[T2] Vehicle Weight and Tires

[Jamie]

An Old thread..  from Saturday, May 28, 2005...


I was looking at the 75 westfalia camper tires a few weeks ago[aug 2013] , 
and mentioned I should budget for a new set for 2014
Last weekend [sept 2013] I had a belt separate on one rear tire...  Yokohama 
Y370 LT 195/75R14
Load range "D"   M&S 1710 lbs max @ 65 psi
30,000 miles.. since this thread in 2005
3 tires had 48 psi,, the damaged tire was at 60... so I knew it was running 
hot at that point.
I think it was 48psi heading out .. but I may have picked up a small punture 
on the trip ... I neglected to check it before I headed home

Yesterday I installed 4 new ... same tire.. build date is very recent, last 
month..

The old tires have 8 yrs, 30k miles ... and have a slight outer edge wear 
compared to the center... so I might say they show wear from under inflation

I am going to run this set at 55psi,,

old thread copied below...
Sent: Saturday, May 28, 2005 8:00 PM
Subject: Re: [T2] Vehicle Weight and Tires
Andy
When I calculated this first,,, I took into consideration Vw originally
installed tires with max weight at 40 psi ... and they recommended 40  psi 
on
the rear,, and 30 on the front for fully laden vehicle

That is 100 percent inflation on the rear,, and 75 percent inflation on the
front...

then I used the same method to calc as you did.. but I threw in that 75 
percent
factor for the front

Also.. i rounded the 47.8 psi up to 48 psi for the rear...
the front came in at 40 psi with the 75 percent factor

Looks like we agree on the rear at about 47 - 48 psi... but I still wonder 
about
that 75percent ratio front to rear,,,,

You asked 2 questions.. Why do you have so much weight in the front? Or are 
the
numbers reversed?
and you were interested in the year,, as I said in the original message ,, 
my
camper is a 74 deluxe

The numbers are NOT reversed... I looked at them the same way...they do 
looked
reversed..
 I should have included my conclusion on that in the original email..
When I first weighed the van,, it was 2182 lbs on the front,, and 2380 for 
the
rear... 200 lbs heavier in the rear
this is loaded with my camping gear, gas and the driver...
then I weighed it as I headed down the road... with one more passenger in 
the
front,, and 2 in the rear.
the front passenger weighs in at 200 lbs,, and the 2 in the back add up to 
200
lbs total...[2 kids that weigh 100 lbs each...]
These numbers are guesses,, as I didn't weigh all the people,, they were in 
the
camper when it was on the scale.. and the front got heavier than the rear...

Yes,, it appears as GVW is about 5268 lbs....

Jamie wrote
I had the chance to weigh my camper recently, so here is some info...
My 74 Westfalia Camper ....
Loaded, with the driver , and 1 passenger in the front,  about 400 lbs right
there !
2 passengers  in the rear... only about 200 lbs for both of them!

Scale Weight on Front:  2788 lbs......1399 lbs on each tire
Scale Weight on Back :  2480 lbs......1240 lbs on each tire
Total weight  5268 lbs

Tires:
Yokohama LT195/75R14  Load range "D"   M&S
1710 lbs max @ 65 psi


So,, if I did the math right,, I should put 48 psi in the rear tires.. and 
40 in
the front tires when I have this much load in the camper....

Jamie Rivers

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Andy" <airhedz at earthlink.net>
To: "Wayne" <mga60 at optonline.net>
Cc: "'Jamie'" <jrivers at globalserve.net>; "'Type2'" <type2 at type2.com>
Sent: Saturday, May 28, 2005 6:57 PM
Subject: Re: [T2] Vehicle Weight and Tires


> actual (or max. expected) gross tire weight (or half the axle weight) /
> max. tire weight rating * tire max. inflation
>
> In this case:
>
> front   1399 / 1710 * 65 = 53
> rear   1240 / 1710 * 65 = 47
> Two questions:
>
> What year is your van, Jamie? A quick glance at my '79 owner's manual
> shows a GVWR between 4960 (station wagon) and 5070 (kombi and delivery
> van). Looks like you may be outside that.
>
> Why do you have so much weight in the front? Or are the numbers reversed?
>