Question on weight distribution

Hi all,

So I've got this estate car with a GVW of 2300kg. Obviously most of that weight is towards the front where the engine etc is, especially when it's unladen. I want to order 4 of those skates/dollies that enable you to move vehicles around easily but almost all of them (that are easily obtainable anyway) come rated at 400kg absolute max. Question is, can I get away with using say 2 X 250kg skates under the rear wheels and a 3 tonne trolly jack under the front x-member?

Although common sense says the rear of an estate car will be lighter, when all four wheels come off the deck that might no longer be true! Your thoughts...

Reply to
Chris
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Is you drive nice and level? If not, has you neighbour got a GoPro?

Reply to
Andy Burns

Not quite. And there are a few places where the thickness of the concrete changes abruptly by up to 1/2".

If not, has you neighbour got a GoPro?

Search on ebay for that term reveals just a lot of hits for camera mounts!

Reply to
Chris

Are you going to be moving it fully laden? If not, then you should use the unladen weight as a guide. As a rough estimate, the unladen weight of your car might be 1700Kg. With a 55/45 weight distribution, that would put 765Kg on the back wheels, so within the 400Kg per dolly limit but way over 250Kg. Similarly, it would leave 935Kg on the front wheels.

If all 4 wheels are off the deck on the same dollies then the weight distribution will be the same as when on the deck. There will be a slight difference while you load the car on to the dollies.

Machine Mart do a pair for £54 with a capacity of 500Kg per dolly

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I have a pair of these and they are excellent. They should be capable of holding the weight of your car (using the above assumptions for unladen weight and weight distribution).

Reply to
Biggles

A GoPro is a camera, with which to film you making a possible idiot of yourself.

It's a very heavy car. You might move it around on a dead smooth garage floor, but not on a driveway. With a bit of luck, from our point of view, you'll find there's more of an incline on the drive than you realised, with hilarious results (for us).

Reply to
GB

I'd have thought that even the suspension would vary the loading at times. I suppose the aim is to over specify or risk failure. Brian

Reply to
Brian Gaff

Ahh! I thought GVW was the same as unladen weight. Now I'll have to start from scratch. Must admit I did think it sounded very heavy. Hopefully your guess will be much closer to the mark.

That's a great help, many thanks.

Reply to
Chris

Gross is car + liquids + people + luggage. 2.3t is still heavy.

NT

Reply to
tabbypurr

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