Driving overweight van

[sunbeam alpine]

Alex@POD said:

sunbeam alpine said:

A Sprinter can legally load about 700kg. They're ideal for volume transport but not for weight.

Are you sure about that?

It's what Mercedes told me when I first started our agricultural distribution business. To be fair it was more than 15 years ago.

It's why I ended up buying Fiats as they could legally load between 1200 & 1300 kg depending on engine choice & body length. Otherwise I would have gone for Mercedes as the price differential wasn't so large.

I've just Googled it and according to https://www.parkers.co.uk/vans-pickups/mercedes-be... it's indeed higher, although the post quoted from earlier in the thread seems to align with what I was told.

MustangGT said:

colinrob said:

What is the likely outcome of driving an overweight van, is a 3.5 tonne sprinter thought i could carry 1600-1700 kgs was pulled with what I thought was slightly overweight as carrying 1800kgs, turned out i was 1140kgs overweight or 32.5% does anyone know the consequences, please only reply if you know and please don't give your sanctimonious views, i am after information (60 year old with clean driving licence) wont happen again as i am selling the van.

What you are saying makes no sense if your load was 1800kg. 1800-1140 = 660kg, I am sure a 3.5t Sprinter can carry more than 660kg.

Maybe it was quite an old model?

[Alex@POD]

sunbeam alpine said:

Alex@POD said:

sunbeam alpine said:

A Sprinter can legally load about 700kg. They're ideal for volume transport but not for weight.

Are you sure about that?

It's what Mercedes told me when I first started our agricultural distribution business. To be fair it was more than 15 years ago.

It's why I ended up buying Fiats as they could legally load between 1200 & 1300 kg depending on engine choice & body length. Otherwise I would have gone for Mercedes as the price differential wasn't so large.

I've just Googled it and according to https://www.parkers.co.uk/vans-pickups/mercedes-be... it's indeed higher, although the post quoted from earlier in the thread seems to align with what I was told.

MustangGT said:

colinrob said:

What is the likely outcome of driving an overweight van, is a 3.5 tonne sprinter thought i could carry 1600-1700 kgs was pulled with what I thought was slightly overweight as carrying 1800kgs, turned out i was 1140kgs overweight or 32.5% does anyone know the consequences, please only reply if you know and please don't give your sanctimonious views, i am after information (60 year old with clean driving licence) wont happen again as i am selling the van.

What you are saying makes no sense if your load was 1800kg. 1800-1140 = 660kg, I am sure a 3.5t Sprinter can carry more than 660kg.

Maybe it was quite an old model?

it's a minefield these days to be fair!

I wonder if the overweight was the rear axle load only? 1800kgs is about 800kg overweight depending on the van, if that's all over the rear axle is could end up 1140 higher than the max axle load maybe?

[bigothunter]

Cockaigne said:

i always thought a 3.5t van could carry a load of 1 tonne, thought there was an advert or something.

1000kg payload is about the going rate today.

Which is poor when a late '70s Transit with 3500kg GVM could manage 1900kg payload. Almost twice the load capacity.

We are going backwards

[LosingGrip]

r3g said:

You usually get 5% leeway, but that would mean 31.5% over to 'only' get a £300 fine. You're into points and summons territory here. Your age and clean record will help you - might get away with just £300 and a slap on the wrist if the magistrate is in a good mood and you put on your best Daily Mail sad face, but if the cops deemed anything about the state of the van and its handling to be dangerous then you could be looking at up to £500 and 3 points. I think it's a CU50 off the top of my head.

Saying "I thought I could carry" as your defence plee won't end well for you either so I recommend you think of a better excuse.

PS. You've no chance of this thread surviving without getting any sanctimonious views and mentions of small children/grannies/fluffy animals being killed

Edited by r3g on Wednesday 23 August 06:09

Five percent is for things such as soil and its rained since filling up and being weighed. That doesn't mean you can load 5 percent more (which we know most do). Only applies to things like tippers, but as everything should be sheeted now that defence is kinda lost.

OP. Over 15% overweight is a £300 fine at the roadside. If you are going to court it will be based on income. You won't get points unless they are looking at load security or dangerous condition.

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

bigothunter said:

Which is poor when a late '70s Transit with 3500kg GVM could manage 1900kg payload.

Yes, but they were made of cigarette foil & rusted to nothing in a fortnight

[Fast Bug]

A new RWD Sprinter L2H2 has a payload of 1237kg, an L3H2 1085kg. Even the huge L4H3 can carry over a 1000kg and not be overloaded. The older model Sprinter could carry more weight before all of the emissions equipment and extra safety and comfort spec was added.

[bigothunter]

2 sMoKiN bArReLs said:

bigothunter said:

Which is poor when a late '70s Transit with 3500kg GVM could manage 1900kg payload.

Yes, but they were made of cigarette foil & rusted to nothing in a fortnight

I had a 1980 Transit 100 LCX from new. Incredibly reliable and durable over 11 years of service. But agree rustproofing was poor and evidence was apparent at that age.

Wonder how big the market is today for a simple, sturdy 3500kg van which could carry 1750kg payload never mind 1900kg? Could be very popular.

[Geffg]

All being well that scrap yards will weigh the van for you, but how do you get it there to know your weight if it’s illegal to drive overweight. If it is then overweight how do you get it away without driving it illegally.
As has been said, within reason how is anyone supposed to know how much the van weighs when loaded.
With modern technology would it be possible to actually have something on the van that measured it’s weight. Maybe something on each axle to measure it.

[bigothunter]

Geffg said:

All being well that scrap yards will weigh the van for you, but how do you get it there to know your weight if it’s illegal to drive overweight. If it is then overweight how do you get it away without driving it illegally.
As has been said, within reason how is anyone supposed to know how much the van weighs when loaded.
With modern technology would it be possible to actually have something on the van that measured it’s weight. Maybe something on each axle to measure it.

Would be impossible to operate a 3500kg van if every load meant a trip to a weighbridge, not in the immediate vicinity. Lost time and extra cost would make jobs unviable.

Onboard system giving reasonably accurate rear axle load would be excellent. Before ABS, trucks used a Brake Load Apportioning Valve with link attached to the rear axle. So yes it has been done already.

Could be worth googling for any aftermarket devices.

[LosingGrip]

Geffg said:

All being well that scrap yards will weigh the van for you, but how do you get it there to know your weight if it’s illegal to drive overweight. If it is then overweight how do you get it away without driving it illegally.
As has been said, within reason how is anyone supposed to know how much the van weighs when loaded.
With modern technology would it be possible to actually have something on the van that measured it’s weight. Maybe something on each axle to measure it.

A defence for an overloaded vehicle is you were on your way to a weighbridge to get weighed. Won't work for the OP now however. And won't work if you have driven past three before getting stopped.

[sunbeam alpine]

Every farmer who has a feed mixer wagon has a weighing system. It normally consists of 4 weigh cells (one at each corner of the chassis) and a screen showing the weight. It costs about £1200 (based on repair/replacement cost, so maybe less in mass production). Obviously you'd need to add the underlying chassis weight to arrive at the total.

Having said that I'm not sure I'd be prepared to pay the extra. I know the weight of our vans and we load them with pallets - the weight of which I know - so I don't really need it.

I would be a candidate for the vans with a higher MTM as posted earlier in the thread.

[colinrob]

Thanks for all the replies, they didn’t bother doing each axle weight was just total weight of van with me in it, luckily I hadn’t filled with fuel as that would have been another 63kg, worked out max I can take is 770kgs with a full tank of fuel and me driving, we are now selling the van, will apologise and tell them the van is sold so it wont happen again. Was not reported or questioned about any other aspect of my driving so not sure why I was pulled, it may have been that I was sticking to the speed limit, unlike other vans around me (60mph A1)

[s p a c e m a n]

You were a tonne over weight, it's obvious to people who know what they're looking at that it was over weight from the way that it was moving down the road, it's just unlucky that you passed one of those people looking out for it.

[Fast Bug]

colinrob said:

Thanks for all the replies, they didn’t bother doing each axle weight was just total weight of van with me in it, luckily I hadn’t filled with fuel as that would have been another 63kg, worked out max I can take is 770kgs with a full tank of fuel and me driving, we are now selling the van, will apologise and tell them the van is sold so it wont happen again. Was not reported or questioned about any other aspect of my driving so not sure why I was pulled, it may have been that I was sticking to the speed limit, unlike other vans around me (60mph A1)

Sorry, but there's no way a 3 Series Sprinter can only take 770kgs unless it's got a conversion of some kind that weighs half a ton. I've sold MB commercials for years and every Sprinter has over a 1000kgs payload.

If you PM me the reg number I'll happily tell you what the factory payload is

[alfa-alex]

The way to know if you’re getting near the weight limit is to weigh the items you’re carrying before loading!

Pallet scales are relatively inexpensive these days (just searched on eBay for around £350)

If you get stopped and you’re overweight on an axle then you’ll need to redistribute the load, explain to the officer that stops you that you’ve weighed the load but don’t have access to vehicle scales.

As far as I know the only sprinter van with less than 1ton payload capacity is the front wheel drive L1 2018 onwards which even then has 925kg capacity. But these are mostly used by parcel firms.



As the man in the orthopaedic shoes says “I stand to be corrected”

[Maxdecel]

Fast Bug said:

Sorry, but there's no way a 3 Series Sprinter can only take 770kgs unless it's got a conversion of some kind that weighs half a ton. I've sold MB commercials for years and every Sprinter has over a 1000kgs payload.
If you PM me the reg number I'll happily tell you what the factory payload is

This ^^^^^^
Or locate this data plate
For interpretation See:- https://sprintervanusa.com/2017/02/20/keeping-conv...

[bigothunter]

colinrob said:

Was not reported or questioned about any other aspect of my driving so not sure why I was pulled, it may have been that I was sticking to the speed limit, unlike other vans around me (60mph A1)

Conforming to 60mph van limit on dual carriageways looks suspicious. As though you have something to hide (which you did).

I was stopped in a van at night for obeying the 30mph limit. Why would anyone want to drive so slowly?

[-Cappo-]

Maxdecel said:

This ^^^^^^
Or locate this data plate
For interpretation See:- https://sprintervanusa.com/2017/02/20/keeping-conv...

I guess that's not the OP's van but wouldn't you need a Category C (Class 2) HGV for that, and a CE (Class 1) if you towed a trailer over 750kg? OP at his age probably has grandfather rights up to 7500kg.

[Maxdecel]

-Cappo- said:

I guess that's not the OP's van but wouldn't you need a Category C (Class 2) HGV for that, and a CE (Class 1) if you towed a trailer over 750kg? OP at his age probably has grandfather rights up to 7500kg.

First I found to use as an example, I've not a clue about regs. now; his might be an eSprinter ! Just seen this
"The eSprinter loses a fair few points when it comes to carrying capacity - its payload is low, due to the additional weight of a big, heavy battery pack.
As a result, even loaded up to its full 3,500kg GVW (gross vehicle weight), there's only a 774kg payload."
There's a version that'll carry a ton ....but it's got a smaller battery

[Fast Bug]

Maxdecel said:

First I found to use as an example, I've not a clue about regs. now; his might be an eSprinter ! Just seen this
"The eSprinter loses a fair few points when it comes to carrying capacity - its payload is low, due to the additional weight of a big, heavy battery pack.
As a result, even loaded up to its full 3,500kg GVW (gross vehicle weight), there's only a 774kg payload."
There's a version that'll carry a ton ....but it's got a smaller battery

Which is why there's a push to allow electric vans to have a gvw of 4.25t. Batteries are flipping heavy!

I didn't think that OP might have an eSprinter as I don't think anyone other than delivery companies had bought one. I'd have thought that common sense would prevail for electric vans and you'd check the payload before buying one