Decision time. Replace the Paj with a Triton ?

[Greg Grey Grumbly]

Weighed the Pajero Sport

Yes Dicko, good point, weight gets away from you pretty quickly, it all adds up.

But I’ve always had my eye on weight, the bull bar is alloy, the underbody protection is the light gauge MM version, good enough for my needs, the second battery is 32kg, even allowing 50kg for the fridge loaded I’m pretty confident. Also noting that I have the five seat version so no additional mounts etc.

But yes I’ll get it weighed to be sure and publish the results here.

Greg

As promised, I have weighed my 5 Seat PS GLS in ready to go, loaded configuration, and as others have commented, all up weight does creep up. Understanding the need to be specific on as weighed configuration, the breakdown is as follows:

Measuring equipment:
I purchased a German made Reich Caravan Weight Control unit with a max load rating of 1500kg.

Vehicle configuration:
Full fuel and fluids, ready to go with all accessories as listed in signature box.

As well:
Stacer 319 Tinny (63kg), lashed onto the three rhino roof bars,
Mercury 9.9 Outboard mounted on an ALMAC outboard slide in rear cargo area(about 34kg)
Fishing gear, boat loader winch, Bushman cooler filled with 12 bottles of wine, boat safe gear and some assorted tools etc.
Load leveller towing hitch receptacle (not individually weighed but heavy)
Myself (90kg)

Weighing Results (in kg):

Vehicle as weighed: 2541 (GVM Limit 2710kg)
Front Axle Mass: 1285 (limit 1360kg)
Rear Axle Mass: 1256 (limit 1600)
Remaining Available payload: 169 kg


So from the above, when:
+the caravan towball download of 182 kg is added (caravan with full water tanks, gas bottles and loaded to go configuration),
+additional passenger @ 80kg,
+I'll be 93 kg overweight.

A good exercise showing how easy it is to become overloaded. For me I'll have to re-arrange loads, straight away the electric winch can move to the caravan at about 30kg, followed by loose gear etc to bring weight within limits. Another option could be to remove the RHS rear Seat assembly which is folded and unused.

The caravan itself at 2600 ATM is well under the PS towing limit but next I'll be weighing the van to make sure its ATM is within limits.

[erad]

Greg Grey:
What you have posted indeed makes it scary regarding being overweight. Possibly the best thing you can do is not to get into the vehicle - that would bring it roughly in line with Max weights! Seriously this is a worry, because you are nowhere near individual limits anywhere in your rig. Imagine if you have a 3 tonne caravan instead of your proposed rig. That would be well over.

[Ian H]

Interesting results Greg and thanks for posting. It just shows how easy it is to go over. Way too many people assume everything is OK, only to find out it's not.

Congrats on taking this seriously and realising you need to fix the weight issue.

There's a new thread running in here about the Sport towing a van and yet again, people reply that it will be fine without knowing the actual numbers. It's scary.

[Greg Grey Grumbly]

Weighed the Pajero Sport

Thanks for the feedback Erad and Ian; yes the weight accumulates a lot quicker than you would initially think.

Not sure I understand your comment Erad on being nowhere near the limits anywhere, my reckoning tells me I am well under the front and rear axle load limits, my problem is that I'm just 93kg over on the overall loaded GVM when fully crewed.

I can pull about 50kg out of the back without any trouble by removing the electric winch and its case, fishing gear and boat safety gear, so I'll re-weigh to see what's left after that. Pulling out the RH rear seat also seems a reasonable next step. The reason I bough my own scales is so that I can experiment to get it right so by the results thus far the scales are justified.

Its pouring here today so not much chance of doing more but maybe tomorrow.

Greg

[nj swb]

Not sure I understand your comment Erad on being nowhere near the limits anywhere, my reckoning tells me I am well under the front and rear axle load limits, my problem is that I'm just 93kg over on the overall loaded GVM when fully crewed.

I think I had a similar reaction to Erad - looking at any one of your numbers in isolation, or even looking at them all in a table, any single measure is well within your vehicle's limits. It's only when you understand how to add all the numbers up that the true situation becomes clear.

I think it's awesome that you've taken the time (and spent the money) to make all these measurements, and then actually posted them for all to see and hopefully understand.

I look forward to your future updates.

[Greg Grey Grumbly]

Weighed the Pajero Sport

Just to finish off on weighing PS, following on from the last post, I've taken some radical surgery in order to get the weight down within limits.

To do this I've:
*Removed the drivers side rear seat assembly (it is permanently folded forward when travelling)
*Removed the heavy steel fridge slide (with the lift up door I have easy access)
*Fridge is now secured on alloy tie down racks but empty for weighing purposes
*Removed spare gear in the back including fishing gear, winch, Lowrance battery boat safety gear

So the new weights are:

Vehicle configuration:
Full fuel and fluids, ready to go with all accessories as listed in signature box.

As well:
Stacer 319 Tinny (63kg), lashed onto the three rhino roof bars,
Mercury 9.9 Outboard mounted on an ALMAC outboard slide in rear cargo area(about 34kg)
Load leveller towing hitch receptacle (not individually weighed but heavy)
Myself (90kg)

Weighing Results (kg):

Vehicle as weighed: 2388 (GVM Limit 2710kg)
Front Axle Mass: 1214 (limit 1360kg)
Rear Axle Mass: 1174 (limit 1600)
Remaining Available payload: 322kg


So subtracting from the available payload:
+ caravan towball download of 182 kg (caravan with full water loaded to go),
+ additional passenger @ 80kg,

This now leaves 60kg for anything else including fridge contents and any loose gear.

Overall Im pretty happy with this exercise in that I've got a clear idea of what can be loaded to keep the GVM legal, and really, it does show how easy it is to overload, and also, how it can be managed.

Greg

[Ian H]