Go! Drive & Camp – September 2019

102 |September 2019 go!Drive& Camp

such products. They’ve already
gone through the tedious route
of homologating their products
abroad and locally, so you
don’t have to go through the
laborious back-and-forth to get
your backyard special officially
recognised by the law.

Carry your own weight
Motorhomes and campers are
one scenario. But there are plenty
of bakkies out there just like our
long-termer that are flirting with
the limit when you decide to go
on a trip with the entire family,
plus your boat or caravan in tow.
With many of these vehicles also
kitted out extensively for handling
4x4 excursions over the weekend,
as well as overlanding, this is
where the problem lies, because
all that equipment is heavy.
On our D-Max, the tare weight
is 2 100 kg, which is not unlike
most of its 4x4 double-cab rivals.
We’ve also added an ARB bullbar,
behind which lurks a T-Max
12 500-pound winch, IPF Sport
XS spotlights, Desert Armour
chassis protection, Old Man Emu
suspension lift, snorkel, Desert
Armour rock sliders, Front Runner
roof rack, on top of which rests
a T-Max 48-inch off-road jack
and sand tracks. It’s also got an
RSI canopy, which covers the
Front Runner drawer system,
ARB compressor, Desert Products
dual- battery system, Engel Fridge
Freezer on a Desert Armour
sliding frame, a picnic table, fire
extinguisher, burglar bars, and
a kitchen complete with cutlery
and a gas stove. Plus there’s a 60 ℓ
long-range tank underneath.
That’s 740 kg extra weight. If
your family has a high BMI score,
just having all of you in the vehicle
might exceed the legal limit when
your caravan’s in tow.
“The tare reflected on the
license disc is the mass of the
vehicle empty, which is what we
sell. If the vehicle is taken over
a weigh bridge, the vehicle will
be weighed at GVM and not tare.
The accessories that have been
added to the vehicle are part of

HEAVYWEIGHT It’s all very well and

good if you’re driving solo for a weekend

with the boys, but the extra weight

meansa familyoffiveisa tallorder.

Weights

TheIsuzuengineering

teamhadthistosay

abouttare,GVMandpayload.

Taremass(kg):Thisis theweightofanemptystandardvehicle

withallitsfluids,includingoilsandcoolants,butonly 10 ℓ fuel

inthetank.Weassume 10 ℓ waschosenasanindustrystandard

toallowotherwiseemptyvehiclestobedriventoandfrom

a weighbridge.

Grossvehiclemass(GVM):Theis themaximumyourvehiclemay

weighwhenfullyloadedasspecifiedbythemanufacturer.You

willusuallyfindthisfigureonthevehicle’sweightplacard,which

is generallyfoundinthedriver’sdooropening,orintheowner’s

manual.GVMis thekerbmassplusallaccessoriessuchasbullbars,

roofracks,winches,andpayload.Andif you’retowingsomething,

GVMincludesthetowbar.

Payload:Thisis themaximumloadyourvehiclecancarryas

specifiedbythemanufacturer.GVMminusthetareequalshow

muchthevehiclecancarry.Don’tforgetthisincludesallpassengers

andtheirluggage.

tareis correctandwhetherthe

ownerisn’tperhapscheating

onlicencefees(asanincrease

intareresultsinanincreasein

licencefees).Evenif yourtare

4X4 PROFESSOR

the vehicle’s payload, which as

mentioned is more than 700 kg

• the allowable payload on the
  range-topper 3 ℓ 4x4 automatic
  is 1 000 kg. Payload = GVM
  (3 100kg) minus tare (2 100kg),”
  says Dominic Rimmer, Executive
  Technical Services at Isuzu SA.

You can bend, but not break

the law

The National Regulator of

Compulsory Specifications

(NRCS), an independent division

of the South African Bureau of

Standards that’s responsible for

the homologation of vehicles in

our country would require that

the vehicle be homologated again

if the tare is changed by more

than 250 kg, but Alta says that

the majority of vehicles aren’t so

drastically altered that the tare

needs to be changed, because

anything that’s not permanently

fixed isn’t considered to be part of

the tare.

“The tare is an issue if the officer

investigates whether the vehicle’s

increases, the GVM cannot easily

be changed, and even then only

by the manufacturer through a

complicated process determined

by the NRCS. If the tare goes up,

the load capacity will be less.”

What it comes down to is that

you are responsible for whatever

you put in or on the vehicle. And

it’s on you to make sure that you

don’t exceed the GVM with or

without something in tow – just

in case you break the law.

There are plenty of bakkies

out there flirting with the limit

when you go on a trip with the

entire family and boat in tow