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Subject Topic: Weight Plate Upgrade?
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22/10/2014 at 11:12am
 Location: Wirral
 Outfit: Swift Freestyle 520 on seasonal pitch
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So does the plate have any legal status if the weights have been plucked out of thin air by the manufacturers?


22/10/2014 at 1:31pm
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Yes it does. The plated weight of a caravan or trailer is the max it can be legally loaded to regardless of the maximum design weight of the components. It does seem sensible for manufacturers to allow some margin for accidental overloading though.

I don't think weights have been plucked out of thin air though, caravan makers appear to work to a formula to arrive at miro so I guess they have a similar formula to arrive at mtplm as well going on average gear a caravanner might carry perhaps?

It is an advantage to both manufacturer & buyer to keep mtplm at a low figure to allow reasonable margin for loading & still keep within licence restrictions for example but there is no reason that any caravan cannot be upplated to the design weight of it's running gear if required.

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Freeman on the land.


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23/10/2014 at 12:46am
 Location: Sussex
 Outfit: Swift 645 Elegance - Range Rover Sport
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Thanks all, I have spoken with the dealer today to upgrade the plate with the extra weight of the Satellite dish and AWD movers. This appears to be a free upgrade with Elddis on the Crusader.


23/10/2014 at 6:31am
 Location: Cheshire
 Outfit: Elddis Avante 636
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Hi dave, we got our Elddis plate upgraded. Make sure you do it immediately as it is only available with purchase, we were told we could upgrade it at any point up until first service but that's not true but I did manage to lean on Elddis to get it anyway.

The only issue is that if you tow a a caravan with an up weighted plate you have to have a car obviously that can safely tow that weight is the only issue. We kept our old plate so you can switch it back again so no big deal.


23/10/2014 at 9:04am
 Location: None Entered
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if they cut the plated weight its basically done by cutting the payload the user is allowed to carry..

a replate enables the user to carry a heavier payload..

tis the manufacture that decides the plated weight..

it should be based on tyres chassis and other structural things.. i recon the current formula is.. work it all out properly and then knock a 100 kg off for marketing purposes.. :)

trog

ps.. a van maker has problems.. he has to make his van as large as possible.. as light as possible.. and also fill it with as much luxury junk as possible.. all these things are demanded by the buyer..

to be honest it brings the whole point of plating into disrepute.. a person should be prosecuted for exceeding a "safe" weight this is what plating should be about.. it now seems it isnt..

in my first post i did say i think too much.. it aint wise thing to do.. he he



Post last edited on 23/10/2014 09:31:52


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23/10/2014 at 9:29am
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It is not illegal to tow a caravan with higher mtplm than car max towing weight provided actual weight of loaded caravan does not exceed car max tow weight. C&U regs go on actual loaded weights on weighbridge not plated weight of caravan or trailer so it does not matter about plated weight of caravan. To stay legal you can load it lightly enough to be within car max tow weight & max train weight.

Not to be confused with driving licence law which does go on plated weights regardless of actual weight of outfit on weighbridge, ie you cannot drive a car & caravan with combined maximum allowed weights of over 3.5tonnes on B licence even if outfit as loaded is under 3.5tonnes on weighbridge.



-------------
Freeman on the land.


23/10/2014 at 10:32am
 Location: cheshire
 Outfit: bailey ranger 470 4
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It's a crazy situation that you can just increase the mtplm of a caravan by the addition of a different sticker
If you have two identical vans loaded ( for arguments sake ) to 1200kg if they both left the. Factory with a mptlm sticker saying 1150kg
One is subsequently upgraded to 1200kg by the addition of a new sticker
In the eyes of the law the one with the 1150 kg sticker would be overloaded and the owner would risk being fined yet in reality it would be quite safe because it can be upgraded to 1200kg without any mechanical changes
As I said at the beginning " crazy "

Post last edited on 23/10/2014 11:02:52


23/10/2014 at 12:55pm
 Location: Sussex
 Outfit: Swift 645 Elegance - Range Rover Sport
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Hi dave, we got our Elddis plate upgraded. Make sure you do it immediately as it is only available with purchase, we were told we could upgrade it at any point up until first service but that's not true but I did manage to lean on Elddis to get it anyway.

The only issue is that if you tow a a caravan with an up weighted plate you have to have a car obviously that can safely tow that weight is the only issue. We kept our old plate so you can switch it back again so no big deal.

-------------

Thanks Fiona W1971, car weight is not a problem, currently tow with Q7 and will be changing to 40d X5 by time can is ready. Do you know how much they increase the MTPLM by on the Crusader?




23/10/2014 at 9:22pm
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have you kept the old plate so that you can switch it back when you sell it and sell a "lighter" caravan.. he he he

trog


23/10/2014 at 9:40pm
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You can buy blank weight plates on ebay & stamping kits as well if you want to diy & its quite legal provided you do not exceed design weight of axle. In the UK we have no registration of caravans, no mot's, no certificates of conformity required, so we can do what we like.

-------------
Freeman on the land.


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25/10/2014 at 9:10am
 Location: Cheshire
 Outfit: Elddis Avante 636
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Hubby thinks its to 2000kg.


31/10/2014 at 7:34pm
 Location: Sussex
 Outfit: Swift 645 Elegance - Range Rover Sport
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Thanks all for the advice , I have asked them to go ahead with the plate upgrade, the dealer told me they would normally have done this anyway with the quad mover and satellite dish.


31/10/2014 at 9:59pm
 Location: roche cornwall
 Outfit: lynton 5th wheel
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Quote: Originally posted by phil76 on 23/10/2014
It's a crazy situation that you can just increase the mtplm of a caravan by the addition of a different sticker
If you have two identical vans loaded ( for arguments sake ) to 1200kg if they both left the. Factory with a mptlm sticker saying 1150kg
One is subsequently upgraded to 1200kg by the addition of a new sticker
In the eyes of the law the one with the 1150 kg sticker would be overloaded and the owner would risk being fined yet in reality it would be quite safe because it can be upgraded to 1200kg without any mechanical changes
As I said at the beginning " crazy "

Post last edited on 23/10/2014 11:02:52


you can down grade trucks very often by as much as 4 ton . just a paper exercise . then someone else can lift them back up again . i very often lower 7.5 ton trucks to 3.5 ton . they keep the original train weight . so for mini artics its great . drive on a b+e and can go up to 11 ton . if on an old issued licence . its daft i know .


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vwalan



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