A lot of this has to do with speed . I'm towing a trailer and weigh 5800 but at 35 mph I feel safe . no problem stopping ( I use the brakes little as I time everything) After years of this slow driving I feel most gas burners are nuts driving car over 60 mphs (most over 80) I don't feel safe in any car over 80 with other drivers around but that just me. I'm lucky to be in florida with all these old fart slow drivers. ----- Original Message ----- From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Tuesday, September 24, 2002 3:02 PM Subject: Re: GVWR
> Tom Shay wrote: > > > > GVWR was certainly an issue with my Ranger EV > > I've found it an issue too, especially in regards to braking. > Vehicles leaving the factory have to meet certain braking > distance standards, I doubt many conversions could meet them > in their GVWR-plus status. At least with trucks there's a > chance you can beef up the brakes to the next-heavier version's > model, with cars there may not be much you can do. That's > one of the reasons I would never stuff 1200lbs of floodeds > into a Rabbit or Escort, the chassis just was never meant to > hold all that and still go down the road safely. For those > EV owners that do and get away with it, it's due to safe > driving habits and luck. If there was a panic stop, forget it. > > I put kevlar pads on my S-10 and that made the braking acceptable, > but not anything like it was as an ICE with stock brakes. It takes > a solid honk on the pedal to get the tires anywhere near lockup. > My truck is at GVWR with no one in it. > > > > 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. > > It's pretty safe to say that most "mini-trucks" are just cars > with a cargo space. I've got the same axle and suspension I'm > sure GM stuck in some of it's passenger cars. Augmenting > the springs, adding sway bars, beefing up the brakes, etc > are pretty much mandatory if you expect the vehicle to handle > and brake safely with ~1000lbs of permanent extra payload. > If you proposed hauling around 1000lbs of cement in a stock > ICE Escort you'd be considered crazy, but for some reason if > you change the cement to batteries it somehow becomes OK. > You could probably exceed GVWR by a significant percentage and > still not "break" anything, but I wouldn't want to be in front > of you. There are also issues of accelerated wear, I only > get half as many miles on a set of tires and brakes as I used to. > I'm sure the bearings are taking a pounding too, and the springs > will fatigue and sag quicker. It all takes it's toll... > > Mark Brueggemann > Albuquerque, NM > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > S-10 EV > > >
