# Weight issue



## wackywyco (Apr 30, 2007)

*Hymer B564 Lionheart 3 berth. rated at 3400kg*.

OK, just had rather a shock, on way back from weekend rally so lightly loaded,just the two of us on board, full tank of diesel, minimal fresh and waste water on board. No bikes or bike rack on, called at weighbridge for first time and found to be 220kg over! 120kg of that on rear axle!! 
So has anyone else found this with a similar model?
I was hoping to be able to fit Scooter and rack on back so thats a non starter.(Scooter rack for sale soon then!)
Fitting Airide and having an upgrade by SV Tech is only going to bring me up to 3700kg so £7-£800 just to be legal now, not even with gear on for extended travel.
It seems Hymer must have been pretty near the limit ex factory.
Any comments or experiences with this?


----------



## 113016 (Jun 5, 2008)

wackywyco said:


> *Hymer B564 Lionheart 3 berth. rated at 3400kg*.
> 
> OK, just had rather a shock, on way back from weekend rally so lightly loaded,just the two of us on board, full tank of diesel, minimal fresh and waste water on board. No bikes or bike rack on, called at weighbridge for first time and found to be 220kg over! 120kg of that on rear axle!!
> So has anyone else found this with a similar model?
> ...


Hi Wackywyco.
I am not at all surprised as it is difficult to keep a van of that size to under 3500kg and you say yours is 3400kg.
If it is on a Maxi Chassis which has 16 inch wheels, you might be able to get it up to 4100kg. We did!
The 3700kg does seem a little low for an uprate, unless it is on 15 inch wheels. Don't forget the tyre ratings also come into play.


----------



## alshymer (Nov 4, 2007)

*Hymer Weights*

Hi
Very interesting topic and close to my heart.
After having a 655 on a Maxi Chassis (3850kgs) struggling to keep it below that weight with a scooter on the back, we purchased, in late 2010 a Hymer B694 and went for the 4250kgs option.
The factory weight was supposed to be 3300kgs so imagine my feelings when taking it straight to a weigh bridge to find that it came in at 3600kgs.
We do manage,, even with a scooter in the garage, but we would be overweight if we brought a load of wine back. Fortunately we don't have to, as we live in France.
Great van though otherwise, although it is difficult to distribute the weight forward enough to achieve the correct rear axle weight.
The crazy thing is though that you can have the same van registered in France at 3500kgs!!!
Regards
Alshymer


----------



## 113016 (Jun 5, 2008)

This was the reason (or part of) that we went for the Exsis as it is a light van.
It is lower and narrower, meaning less weight in side, wall and floor panels.
We carry just about everything except for a scooter and it is within the 3500kg. with full water and an extra 35 litres,& full gas.
If I wanted a scooter, I am sure I could leave a few things out to compensate.
Maybe Mrs G :lol:


----------



## Mrplodd (Mar 4, 2008)

I had a "P" plated B544 on a Fiat base and had even more of a shock !!

EMPTY it had only 40 (yes forty) kilo's "capacity" left on the rear axle, previous owner had fitted a towbar and loads of chequer plate on the roof (he was a keen horse race attendee and used the roof as a viewing platform !!)

It never ever ceases to amaze me how little payload is available on many motorhomes. 

Some Rapido's on 3500Kg base have almost none and they sell 'em as 5 and 6 berth MH's. I asked a Rapido salesman about the dire lack of payload and the number of berths. His response was un-bl**dy-believeable 

"We expect the extra passengers to travel to site in other vehicles and just use the motorhome to socialise and sleep in"  

I walked off in utter disgust and staggered at the obvious contempt we customers are held in.

What a joke (but its NOT funny)


----------



## coppo (May 27, 2009)

A lesson for everyone. Take it to a weighbridge BEFORE you buy, DO NOT trust manufacturers figures or believe anything which the salesman says.

Payload was one of the main reasons we bought our current MH.

Paul.


----------



## rayc (Jun 3, 2008)

Whilst walking round dealerships and trade stands at shows it is obvious that many MH's plated at 3500kg have little or no spare capacity.

My 4250kg Rapido is 7.4m long and can be also be ordered with 3500kg and 3700kg MGW . There is no change in trim on any of them and even the lightest can have 3L engines and 16inch wheels.

When I bought my MH at a show the saleman did not have a clue what the three mult-stage build plates were all about. The original Fiat stage 1 plate was blank as far as the weights go as it was supplied to Rapido as a cab where they fitted the alko chassis. The alko plate was the stage 2 one and finally the Rapido one was stage 3 the determining one.

It is a case of doing your homework and buyer beware. I did though meet a guy on site with a Rapido A class who had down rated it to 3500kg. It was obvious that his 7.5m A cllas would struggle to give any load carrying capacity.


----------



## 113016 (Jun 5, 2008)

There are far too many owners out there who just don't have a clue about weights and don't take it serious enough to put themselves out and go to a weigh bridge. Some may weigh it, but not as they should with everything loaded including driver, passenger, pets and all the crap we carry.
Then you have the others, who know they are over and couldn't care less


----------



## Bill_H (Feb 18, 2011)

I was suprised how light my '94 B564 was when I weighed it upon purchace. Fitted with a Hope Safe-T bar (60kg) and loaded with my 'normal' equipment and half tank of fuel but with empty water tanks, it came in at 2860kg. Originally rated at 3200kg it had been uprated to 3500kg in 2000 by the addition of air suspension and heavier rated tyres.
It's reassuring to have half a ton to play with.


----------



## Chausson (Oct 17, 2006)

Hi
I have a 525 with very little payload but I can have it re-plated with hymer to 3.8 with 15 tyres mine is on the Mercedes sprinter don't know if that makes any difference. the other thing is hymer charge 250€ a lot cheaper than sv tech.

Ron


----------



## airstream (Jan 7, 2009)

*Axle?*

Hi,

The main factor is not the max weight but the individual axle loading

SVTech and others can uprate to the combined max weight of both axles without any mechanical changes

However most motorhomes are rear end heavy and at the max loading of the rear axle! so weigh the van first and find out what each axle is loaded to as an increase in overall weight may not keep the van legal

Ray


----------



## aultymer (Jun 20, 2006)

> However most motorhomes are rear end heavy and at the max loading of the rear axle!


Not so!
Mine is very tight on front because of 3L engine and auto box.
Good advice to weigh van before use. Most folk forget that the awning and other goodies come off the factory specified payload


----------



## ob1 (Sep 25, 2007)

Ray is right - most problems are with the rear axle loadings. However, there are a few models with the problem at their front end. 

Our long gone Burstner 747 had next to no payload available on the front end, even with us just a couple and the huge rear garage fully loaded. Burstner knew about the problem and fitted non-Fiat springs to this model to take the weight - they couldn't do anything about the useless payload though.


----------



## trevd01 (Oct 26, 2007)

ob1 said:


> Ray is right - most problems are with the rear axle loadings. However, there are a few models with the problem at their front end.
> 
> Our long gone Burstner 747 had next to no payload available on the front end, even with us just a couple and the huge rear garage fully loaded. Burstner knew about the problem and fitted non-Fiat springs to this model to take the weight - they couldn't do anything about the useless payload though.


Anybody with a Fiat 3.0 Auto and Aircon should check their front axle loading, especially if you don't have a Maxi chassis. Fortunately uprated steel springs are relatively reasonably priced.

With uprated springs the next limit you hit is tyre loading, particularly if you are running on 15" wheels.


----------



## joedenise (Jul 20, 2007)

Reading this months MMM they tested a Hobby Premium Drive and said 405 Kg or 300 kg dependant on model was enough for holiday clutter, but thats going by manufactures figures

joe


----------



## Pard (May 1, 2005)

I used to have a 2000-reg Hymer B564 and had the same problem. I upgraded it to 3700 via SVTech and Airides. As my family is well over the 70-75kg weight designers assume is the normal per passenger anyway (which uses up a fair chunk of the payload if you're more than two - we were sometimes 4 adults), the experience encouraged us to travel light, and unless you're on extended trips, it's not impossible hard to do. However, hanging bikes on the back might not be practical unless you lose something else.


----------



## Christine600 (Jan 20, 2011)

It's not only 3500kgs that are difficult. Visited a dealer recently and they had a brand new large Concorde weighing 7250 and a max weight of 7500. And this in a van having 2-300 L capacities on the water, grey and black waste tanks. You could not even bring the 4 people it was ment for - and that without any luggage. :roll:


----------



## 113016 (Jun 5, 2008)

Another thing to look out for(I have posted about this before) is In mass running order, or words to that equivalent!
I recently visited a Hymer dealer and I noticed that the Mass running order only includes 20 litres of water and one gas cylinder  
Not much good to a wilder, who needs full water and gas.
It is just a way of making the inexperienced M/H er think they have more payload than they actually have.
It always was around 90% gas, water and fuel.


----------



## wackywyco (Apr 30, 2007)

Thanks one and all for the replies etc.. Yes my tyres are 15" 215s so am restricted with the rear axle upgrade,(New last year so I 'aint changing them yet). We used to have a 1993 544 on the maxi chassis with16" wheels and that had loads of payload including the Hymer Scooter Rack.


----------

