I have a vehicle which has a Gross Vehicle weight of 12000 Kgs. The vehicle ways 5660 Kgs. So, 12000 - 5660 = 6340. So I can carry a load up to 6340 Kgs. When I load it anywhere near this limit, it just looks overloaded with it’s suspension really low. The vehicle has had it’s chassis extended. I suppose what I’m worried about is how do I work out how much load can I put on the rear and front chassis. How can I find this out accurately? The vehicle plate says Front chassis is 4480 and the rear is 8480. I’m not sure of the significance of these numbers? I am a little confused. Any help much appreciated.
Axle weights are the max weight permitted on an axle - including the weight of the vehicle…
Front axle takes less than the rear and remember the front also has the entire weight of the engine and cab, so you need to distrbute the goods very carefully, most of the weight should be around the middle of the body and over the rear axle.
From my experience of 12t vehicles generally i wouldnt put more than 2 tonne on the front half of the truck, and the other 4 tonne would go over the rear axle.
Also remember that the payload you have given of 6340 must include your own weight, pallets trucks, straps, a full tank of diesel etc, so in reality your payload will be 6 tonne tops.
hope that helps
Just google the formula ,but don’t forget to add your unladen axle weights at the end .
You can always take it to a weighbridge and get it checked before you get pulled for overloading an axle. Even if the boss is saying “Don’t worry about it - it’s fine,” it’s you who ends up in court.
Having an extended body can make getting the balance right tricky. One firm I used to do work for had a removable bulkhead about a metre from the front. Most of their work was lightweight stuff so overloading wasn’t a problem, but they also had a contract carrying heavier goods, so they had to be pushed back away from the front axle but still supported at the front.
It can get more complicated when you have a long overhang behind the back axle as any weight right at the back actually reduces the load on the front, like a seesaw.
8480 +4480= 12960 so you have almost a tonne of tolerance in getting the centre of gravity of the load in the right place. What you need to remember is that every kilogram placed behind the rear axle takes weight off the front axle as well as adding it to the rear axle. Weigh the axles separately with an empty lorry and then you will know how much of the load can be carried by each axle. Look up ‘moments’ in GCSE Physics for an explanation.
Like most of my posts recently.
Have you got a tape measure?
Thank you all.
“Step 5: Obtain the unladen weights by axle group from the vehicle manufacturer”
Would this information be on the vehicle plate?
No the accurate way is to go to a weigh-bridge .
Punchy Dan:
No the accurate way is to go to a weigh-bridge .
I’ve never done that before. How do the determine the maximum load for each axel?
Look on the plate in the cab for max axle weights .
I have recently had.my old daf c.f. traded in for a daf lf.
And I find can’t put to much weight on.the front end. As anything over about 1 t and the mud flaps are dragging scraping the floor as you drive.
.i lift the suspension but makes no difference.
The underbody clearence on c.f. is pants and.the mud flaps.are to.long sit.on the floor
For ever hear them.scrapping on the floor. Esp if turning a corner
edd1974:
I have recently had.my old daf c.f. traded in for a daf lf.
And I find can’t put to much weight on.the front end. As anything over about 1 t and the mud flaps are dragging scraping the floor as you drive.
.i lift the suspension but makes no difference.
The underbody clearence on c.f. is pants and.the mud flaps.are to.long sit.on the floor
For ever hear them.scrapping on the floor. Esp if turning a corner
We cut 2" off the bottom of ours. Carries an extra pallet now 
What are you loading because unless it’s single heavy lumps of machinery, for example, the majority of general loads I would just put them against the headboard and forget about axle weights provided overall your under GVW and it doesn’t look too stupid.
As a TM I got an overloading infringement once for 100kg over on the front axle on a 7½ tonner.
The load was a big microwave generator and it was at the top end of the truck’s capacity. I found the CG from the engineers and marked that, and I also marked the centre point of the load on the bed of the truck. The problem was that when they loaded it, they ignored my instruction - line up the marks - (“Stupid manager - What does he know?”
) and put it against the headboard.
Own Account Driver:
What are you loading because unless it’s single heavy lumps of machinery, for example, the majority of general loads I would just put them against the headboard and forget about axle weights provided overall your under GVW and it doesn’t look too stupid.
Gas bottles. And I’m told to load up to the limit and the suspension doesn’t look right. What’s the maximum fine for a drive for this kind of infringement?
Mooping:
Own Account Driver:
What are you loading because unless it’s single heavy lumps of machinery, for example, the majority of general loads I would just put them against the headboard and forget about axle weights provided overall your under GVW and it doesn’t look too stupid.Gas bottles. And I’m told to load up to the limit and the suspension doesn’t look right. What’s the maximum fine for a drive for this kind of infringement?
Also be aware, that if you’re multi dropping, you could leave the yard full and perfectly legal, but as you’re taking off the bottles from the back, you could end up overloading the front axle,
