Re plateing to 3850kg

Hi
We are looking a re plateing are Broadway EB from 3500 to 3850 to give us a bit more pay load, I would presume a lot of members have done this and I am asking what are the implications of this,
For instance the insurance, break down recovery, speed restrictions, in the U.K. And Europe, tolls,any advice would be useful, I am reapplying for my C1
Many thanks

I have noticed your age.  Next year you will have a decision to make, continue with upto 3500 kg as max weight or mess around with paperwork and medical certs for over that.

Regarding the van it should be a paperwork exercise, depending on your tyres so its worth doing for peace of mind (weighbridge wise)

Mrs ploppy wrote: I would presume a lot of members have done this

From the replies, it looks like a lot have not done it. With a payload of 519kg, what do you carry that makes you want to increase it?

The payload is actually rather less than this. We have increased our plate to 3700. The insurance need to be told but it did not change the premium. The speed restrictions are slightly lower. Tax is less. Th main issue is that it does not increase the rear axle capacity without modification. We find that we have to be careful. To keep load well forward.

As to why? A bike rack and two bikes add quite a lot. We have never gone over the 3500 but it can get a bit close.

hi Paulmould yes you are correct the 2016 EB has pay load of 519kg are van was registered new on 65 plate Jan this year 2016 with a payload of 405kg yes you are wright what do we put in it
2 bikes electric on Thule tow bar rack total 60kg hanging of the back dose not help.
Thanks

Sorry but I'm confused. You agree payload is 519kg but you say yours has 405kg. Is this what's left after loading bikes or did you have loads of extras fitted which has eaten into the payload?

There was some confusion when we bought ours.  Some of the  brochures were not correct.  It referred to a  previous model I think.  the only safe thing to do is to weigh your van.
Remember that the passenger is included in the payload (but not the driver)  Sometimes we need to travel with water and that is 100kg.  You would be surprised it soon adds up.  Two berth vans are usually OK but some four berth ones give very little payload if you have four adults.

When we bought our new 2014 Broadway there was a misprint in the brochure that we we used as advisory. It did not become clear until after we had bought the van that the payload was quite a bit less than we had been lead to believe. I suspect part of this was additional features added post manufacture,  part was poor proof reading and part was the substantial difference made by having a fitted underslung tank - 65 kg, empty.

We were careful not to overload but never felt comfortable with such a small margin so, as my OH mentions above, we got it upplated.

As also mentioned this had implications when we renewed our licences at age 70. The medicals were done by our own doctor and the eye tests for free by Specsavers at the same time as regular eye checks. The DVLA in my husband's case, were quick and efficient but made more of a dogs breakfast of my application, keeping me waiting for a new licence right until almost our departure for a winter trip. My doctor had made a mistake in filling in the quite complex paperwork.

Are we glad we did it,: yes. We are still careful about not overloading and being fairly frugal but it means we do not have to worry when we pass our local VOSA check point !

I had this discussion with another Broadway owner recently, it was my belief that up plating did not resolve the issue of overloading the rear axle!
I would appreciate some definitive advice on this because I might consider up plating...I now have a towbar and a new Hydra Trail trailer....this combination will add considerably to my rear axle load.

Ray

Libraryman2 wrote:I had this discussion with another Broadway owner recently, it was my belief that up plating did not resolve the issue of overloading the rear axle!
I would appreciate some definitive advice on this because I might consider up plating...I now have a towbar and a new Hydra Trail trailer....this combination will add considerably to my rear axle load.

Ray

Hi Ray

The Hydratrail shouldn't add much to the loading as its wheels will take most of the weight.

Messrs SVTech will uprate the rear axle loading for you as part of the plating service, and at no extra cost I believe. The snag is (and it's a big one) that you will almost certainly need to fit Air Rides and change to higher rated rear tyres before they will do it. I think they will want proof in advance that the mods have been made, mostly to cover their own back I guess.

You would need to contact them and supply quite a few details in order to proceed further, but it can be done. I don't know by how much they can uprate the axle as it probably depends on several factors - not least the weight of your towbar, the length of your overhang (which is a very significant factor) and the nose weight of the Hydratrail.

Hope this helps. I did look into it for carrying a scooter on our van so I know it is possible, but for other reasons we decided not to go ahead.

Cheers Dave, I had not considered updated tyres, good point :)
I haven't been to the weighbridge yet, not with the hydra trail anyway!
When I did go and weigh it, I was just under the 3500 limit by 60kg.
That was fully loaded with myself and the wife in.
As an aside, I have modified my hydratrail with an extra platform!
This will have an aluminium box attached to it weight 10kg....the modification in total weighs 15kg including the box.

I will be able to now transfer a little bit of weight from the m/h in order to offset the towbar and trailer nose weight...so....I'm hopeful that I will remain just under the 3500kg fully loaded.

If anyone would like to see my modifications of the Hydratrail, I will post images.

Ray

Hi paulmold
The payload for my van is 405kg. The payload your said was 519 kg this is the new weight for the new Broadway EB
Thanks

Libraryman2
Yes I would like to see your hydra trail photos is it a hydra trail easy lifter

Unless you use them there seems to be no reason why you should not remove the rear steadies and associated ironmongery. As they are behind the rear wheel removing them has the good effect of transferring some weight to the front wheels as well as the overall reduction in mass.

I can confirm that a paper upgrade will not upgrade either axle loading. I am not sure abo it the suspension and axle but the tyres certainly cannot be updated.

Easy lifter photos...I have ordered a aluminium box that will fit onto the new tray....for the technical types, 
Too much weight will have a detrimental effect when reversing because the wheels rotate shifting the centre
Of gravity, however reversing with care will avoid any issues. The scooter weight is 132 kg, well within the rating 
Of the trailer ..250kg, I estimate the rear load maximum to be 30kg, the designer of trailer has given the thumbs
Up.

Ray

Hi 

Just been reading the above as far as I understand it  you can up grade overall payload for a fee certainly I would  fit air bags this will help, as far as tyres are concerned there are definantely ones that can cope with increased weight eg 112/116 this is the load per wheel eg 4x112 =4048Kgs.You will pay a extra on french motorway tolls as you will go up from class 2, but on the other hand you will gain as the road fund duty is cerrently £165 per year.When I get to that age I shall not be down plating hope this helps

Dave

davey wrote:Hi 

.You will pay a extra on french motorway tolls as you will go up from class 2, 

Dave

It is very unlikely you will ever be stopped and asked what your plated weight is at a French motorway toll station.  Unless your van is very tall or clearly non-standard size, you will automatically be "seen" and tolled for Class 2. Should you choose to draw  the attention of someone to the fact that you are over 3500kg then you would have to find someone first to declare yourself. French motorways - as well as many others in Europe- are going towards automatic, unmanned, toll barriers so finding someone, without having to call them from afar, will be increasingly difficult.

In the 2 years since our van was up-plated we have passed through many Spanish and French tolls and there has never been a suggestion that we pay more than we did when the van was new and plated at 3500kg. If we were asked then we would be honest but there has never been any question of being asked.

We will have to declare ourselves in Switzerland and Austria of course but I think that will be cheaper that it used to be with the pre-plated van, as we will be able to pay only for what we use, rather than, in the former case, a whole year.

Do agree with quilter; we only paid class two 'when' we used tolls and other than the slightly reduced speed limits on A and DC roads the benefit of a large payload is well worth it.

Libaryman2
What make and model is the bike

Thanks for all your input
Mrs ploppy

It's a piaggio medley.   

Ray

Thanks ray we have triumph T100 newish but getting a bit to heavy.

Love the triumphs, I would have considered one myself...alas the weight is problematic :(

Ray