Overweight vehicle

[Gareth Marchant]

 

Thanks, Charlie. All adds to my knowledge bank. 😊

[pcous]

Hi all,

Posting recent off-thread conversation because it may be useful for others:

 

Trevhow said:

Hi

Last year you posted about getting an engineer to specify new springs for your Alphard. I am struggling to find anyone to do this work for me. I was wondering if you have the details of the Engineer that you used?

 

pcous said:

Hi Trevhow,
I posted the details on 25th Aug in the following thread:

https://uk.alphardclub.com/forums/topic/619-overweight-vehicle/#comment-11210
Let me know if you're successful...

 

Trevhow said:

Thanks for your reply. I had read it and followed up about the Engineer you used, sadly he has recently died, but I forgot it was from your post. My struggle goes on. Do you know what type of engineer he was as I’m still trying to find a suitable engineer. 

 

Sad to hear that John Ruffles died - from my dealings with him he seemed a nice guy. I contacted SVTech originally, but they couldn't help because Alphards weren't in their dataset. I seem to recall seeing another post about SVTech recently, which suggested they may now have Alphard info - might be worth trying them.  On his letterhead, John Ruffles listed that he was a Member of the Institute of Road Transport Engineers (MIRTE), so this could be a possible search avenue... Good luck.

[smurf]

On 8/25/2022 at 11:07 AM, pcous said:

Hi all,
We run fully laden at around 2450kg, 2 people, gear, full LPG, 1/4 tank petrol & bikes on rear towbar rack - which feels OK for stability/braking etc. So the 3300kg GVW as an upper limit just gives peace of mind and, to be honest, I wasn't going to query the figures as they were above what we actually needed.
Re engineers, we tried SVTech, but they couldn't help because Alphards weren't in their dataset, then contacted John Ruffles at JRC Consultancy (based in Bury St Edmunds). Uprated rear springs were made by Springcoil in Sheffield. Process took a while, started before but then ran into the pandemic period...

Hi @pcous. Would you be willing to share the design spec for the springs? I'd love to get a proper uprating on my camper, but it seems difficult to find someone willing/able to do it. In absence of that, a decent set of springs made to the specification of a proper engineer would give me a bit more piece of mind that I'm not overloading the rear end. 

[Picasso]

Hi auto jap spares in coventry do standard hight springs but they are 25% stronger 

[smurf]

Thanks. I had spotted those on eBay (although it is 20% rather than 25%) but I scrolled on by because there was no mention of anything to back up the claims they are stronger. I might get in contact with them to see if they have the information to confirm the extra capacity, but the manufacturers in Sheffield may well be cheaper without a middleman. Wherever they are coming from it seems unlikely that anyone is buying in significant enough numbers to get a big discount. 

[Gareth Marchant]

I never did find out the max weight an Alphard can carry, not did I actually upgrade the springs. After we got our Alphard, on two occasions last year I managed to ground the LPG tank. Once was on a particularly poor quality and undulating single track and the other was accessing a pitch in the Kilchoan campsite. I did get the van onto a weighbridge almost fully laden and it came in at 2,380 Kg.

I was given a heads up by Paul McKeown at NewAcre that you can get Grayston Spring Assistors, which stop the rear springs compressing as much, so I had these fitted and I haven’t had an issue with clearance since they went on (although I am super vigilant on drops at ferries, campsite entrances and potholed tracks). Another benefit is that they have no effect on ride quality, which stiffer springs might. 

Just thought I’d report back with what I did in the end as this thread has come back to life. 

[smurf]

Thanks Gareth. That is an option I hadn't considered

[Coog]

I've just fitted these to mine:

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/183767731899

 

They were extremely tight to fit but I got them in and the ride seems no different. I've yet to hook my trailer up but I think they will do the job.

[pcous]

Hi Richard,

Our engineer agreed a rear coil spring deflection of 400lb/in (yes I know, imperial measures…), which was based on our weighbridge figures for front & rear axles with 2 people, when normally loaded and with bikes on a towhook-mounted bike carrier (2350-2450kg). Springcoil in Sheffield measured the original coil spring at 300lb/in, and they manufactured the uprated springs.

The Alphard unladen front/rear axle weights are quoted as 1080/800kg on the export certificate, & the max laden weight is 2225kg. However, there are no separate max figures for front & rear axles, so we put our campervan on a weighbridge to get the individual  unladen/laden weights before getting the engineer’s opinion above. For us, this included campervan furniture, LPG tanks slung under the chassis and a bike rack; as a result, our extra weight loaded on the rear and made little difference to the front axle. However, a factor to consider: because of the cantilever effect, additional weight on a bike rack can reduce the front axle load. Everyone’s situation will be different, so don’t take our 400lb/in figure as a general figure.

So, depending on your figures, the Autojapspares 20% uprated springs may be a possibility, or you could try Springcoil. Or as they say, “other coil spring manufacturers are available”

[smurf]

Thanks @pcous. Some good information there, and certainly food for thought.