Uprating the "Weight Plate"

Ours was uprated FOC, in fact it was an option given to me at purchase with no cost involved. The only draw back is speed limits and lane restrictions on certain roads and to be honest, neither are a problem to me! Just relax and enjoy the 'journey', afterall, that's what I bought it for!

£400 seems a bit steep.  I had my motorhome uprated that I had purchased second hand by SvTech at half that price.  Friends of ours had a new Autotrail uprated free of charge, Sounds like the dealer is trying it on.

You can't upgrade the weights on motorhomes willy nilly. Sometimes a modest weight increase to say 3650kg [as in my case]  is possible with just a sticker change and that should be less than £300 and often free. 

The higher up the plating range you go, the more you need to change on the van.

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In the process of upgrading the maximum overall weight you really do need to check the outcome as far as individual axels is concerned. You can be caught out if not!

agree with the last two posts....

upgrading the max weight to (say) 3650 does NOT change the max axle weights, which on the Fiat 'light' 3.5t chassis will be 1850 kg (front) and 2000 kg (rear),

irrespective of any RFL implications (savings) you should get the dealer to weigh your van (empty, if you like) including axle weights.

which Bailey model are you having, the larger '75' (7.5m) vans will be almost impossible to run at 3.5t...

believe me, i have just gone through the same process on a much shorter and much lighter van than yours and running at 3.5t is really difficult.....i actually rejected the gan as it was not 'doable' at the lighter weight.

the MIRO weights for Baileys dont allow for any fresh water these days, so the 75-2 will only have a payload of 215 kg with a full water tank.

after weighing, you (almost certainly) will need to add in at least three quarters of a tank of fuel.....around 70kg.

then add in 75 kg for the OH and a 'nominal' 75 kg for each of your possessions (clothes, books, computers, shoes, boots etc) and you are now at the limit.....no capacity for food, crockery, cutlery, kettles, pots, pans, all tha lovely stuff folk stick in the boot/garage.....bikes etc, etc....

and with a long van with a long overhang, the rear axle weight will 'blow' before you reach the 3.5t limit, so raising it to 3650 wont make any difference at all.....

weigh the van.....your van, as theyre all different....this should be easy for the dealer as they usually have those weighing pads...

do not go by the brochure or listen to a salesman.....

stay legal and safe.....

i dont post this to scare anyone, but to help folk whove never considered 'weight' to understand some of the pitfalls.

good luck.

Baileys have Alko super low rear chassis, so dont use standard Fiat chassis. Fitting rear air  suspension aids would allow the weight to be uprated considerably but would cost about 400 pounds, so perhaps this was what the salesman meant ? (being tactful here).

Anything over 3500kg puts it in to PHGV catagory which is 165 pounds a year tax.

Like BB i think the 3500kg limit for coachbuilt motorhomes is totally unrealistic, and inviting lawbreaking either on purpose or more likely accidently . 

Getting rid of the Carthargo BB?

On our van there are 3 weight plates, the standard fiat 3500, then a Fiat 3650 one and the knaus 3850 which was a cost option. I think the 3650 one is free but to get the 3850 it has suspension changes on the rear to have leaf springs fitted though I may be wrong but when I recently looked into adding air bags to the rear to lift the rear axle capacity one of the criterion was having these springs first. And of course as this was on our order it probably came from the Fiat factory already fitted so was cheaper than retrofitting it.

with max axle weights of the 'light' chassis at 1850 kg and 2000 kg, it 'should' be possible to have an MTPLM of 3850kg without physical change as this is the sum of the two axles....

however, while this might be perfectly possible, its extremely unlikely for a user to be able to balance the load so as to make use of this raised MTPLM without one of the axles going over first....

BTW, Michael, i am brand loyal......but i will update you on any 'news'.

for me, if i wanted to downsize and run a 3.5t van, id want it to run legally and practically at that weight, not at 3650/3850 kg, so as to be able to take advantage of a smaller van's drivability, manoureability and ease of parking.

no point in going smaller and not then being allowed to go into (some, continental) town centres as it had been up-plated.

however, the thrust of my earlier reply remains, weight needs to be checked (properly) as its the owner's responsibility to run within legal limits.

on a 3.5t van (especially a long van with a long overhang and paltry payload) it is extremely easy to breach limits, especially the rear axle weight.

...and no amount of 'updating the MTPLM' will change this situation. 

either weigh the van empty and weigh all your stuff (preferably, before signing on the dotted line) or weigh the van fully loaded with full tank of fuel, 'sufficient water', all occupants, and the rest of the 'stuff' we all take.

better to be 'surprised' before hand than 'shocked' afterwards....

still, there will be loads running round with significantly overweight vans, so why worry?