Those of you with 7.5t lorries...

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icestationzebra

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How do you know the unladen weight of your vehicles? Reason I ask is that I am currently looking for a lorry. Some vendors know the unladen weight of their vehicles and some don't. Those that don't say it isn't on any of their paperwork.....

Is the only way to be sure to take the damn thing to a weighbridge? If I were to insist on a vendor doing this would they be issued with a printout so I can see if it were accurate? Have any of you done this?

Many thanks
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Inside the cab normally on the passenger seat is a plating certificate which has the unladen weight on it. If it hasn't got a certificate the lorry owner should have got one from the VOSA testing station the last time it went in too be plated.
 
This is what baffles me. Some vendors rustle through some papers and can produce it instantly, others say they have no idea and others just seem damn unwilling to find out. I 'assumed' it was a standard item at plating
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Perhaps some of the ones that don't know don't actually realise it is on the plating (I didn't at first), or...

... they don't want you to know it is near the limit without a horse on board!
 
Mmmm the ones I have seen have shown the chassis capacity broken down into front/rear but the numbers add up to 7500kg...... However I have seen one that had a box for unladen weight, and another vendor had it on a separate certificate.

God it is so complicated!!
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Or perhaps I am just being thick
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Perhaps some of the ones that don't know don't actually realise it is on the plating (I didn't at first), or...

... they don't want you to know it is near the limit without a horse on board!

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Nail hit on head there I think!
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Llewelyn - that is exactly what I suspect - however I have made myself clear that I will not buy a lorry without knowing the unladen weight, and yet still they seem to come up with reasons not to produce it. Perhaps they are hoping that someone unsuspecting will come along and not care about it, however with £1K fines for being overweight surely everyone would want to know?!
 
HI,

the plating cert does not show the unladen weight of the vehicle only the axle weights it is able to carry, this applies to the truck if it was meant to be loaded commercially, when a lorry is tested at the test station they have a brake test printout which shows % of brakes but on this shows the unladen weight of the vehicle at the time of the test, this is usually fairly accurate but does depend on whether they have taken anything out eg partitiions no water on board or very low fuel tanks etc the only safe way to tell is to take it to a public weighbridge yourself so you know what was loaded for what weight.
 
I totally agree with lilaclady. You are not issued with anything which tells you the unladen weight. I have taken a lorry to a weighbridge and they give you a print out. If a seller was untrustworthy they could take out partitions etc and then weigh it so it may be best to go to the weighbridge yourself.
 
The plate in the cab doesnt give you the unladen weight, as the cab could no way take into account all the extras in a horsebox such as living etc.... weighbridge is the main way I think....
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[ QUOTE ]
HI,

the plating cert does not show the unladen weight of the vehicle only the axle weights it is able to carry, this applies to the truck if it was meant to be loaded commercially, when a lorry is tested at the test station they have a brake test printout which shows % of brakes but on this shows the unladen weight of the vehicle at the time of the test, this is usually fairly accurate but does depend on whether they have taken anything out eg partitiions no water on board or very low fuel tanks etc the only safe way to tell is to take it to a public weighbridge yourself so you know what was loaded for what weight.

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Ah, that makes sense, thank you
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when i bought my lorry-insisted they took it to a weigh bridge before purchase-have kept that ticket which said it weighed 5.2 tonnes-be careful of any vosa plating weigh figures as i have recently had mine replated-first said it weighed 5.7 tonnes on re testing said weight was 5.2 tonnes-that was 10 days later and nothing had changed!!
 
was going to say as above,ive just brought a lorry and half the people i rang didnt have a clue ! i got one lady to weight her lorry as we were very interested,it was a downrated 10 toner !! it was weight at 6t unladen that left us with no playload at all my horse alone is 650kg !! the lorry i finally brought is 5250 unladen,remember the wieght unless done after it was converted to a horsebox will be a negative weight,make sure any cert that owner has is after conversion
 
The only accurate way to obtain unladen weight is to take it to weighbridge. Ensure truck is weighed as it stands without anything in it (what you carry may differ from that of the current owner) if they are serious in selling the box then they will do it for you.

BE VERY CLEAR - you want to be able to take to a weighbridge and get a similar weight (allowing for different amount of diesel in tank)

The plating certificate in the cab no longer lists the unladen weight although it used to do, it could be extremely unaccurate if the box body was then converted into horsebox. A typical box van body weighs 4.5 ton unladen on the average chassis upto about 4.8 ton with heavy chassis'

So be aware of horseboxes with low unladen weight stated as sometimes they get weighed before completion or people remove the heavy bits - partitions, rubber matting, etc.

At the moment its a buyers market so sellers - in theory should be helpful!
 
Mine is a converted 20 ft boxvan , at the test station it weighed 5560 KG on the brake test sheet. I took it to the tarmac place who have a weighbridge and it came out at 5420 so the brake test sheet should give you an idea but a weigh bridge is more acurate.. the seller should have that sheet with the plating cert(MOT) if not someone is trying to hide something!!! oh and yes the cab plate is just to tell you the maximum weights alowable , and if you do get your prospetive purchace on the weighbridge make sure you weigh each axle seprarately and then put the whole lorry on it because you can get done for overloading the axles even if you arnt over as a total... hope this helps...
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We had ours weighed after it was built, had seen a previous one with similar specification ticket before ordering it.
You may find a grain depot, scrap metal dealer or similar will have a weighbridge and do it for you if no public or VOSA one nearby.
 
Agree the plate in the cab on older lorries should NEVER be used. Mine states a weight of 4507kg which is complete rubbish (before conversion).
Brake test weight is also a bit iffy but a good guide. Mine comes out at 6130kg but I purposly send it for plating with full tank of diesel, full water tank, leave all the crap that I carry around in it. This gives me a much better idea of the horse /passenger payload available to me. Driver doesn't count as has to have someone in cab during break test.

So on paper mine looks heavy but reality is it can carry two big horses with no problem.
 
Couldn't help noticing your reply - just curious is your vehicle 7.5 ton? And fitted out to be a horsebox? would be interested how you get 3.450kg of payload!!!! we have EMPTY boxvan on a Eurocargo at work that weighs more than that and i wouldn't want to put horse in that!? it is just a box
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Not my lorry, but a aluminum coach built box could achieve that payload, most box vans are made of grp which is quite heavy ie 20ft will be about a ton, and more with doors, taillift etc it also depends on the chassis, Isuzu is very light and say an Iveco with the old six cylinder engine quite heavy....
 
Not wanting to enter into a deabte but having looked at the Isuzu - which hubby rubished as being flimsy and too cheap to consider - they only weigh 200 kg lighter than an Iveco.

The Isuzu truck that is manufactured by Equitrek comes in at 4.7 ton unladen! check it out at www.equi-trek.com/endeavour.html and see for yourself (don't be fooled by the layout picture this is to give you an idea of what can go where not the actual spec listed) This 'box is relatively UNFITTED in terms of spec and it only has 2.8 ton payload. Poster I replied to has a 3.5 ton payload assuming they have a 7.5 otn truck.

Have weighed an aluminium coachbuilt box which weighed in at 6 ton unladen and that was by a pro manufuacturer who claimed that it would be light as it was aluminium.

Our Iveco at work is just a box van no tail lift just a roller shutter door which would weigh no heavier than a ramp. So suppose what I'm saying how does someone get a 4 ton unladen truck to carry horses as I would love one - save me having to have HGV. Our work truck has no internal fittings, no partitions, its just a box!
 
Mine is a Leyland Daf 45. It's pretty short so not particularly big, unfitted living area which is only as wide as I am. I was there when it was on the weighbridge so I can guarantee it's weight.
ETA it's a coachbuilt box.
 
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Not wanting to enter into a deabte but having looked at the Isuzu - which hubby rubished as being flimsy and too cheap to consider - they only weigh 200 kg lighter than an Iveco.

The Isuzu truck that is manufactured by Equitrek comes in at 4.7 ton unladen! check it out at www.equi-trek.com/endeavour.html and see for yourself (don't be fooled by the layout picture this is to give you an idea of what can go where not the actual spec listed) This 'box is relatively UNFITTED in terms of spec and it only has 2.8 ton payload. Poster I replied to has a 3.5 ton payload assuming they have a 7.5 otn truck.

Have weighed an aluminium coachbuilt box which weighed in at 6 ton unladen and that was by a pro manufuacturer who claimed that it would be light as it was aluminium.

Our Iveco at work is just a box van no tail lift just a roller shutter door which would weigh no heavier than a ramp. So suppose what I'm saying how does someone get a 4 ton unladen truck to carry horses as I would love one - save me having to have HGV. Our work truck has no internal fittings, no partitions, its just a box!

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Like I said grp is quite heavy so your box van could easly be heavier than a coach built alloy box that is stalled for four horses with simple day living at 18 ft long
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look up, tristar they make very light lorrys oh and the isuzu chassis are about 500kg lighter than the iveco yes i agrree they are a bit tinny but then so are the ivecos and the spares prices
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.. quality is MAN then merc and daf my main objetion to the isuzu is its a very narrow cab
not good with a wide body
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