs about 3900-4100 lbs. best way to find out is
to go out to a local 18-wheeler truck stop and pay them to weigh your
bus. here, it costs $5 for two weighs. they have three pads, like this:
xxxx xxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxx   the front one is for the front axle of the truck,
the middle one for the drive axles of the truck, and the last for the wheels
of the trailer. i put the whole bus on the middle one (and got them to weigh
it), then put the front wheels on the front pad and the rear wheels on the
middle pad (and weighed again). that gave me a total bus weight, and a
front-axle/rear-axle weight.

3740 total weight,
1940 front axle,  1820 rear axle

that's with full fuel tank (96 lbs between the front axles) and NO people.
and yes, i know it doesn't add up correctly ... but then, the scales are
designed to weigh trucks that normally weigh much more than 10,000 lbs! ;)
joel