Longer, heavier Moho implications?

I couldn’t find any tyres fir my rear axle til SVTech investigated for me. Conti are the only ones who do a suitable tyre for me, I couldn’t get a full winter tyre so settled on four seasons. It was previously on some Vancouver 1(?) that are no longer produced. You May be limited to the same as me due to tyres on the Phantom then.

I know the extension you mean, just in discussion with Armitage trailers about a tow bar/platform for mine to carry my handcycle.View attachment 47349
I see that your's is the 315CDI 2.2L with 3800 kgs GVW as standard whereas mine is the 316CDI 2.7L with 3500 kgs GVW. Though they can be uprated to the same axle weights I'm not sure why yours can go to 4000 kgs GVW but mine only to 3850 kgs?
 
Last edited:
I see that your's is the 315CDI 2.2L with 3800 kgs GVW as standard whereas mine is the 316CDI 2.7L with 3500 kgs GVW. Though they can be uprated to the same axle weights I'm not sure why yours can go to 4000 kgs GVW but mine only to 3850 kgs?
The 315 is wrong on the plate, mine is the 316cdi 2.7 and the original weight was 3850. Mine at some point had the air assist and alloys fitted, it’s probably the air assist that lets you go to 4t

That’s why I suggested speaking with SVTech as they already have it on record. Asking doesnt mean you have to purchase although I would use them myself as they have been helpful when I wasn’t buying or original purchaser

Edit: sorry mine was originally 3800
 
Yes, 315 and OM646 are WBD906 models, not 903's.
When I asked them about the tyres a few months ago I mentioned it was wrong and they said give all details and I can have a new plate but I never got round to it (as usual). Suppose I should really but it’s been on for years and nobody noticed
 
The 315 is wrong on the plate, mine is the 316cdi 2.7 and the original weight was 3850. Mine at some point had the air assist and alloys fitted, it’s probably the air assist that lets you go to 4t

That’s why I suggested speaking with SVTech as they already have it on record. Asking doesn't mean you have to purchase although I would use them myself as they have been helpful when I wasn’t buying or original purchaser

Edit: sorry mine was originally 3800
I have spoken to them, they said 3850 kgs no problem. But I've got air assist also so maybe could go to 4t? I'm going to weigh it again in the next couple of days to see the feasibility of uprating.
 
Is the go box and similar just for motorway tolls or am I getting confused again?
 
Yes, motorways and expressways. If over 3.5 Tonnes it's the only way to pay toll. Fee depends on number of axles emission class and day/night.

No idea what happens with 3.5 GVW vehicles which have been uprated, because the classes are different. ie. Euro 6 is not the same as Euro VI, and 3.5 Tonnes is where the classes change.

Or I might have it wrong and it's unladden weight of 3.5 Tonnes where it changes, :) all a bit confusing.
 
Last edited:
Yes, motorways and expressways. If over 3.5 Tonnes it's the only way to pay toll. Fee depends on number of axles emission class and day/night.

No idea what happens with 3.5 GVW vehicles which have been uprated, because the classes are different. ie. Euro 6 is not the same as Euro VI, and 3.5 Tonnes is where the classes change.

Or I might have it wrong and it's unladden weight of 3.5 Tonnes where it changes, :) all a bit confusing.
Thanks Mark, just checking really that it’s for roads you can avoid if you have no time constraints, bit like toll roads in France. If it’s the only way to pay though it makes it a bit different
 
We're planning to change our motorhome in August, we don't want to at all but the sole reason is that we choose to carry a heavier scooter in the garage that puts our current MH very near it's rear axle limits even without any water etc onboard, but are not interested in any other carrying methods. Things had been just fine until we visited a weighbridge :oops:. We Currently have a 3.5T MH and uprating to 3850 kgs would not really help too much.
Our current Mercedes sprinter based MH is 7.3 metre long & about 3 metre or so high. I gather that road tax will be about £100 cheaper for say a 4.6T as PHG, but would also be interested to know of any other implications if we say went around Europe regarding tolls and ferries etc? They always say that you will find that your first MH is not quite 100% ideal as first thought, but this was very close and we intend to just buy the same layout but on a heavier chassis! Are there any real pro's and con's of being under or over 7 metres long and height ?

I've done France/Spain/Portugal in a PVC that is 3.2m high (and about 6.2m long), spent all of last year and first 3 months of 2019 travelling around.

The only 'real' issues are:
low bridges (obviously) - especially in Portugal where they're not brilliantly signposted (IIRC I didn't see a single height notification)
car park spaces - a 6m van DOES stick out, so in supermarkets I tended to use two spaces inline at the quiet end of the car park and get a few more steps of exercise ( ;) ), in small spots I had to be careful about getting in and trying not to hit anything, but you get used to it and learn simply not to push your luck. IIRC correctly I only grounded the exhaust twice - both on pretty steep inclines - I was surprised it wasn't more tbh.

I can't really comment on tolls though - I only paid 1 and it was something like €20 for 12 kms - so expensive! I generally stuck to the non-toll roads (using GoogleNavigation) and I could still make decent progress when I needed to.

Fuel consumption - mine is a 3lt (iirc) FIAT Ducato with an very high roof - if I drove at more than about 75/80Km I could watch the fuel gauge dropping - so I didn't. :D
 
Fuel consumption - mine is a 3lt (iirc) FIAT Ducato with an very high roof - if I drove at more than about 75/80 Kmh I could watch the fuel gauge dropping - so I didn't. :D
I seem to be getting about 25 MPG changing manually up the Auto box at lower revs and cruising at 60mph. It makes for very lazy driving when it climbs some hills in 6th gear! ?
 
I'll take the MH to the weighbridge later today. It'll be fully loaded for a trip with the scoot, spare wheel and other necessities on board, but with maybe just 20 litres of water this time? I expect it to be fairly close to the potential 2430 kgs rear axle uprating, so that will be the decider if it stays or goes, though overall it's not quite as bad as I first thought.
 
I weighed the MH again today, 2 people, scoot, spare wheel, about 25 litres of water & 1/4 tank of fuel. It came in at 3750 kgs and 2350 kgs on the back axle so workable but doesn't leave much spare. So I think I'll uprate it to 3850 & 2430 kgs.
 
Our MH is 5t fully loaded and is 8.7m long. It is a Tag axle too (Autotrail Comanche).

We have travelled across to Poland and the CR as well as down to Spain for winters. We seldom encounter problems. I always check with campsites before arriving that they are OK with the length. It is very rare that we cannot get in...in fact there are more sites in the UK that have length restrictions than any other country, we have found. The ACSI book is good at highlighting sites that accept MH's over 8m and 4t.

On some sites the pitch sizes are tight but generally we have found pitches abroad to be smaller than in the UK anyway. If we are unable to get onto any allocated pitch we have always been able to move to another one after speaking to reception.

On the French motorways we have a liberty tag which works 95% of the time for us despite being 3.03m high and over 3500kg. The diffrence between Class 2 and Class 3 is horrendous on the French motorways so if the barrier doesn't go up, some pidgin French "Je suis un camping car. Nous sommes classe deux. merci" Apologies to any French speakers for my poor French) always works.

Aside from that we enjoyed around 27.5mpg in our 2012 Comanche and are getting around 24 in the newer one but we have only had one decent trip in the newer one. I only go at 60mph on dual carriageways and motorways if allowed, and 50 on singles. The speed limits are different for the larger MH's.

Graham
smile.gif
 

Users who viewed this discussion (Total:0)

Back
Top