How to find a Weighbridge?

Weights and tyre pressures for MHs really are a minefield and answers vary according to who you ask.
The tyre pressure decal fitted by the manufacturer I would expect to be appropriate for running at full weight. Now, in the case of my Fiat Ducato it left the factory plated at 3650kg. It was then fitted with an Alko chassis and replated at 3700kg. The Alko handbook quotes slightly lower tyre pressures than the Fiat decal. Swift then completed the vehicle and plated it at 3500kg but do not give any tyre pressure information. My point is that even running at the plated weight of 3500kg I am still running 150kg below its design weight so the tyre pressures should be able to be reduced.

Pop your post code into the attached link

https://www.gov.uk/find-weighbridge

Recently wanted to find a weighbridge and a Google search to me to the Cornwall Council website which listed all in the county so would have expected other councils to provide the same.

That is what I used, unfortunately their listed public weighbridge was inside ABP ferryport in Hull and there was a big barrier stopping me when I went to investigate

For information.

whilst this CT thread is about finding and using a weighbridge to assist with setting appropriate tyre pressures, understanding weighbridge results with regard to payload and axle loadings is equally important.

i post this for information to the many MH buyers taking delivery of their pride and joy this spring

take a look at this sorry tale from MMM forum with the OP trying to understand how an 'off the shelf' Autotrail 632 (already ordered) might work payload wise.

http://forums.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/Motorhomes/Motorhome-Matters/Worried-about-payload-on-Apache-632/46654/

its obvious from this thread that this van is not fit for purpose at 3500kg nor (for most users) at 3650kg and shows the importance of knowing and understanding the weight of the model you are buying, even down to the specific van if margins are tight (or non existant as in this case.

prospective owners, please dont get yourself backed into a corner with heart ruling over head when a van like this appears to be just what you want yet will be illegal as soon as anyone gets in it....

existing owners, find a weighbridge (as in this post) check your tyre pressures by all means, but look very closely at axle weights as it is a virtual certainty that the rear axle will be overloaded before the van reaches its maximum allowed weight.

some will feel they have payload left when checked against the MTPLM yet may already be over the rear axle limit.

as i said, i post this purely for information as many will be taking delivery of their new vans soon and felt the above story might help increase awareness.

good luck to all but, please, weigh your van, preferably as part of condition of sale to avoid heartache later.

ill wager there are many a longish van (7.3m +) out there, with long overhangs that are almost certainly overweight on the rear axle, including some vans owned by CT members, for sure.

please dont live in blissfull ignorance of your van's weight, in these days of manufacturers conveniently ommitting much from the MIRO (water etc) and more of us (not me or OH BTW) weighing in at over the 'nominal' 75kg for the driver allowance, its even easier to be seduced by 'larger' payloads when all thats happened is that responsibility for certain loads has moved from the MIRO back to the user payload....

good luck with any new purchases.....

Bolero Boy,

Nice to see you back, where have you been......??

You have missed an awful lot of bickering about rebranding and of course the price of sites, all of which is very boring.........

but I for one enjoy your technical input like above....

There are two of them, do you mean the long standing 'BoleroBoy' who has disappeared into the mists of time, or the newcomer 'bolero boy' with only one post, or maybe they are one of the same

Now i'm confused

....HD, me too....

i didnt realise anything had changed but i can see Daves point...re capitals possibly....

i havent been banned and reinstated or anything nasty like that so my user name 'should' still be as before....dont know.

i have been 'away' (litterally) for around 10 weeks but this hasnt stopped me reading the forum.

i stopped posting sometime in January following one too many 'nice' posts...

im not specifically planning to reuse CT, i generally frequent a couple of other forums which have dedicated technical section or are more technically biased than CT is.

ill keep my comments on the rebranding etc to myself....

i just posted the MMM thread as i felt this was the time of year where folk might get carried away with the latest upholstery colour and forget all about the fundamentals, especially with more folk having to go for 3.5t vans, yet many of these might have families to transport.

light vans and multiple passengers dont mix well, espacially when each has their own requirement for 'essential' stuff.

Tintent, thanks for the nice comment

happy vaning all.

Shame , you're be missed