Ball weight upgrade 300kg's towing over 2500kg's

[lewie15]

lewie15 . Can you give some more info on what upgrade you did and where? I'm currently looking into this myself as I'm borderline over GVM when I pack the car up for camping.

Lovells in Adelaide. Info linked below.

https://lovellsadelaide.com.au/uploa...g-Upgrades.pdf

[old Jack]

Lovells in Adelaide. Info linked below.

https://lovellsadelaide.com.au/uploa...g-Upgrades.pdf

So this thread/discussion has gone full circle and we are back to the OP except we now know someone who has had this upgrade.

Lewie, did you end up having to fit airbags? Do you have axle weights and ride height when unloaded and loaded/hitched?

OJ.

[Jasonmc73]

Yes that was the main purpose of doing the upgrade. The GVM increase and lift were both added bonuses. Went away with our van last weekend. Put it on the weigh bridge on the way and it was 2930 kg's fully loaded. The Pajero towed it really well. Sat on around 95 km on the highway in 4th and used 18 L/100

How much was your GVM & GCM's lifted by out of interest?

[lewie15]

So this thread/discussion has gone full circle and we are back to the OP except we now know someone who has had this upgrade.

Lewie, did you end up having to fit airbags? Do you have axle weights and ride height when unloaded and loaded/hitched?

OJ.

Didn't fit airbags, but I do use a WDH. I have done all the weights (prior to the upgrade and then after). Will post here when I find the bit of paper I wrote it all down on. It did make a big difference to the way the van towed. We picked up the van in Melbourne and towed it back to Whyalla and there was lots of sway. This was with standard suspension and no WDH as we needed an adaptor to make our WDH compatible with our Mchitch coupling. With the WDH and suspension upgrade the van felt a lot more stable.

[lewie15]

How much was your GVM & GCM's lifted by out of interest?

Only 80 kg, but this wasn't the purpose of the upgrade. We are ok for GVM / GCM. Our Pajero is pretty much stock and going to keep it that way to keep the weight down.

[Ian H]

How much was your GVM & GCM's lifted by out of interest?

You can't upgrade GCM

[Jasonmc73]

You can't upgrade GCM

I can't upgrade anything i live in QLD .

[Jasonmc73]

You can't upgrade GCM

I actually know a gentleman who upgraded his own upsension, ball weight just under 300kg's for years with his van .

All he did was put new springs, struts & shocks of course.

No plates not legal, his new car is legal but he still has his Paj & drives it all the time not his Cruiser.

Legal isn't bad option i must add.

[Ian H]

I can't upgrade anything i live in QLD .

Neither can I but wouldn't even if I could. I don't think it's the correct solution for towing a larger van. Once it goes over 2500kg I'd be looking for a different and heavier tug.

I'll be interested to see the actual weight numbers on this one.

[Dicko1]

How can adding aftermarket suspension suddenly allow your towball weight to go from 180kg to 300kg? I,m calling bullshite? Like many other Pajero owners I have a quality aftermarket suspension without the $2300 mod sticker attached. I tow a 2200kg camper and it tows reasonably well...I,d never say easily because I often travel in hilly country and here it still has a bit of a hard time. I,ve had the ecu remapped and power and torque is about 15-20% over standard. 90,000klms on a well sorted out NW. Anyone towing more than 2500kg and saying it does it easy must be towing at 80kph on salt pans..

[Crackles1]

Your paying for the convenience of their engineer attending coroners or criminal court to give evidence on your behalf that the vehicle was legal at time of incident. Only if their conditions of the upgrade were complied with of course.

[Dicko1]

Your paying for the convenience of their engineer attending coroners or criminal court to give evidence on your behalf that the vehicle was legal at time of incident. Only if their conditions of the upgrade were complied with of course.

I,ll guarantee that if the engineer was to attend court ...you,d be footing the bill . The whole GVM upgrade is complete bullshite. The only thing they do is put on an after market suspension...the same suspension thousands of others have put on...Just have to pay $2000+ to say its good and here,s a metal plate to say so...

[Ian H]

It also needs to be said that if the GCM can't be changed, then any GVM upgrade reduces the towing capacity by the same amount.

[Crackles1]

Dicko1, what you said is very true, at least wont be attending said court without something to fall back on. Would rather have an "expert" attend to explain themselves than fumbling around at court on my own

[nj swb]

It also needs to be said that if the GCM can't be changed, then any GVM upgrade reduces the towing capacity by the same amount.

I know there was a big fuss made about banning of GCM upgrades, but I recall this was quietly reversed some time later - I think there were some users on Farcebook claiming they've recently had GCM upgrades on a Gen 4 Pajero (which scares me, but I try not to think about it.)

Increasing the GVM on a Pajero can increase the towing capacity, due to the "disappearing ball weight" problem. The ball weight must be included in the trailer mass, and then also counts as load on the towing vehicle's wheels i.e. it's included in the GVM. Ball weight is counted twice.

The Pajero's GCM is 6030 kg, the arithmetic sum of 3030 kg GVM and 3000 kg ATM. Using Australia's ridiculous 10% "rule", a 3000 kg van would have a 300 kg ball weight, which is also included in the Pajero's GVM. So, before hitching up the van, the Pajero's GVM can't be any more than 2730 kg. Add the 3000 kg van, and the GCM is 5730 kg, or 300 kg less than Mitsubishi's farcical rating.

With the mini GVM upgrade, which I believe adds another 80 kg, the GVM increases to 3110 kg - anything is better than nothing! But this means an additional 80 kg can be loaded into the Pajero (i.e. up to 2810 kg) before the van is hitched up, so the combo can make it to 5810 kg - still significantly lower than the factory rating.

Reduce the ball weight to 180 kg (which isn't bad if the van has good mass distribution), the Pajero's GVM can reach 2930 kg before hitching up the 3000 kg van. That's 5930 kg total, or still 100 kg less than the factory rating.

So the higher the ball weight, the lower the GCM that can be legally achieved with a Pajero.