Hey guys whats the max legal weight you can carry in a kombi or kombi single cab? (Or caravelle for that matter).

Just wondering if it's feasable to use a single cab as a car transporter for when the superbug racer is finsihed. (Admittedly I'll need some long ramps but hey it's all fun )

GVW for my '75 kombi is 2300 kgs, Tare is 1190, so I guess it can carry 1110 kgs.

I think it really depends on how much extra stuff you're going to take with you. Also, I'm not sure I'd want to be driving it with the load up that high. :o

Yeah Kruizin's right, with such a high centre of gravity you're just asking for a roll that writes off two dubs in one go

My dream is that one day I'll have a buggy that I'll tow on a car trailer behind my Kombi camper. With that setup, no long weekend will ever be dull

This would be the go
Bummer didn't work. Picture to big.

[Edited on 21-7-2003 by 72TWINCAB]

Check this out. It might be the go
http://www.geocities.com/minifusca/Phot1335.jpg 

Secoh,
You have a T3 Kombi don't you???
They are a little heavier than Bay's
(check out this thread also http://www.aussieveedubbers.com/forum/viewthread.php?tid=4632  )
As a single cab they will have a 1 tonne pay load. Obviously this decreases as you go to dual cab's, Kombi's and micro bus's as the GVM remains the same.

A super bug is realatively light, and should transport on a Kombi OK. Just as other say, it will be a little top heavy, so watch cornering!! T3's will handle cornering better loaded like that than a Bay.
:thumb

thanks guys... I actually had no idea Kombis were so light!!

I'm confused. A bay window ('69 to '78) is a T2, right?

I thought the Caravelle/transporter ( what...'82ish to '90ish?) was a T4...(wasserboxer)

whats a T3?

Nope, the era you speak of is the T3, then comes the 'Eurovan' T4.

Check out "Green T4"s '97 T4 in Member's Rides

And yes, a bay window is a T2, but then again, I think a splitty is too...

[Edited on 21-7-2003 by KruizinKombi]

Yes, it's all so confusing!!
A splitty is a type 2 T1,
a bay in a type 2 T2 :o
etc

If you guys would stop mentioning 'bay windows' this wouldn't happen - I hate that Pommy expression. Bay Windows are windows that project from the wall of a building and form an alcove of a room. Another name for them is oriels or oriel windows. What has that got to do with VW Kombis???

Anyway 1950-1967 'split window' Kombis are referred to as 'T1' Kombis. 1968-79 Kombis (like mine) are T2s. T3s are the squarer, more wedge-shaped rear-engined Kombis sold from 1982-1990 (in Australia). From '82 to '84 they had air-cooled engines, and after that 1.9 and 2.1L water cooled flat fours in the rear. T4s are the current front-engined Transporters sold since 1991. The new T5 goes on sale in Europe this year - it's an improved T4 with more chassis, body and engine options.

The Americans called T1s and T2s 'VW Buses'. They called the T3 the 'Vanagon' but they only had the Microbus and Caravelle versions; T3 panel trucks, vans and pickups were not sold in the US so it's not right to call all T3s 'Vanagons'. Likewise they call the current T4 the Eurovan, but again only the luxury people-mover version is sold in the US.

'Vanagon' and 'Eurovan' are names that should not be used in Australia.

Would lowering my ute reduce the amount of weight it could carry?

Hi

I used to service a T2 ute for a guy who raced an open wheeler, he used the T2 ute to carry the open wheeler. It had the mother of all sway bars on it to stop it rolling in corners, he reckoned it was great and was a much quicker and more economical than using a car and trailer.

1302Steve

thanks guys, thats cleared up a lot!!

Take a look at this. http://www.miniman.com.au/targa.htm 

Yes you can use a splitty to carry a car. a small one anyway. I don't see why you couldn't carry a racing super if it was light enough and it fitted.

Don't forget, the difference between GVM and Tare has to accomodate driver, passenger and anything else you want to drag along as well as the racer. If you're a fat git like me you can eat into your payload really quickly.

PatB

Why people call them bays: it's what T2s are called on all the American websites! They don't use "kombi" in the same general way that we do, it means a specific model over there.

"The Americans called T1s and T2s 'VW Buses'"
Yes, and they have a different name for each type of bus:

Anyway 1950-1967 'split window' Kombis are referred to as 'T1' Kombis.
Americans usually call these "splitties" or "split window buses"

1968-79 Kombis (like mine) are T2s.
Americans usually call these "bays" or "bay window buses".

Yes the name "bay" does come from the Pommie word for a wide curved window, the Americans obviously saw some similarity between a Pommie bay window and the wide curved windscreen of T2s.

When I'm posting on this site I call mine a '75 Kombi, but when I'm posting on the Shop Talk Forums I call it a '75 Bay. The only trouble is, I sometimes forget which site I'm on and call it the wrong thing :-S

:P

all I can say regards load rating is personal practical experience & that is both of our typebay2 (van then microbus/camper) showed marked decrease in braking efficiency & reluctance to turn a corner, when compared to ALL the other one ton vans I have driven, when Wards air express ran them in the late 70's they also found this a problem & used to opt for Hi-ace with drum brakes for heavy metro loads

Well i reckon Daisy is a T2.5!?@!

They're 1/2 ( or .5 seeing as VW's are metric) between the T2 and the T3

I call her a Vanagon sometimes cuz people seem to understand then it is not a T2 Type 2 or a spit so it must be the next one.... oh the water cooled one......no the other one.........oh!




:P

the other problem is you have two very different Type 2 T2 , the early ones having very little interchangable with the '72 on
& is the T4 just a T4, or a Type2 T4 ?

Now you're confusing me kombikim! :o

Here are the load ratings on mine (which has heavy wooden cabinets):

Hey Kombikim,
Can't say I have any experience with jap vans, but have driven a few jap 1 tonne utes and have been quite impressed by the Kombi's brakes in comparison when loaded.
Is it the power of the brakes, or do they fade on long hills?

In my experience kombi sway bars (I have a fair bit) have limited effect. Without them the kombi rolls onto the outside bumpstop before lifting the inside wheels. With them it only goes halfway before lifting wheels OR understeers. Then (with rear bar) when you get off the road you tend to get stuck rather easily because one wheel has its weight reduced. Doesnt have to be much, even exiting a wet driveway. I'm not saying they are useless, just have limited effect. I would get a good seat with upper body support first.

Naming conventions... (throw hands in the air in despair) I refuse to use the term 'bay window'. My Kombi has a pop roof. That makes it a Cape Cod.

Loading limits...The T3 Kombi was the same as the earlier T2. You can load them with around 990kg of stuff. It's the same for Pickups as it is for vans - they have the same suspension.

An open-wheeler race car on a Kombi pickup tray should be fine. A full-body car like a Beetle, plus you in the driver's cabin...that's getting pretty close to the limit.

I had bullshit like this out with the RTA years ago, but mine was about towing.

I had a V8 Condomodore & a bent Kombi.
According to NSW law I could only tow the kerb weight of the Holden, BUT, because my Kombi is classified as a commercial, I could tow 2/3 of the gross weight of 2290kg.

So by their logic, I could only pull 1100kg with an eight, but I could pull 1525kg with a 1600 kombi, not to mention being allowed to have it loaded to 2290kg at the time.

3815kg with a 1600!!!

It aint gunna get out the driveway, but it's legal.

Wish I had a university education like these clowns........

Spook, you'll be relieved to hear there's a good reason why cars aren't allowed to tow more than the weight of the car. Imagine what would happen if a car with a heavier load tried to brake going downhill: the heavier trailer would overtake the towing car :o

Yes the kombi has much less power than the V8 Commodore, but it's not about getting the thing moving: it's about stopping it without jack-knifing!

No, that don't work either.
Empty, the Holden weighed 150kg more than the Kombi.
It's why you have trailer brakes....

Eh? Now you're confusing me. You said the Commodore was only allowed to tow 1100kg, which implies that if your kombi is 150kg less the kombi is only 950kg! That can't be right, surely? My kombi is marked as weighing 1620kg empty, I know that the camper interior is heavy but it can't be as much as 670kg :o

Trailer brakes: very very very good things. Keep them well maintained! Also, keep trailer wheel bearings well maintained! Especially if it's a boat trailer (salt water is baaaaad).

Just looking at my Haynes manual (for another post) and it says that maximum trailer weight without brakes is 600kg, with brakes is 800kg. Bloody hell my car trailer empty is 410kgs. Then add the fastbacks weight on top of that... tell him he's dreaming.

I just towed 1 tonne of sand in an ordinary box trailer (supposedly restricted to 750kg) and had no problems.

Sorry one to many numbers. 50 kilo more.
Must be some real extra weight in a camper.
Mine weighs in at 1050 tare & 2290 ag.
That's what's on the papers here & now.

This is getting quite interesting. It seems no 2 Kombis weigh the same.

hehe yes very interesting! I guess each different model/configuration (goods carrying van, 8 seater, etc) would have a different unloaded weight, but I would expect the loaded weights to be the same (because the brakes and suspension are the same). The other thing that might be different is the law - the legal limits might have changed several times during the years that kombis were made.