The concept of 'legit' overhead in GVWR is interesting. I think we all agree that the GVWR of a vehicle can be exceeded a bit. I do wonder how Sheer put a numerical value on his Honda's 'legit' overhead? Why is it 500 lbs rather than 300 or 800 lbs? How can the rest of us measure how much overhead we have if any?
GVWR was certainly an issue with my Ranger EV conversion. It had the minimum equipment offered on a Ranger and was rated only 3760 lbs. It weighed about 100 lbs more than that before driver, passenger or payload were included. Its headlights shined in the roadside trees until extra leaves were added to its rear springs. It had a serious oversteer problem until wider rear wheels and tires were installed. I also replaced its rear axle rated about 2000 lbs with one rated 2700 lbs. Even with the springs, tires, wheels and rear axle changes, I don't think my Ranger had any GVWR overhead. It had enough but no extra. Tom Shay ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jon "Sheer" Pullen" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, September 23, 2002 11:37 PM Subject: Re: Conversion Concept Musings > My car has 500 lbs of 'legit' overhead in the GVWR, which is enough for 3.1 > passengers my weight. However, I've driven it with four people in it and the > sky did not fall. I don't think the extra 1-200 lbs is significant, because > I think that if I know Honda, they designed in a 'safety factor' of about > 500 lbs beyond the weight rating for the inevitable > college-student-moving-experience the car was bound to experience.
