GVM Upgrade

A thought that F Trucks WA may do or would know who does.

Mick,

Would not go to him unless I had to. Thanks John let me know your results with TJM in Perth.

Cheers
Stewart

Malaga Springs & Suspension Centre U1/ 6 Oxleigh Drv Malaga 6090
(08) 9248 1130 was the mob i was told about.

Wardy should that GVM be 4495 or 4995 as my friend was quoted, all other figures & prices are the same as he was quoted also,

My friend wrote me last week;

"they can do a GVM upgrade which will increase the GVM to 4995KG - this increases the payload from 1073 to 1349Kg"

I am not concerned about any of it, in our situation the current truck is plenty for the amount we tow and carry but it is certainly confusing reading all the different information, especially after reading Jay's letter he received from Ford stating

Conventional towing capacity (Braked with Levelling kit) (kg) 4500

Gross Combination Mass (GCM) (kg) 9071

Ok, thanks Wardy, appears to be a typo error on my friends part then, i have copied and sent him what has been written here.

Good luck with it all.

Hi Jay

you have got a friend of mine pulling his hair out LOL whats left of it.

He is a Boroma owner and is going down the same path trying to find a tow vehicle that is legal for his 2900kg tare Boroma. He has been conversing with Ford customer service & Coffey Ford in Victoria and getting different figures quoted to him than you have received. I would be interested in your thoughts on what he has written. Oh i did suggest he contact you personally and he may do that.

It's lengthy but below is what he wrote me,

Quote

Hi Mick, sorry mate -the 4995 is a typo error - it should be as Stuart says 4495kg.
The calculation for payload increase with 4495kg is correct in my email at 1349kg -an increase of 276 kg. Not a lot for $6860 but it would do me and it is legal.
However ----- when I spoke to Dean at Malaga, he said 50mm lift was as far as he could go - not 100mm as Stuart was told.

He said anything over 50mm could be an issue for getting it signed off by his engineer. I accepted that as I do know that legislation exists for doing swerve tests on vehicles with over 50mm lift - an expensive exercise.
I also accepted 50mm lift provided I could have air bags to raise the vehicle higher when I needed it - Dean said fine but air bags do not rate in the GVM upgrade equation - it is the leaf spring change that is recognised as the method of increasing GVM.

There is another problem though - the GCM. It doesn't change no matter what is done to the GVM.

I have been quoted by Ford Customer Relation Centre [a person named Kara] and by Andrew of Coffey Ford that the GCM for a 4x4 F250 super cab [around 2003-4 era] is 7369kg - if this is correct then with a GVM upgrade to 4495kg I could only tow 2874kg.

Without the upgrade and a payload of 1073kg on a tare weight of 3146kg giving a GVM of 4219kg I can still only tow 3150kg with a super cab F250.
Whichever way I go, I cannot legally tow a 3500kg caravan with a super cab F250 according to Ford. scary?

One thing is worth thinking about -these figures Ford quoted to Jay maybe for the imported models not those made specially for the Australian market - these had downgraded diffs, brakes and axles to keep the vehicle within the realms of a person with a car licence - the fully imported models have higher GVMs / GCMs etc and need a B class licence - this I got from a guy at the transport dept [ dept of Planning and Infrastructure] - he said Ford made a huge mistake in downgrading the F250s for the Australian market.
This makes sense when considering the amount of misleading information Ford is putting out - there must be thousands of people driving Australian spec F250s illegally and maybe Ford doesn't want to admit the problem.

I am getting cold feet about F250s - maybe the 350 is the answer? but the dual wheels when offroad make me hesitant and the asking prices are around 80K for a basic vehicle.
Or maybe the fully imported F250? - again VERY high asking prices - suggesting some people already know there could be some sort of conspiracy with the Aussie models?

End quote

Thanks for that Jay will be away until the 18th so will post in documents when I get back.

Cheers
Stewart

It appears that the crucial info is RM and RN models, more info sent me.

Hi Mick,
What Jay says is correct but only for RN series F250s - at least according to FMCo. The RN series was released in August 2003. The RM series was released in August 2001 and was superceded by the RN in August 2003.

The RM series according to "Reece" at Customer Relations Centre at Ford has a GCM of 7369KG and a GVM of 4219Kg subtracting the two gives the towing capacity = 3150Kg

The RN 4x4 series according to Jays letter from Ford has a GCM of 9071Kg and a towing capacity of 4500kg -this calculates to a GVM of 4571Kg

Ford were unable to find the tare weight figure [ but I think it is 3146Kg] of the vehicle I was questioning at the time - a 2003 4x4 F250 super cab - I provided the Vin number as 9BFJX21F538083244 - which they claimed was a late RM series with the above GCM of 7369Kg + GVM of 4219Kg so no way can it tow a 3500Kg caravan - only a maximum of 3150Kg.

When people increase the GVM of the vehicle - it increases the payload but not the GCM -that remains the same unless huge changes are made i.e dual rear wheels, larger brakes etc - that as one BOG member says is a whole different ball game.

end quote/

I own a Oct 04, Ins papers & rego state its a RN so a GCM of 9071,

"Think about it: if I write to Ford and get them to agree to Mick's figures, the moment I receive a letter from the with a GVM of 4571 we are all driving illegally!!"

Oooh my head hurts, all these calculations ......LOL

Jay just a slight correction, they were not my figures, they are figures written and sent to me by a prospective F250 owner trying to get a grip on all this before he [IF] takes the plunge.

I 'think' my friend calculated the ball weight at 350kg included in that figure of 4571

Personally, i dont have a issue with the weight, no canopy or heavy load, i just like the Effy for it's wheel base and grunt.

Jay not a problem have my MC road train licence already, bring it on can tow 3 BT's if I find the right vehicle.

Cheers
Stewart

I dont have a problem with it - I have a HR licence

Lola

Adrian
Is the standard wellback tray weight included in the tare or the payload?

Just to confuse things even more LOL would you believe the tare written on my rego papers for my 04 F250 crew cab well body state = Tare : 2834

GCM not GVM in last para.

Andy, I believe the difference, in part, relates to the fact that the RM models are 3500 tow capacity and the RN models are 4500 tow capacity. My RN was 7369 until I kiced some ass up the food chain at Ford and insisted on the GCM upgrade because of the increased tow capacity.

No one has explained why it didn't simply increase from 7360 to 8369 and instead was increased to 9071.

Cheers, Jay

Willie,

That is one hell of an upgrade! People have been getting utes and troopys up to 3500kgs for years but you're talking nearly 300kgs extra on top of that! I can see this would be good advice for many who travel outback as most would be uninsured/liable in case of an accident in their current state.

The thing to keep in mind here though is that the GVM increase does not raise the all important GCM (probably around the 6700kgs in your case????)

The price quoted does sound exy?? Is any chassis modifications etc made?? Surely they do more than just look at it? Sure you'd have to have adequate suspension....but most that are already overloaded do anyway :-) Maybe they upgrade the brakes also?

Good luck, just don't forget the overal allowed weight of your rig (van and car) is not increased when you upgrade only the GVM....

Matt

Matt ,

At the moment , I have no problems with GCM as my 16 ft BT only weighs 2,580 KG ( half loaded up ).

I have asked the engineer if the max axle weights , max tow ball weight and GCM will also be re-rated . I will let you know what he says .

Willie .