This is really interesting.
Glider has an EB (long rear overhang) Sportsmobile. So that means more weight "cantilevered" off the rear end of the van than in an RB (short rear overhang) version.
I've had my van weighed (5.8L gas engine, 2WD, RB short overhang version) and it weighed in near dead-even at 3500 pounds front axle and 3500 pounds rear axle. (Compared to Glider's 3000 pounds front/4680 pounds rear).
The 5.8 is a heavy cast-iron-block engine, so I'm told. On par, weight-wise, with a modern V-10, and, I imagine, any of the diesels. Glider has the lighter, more modern 5.4L engine (I believe) so I can see how she'd end up at a lower front-axle reading....but a whole 500 pounds less? Wow.
I am going to make the hypothetical assertion....
....that at least *some* of the lighter front axle weight on her van is due to the additional cantilevered "teeter-totter" weight hanging behind her rear axle, leveraging downwards and taking some of the weight off of the front end just a bit. A tiny bit, perhaps....maybe only 50-100 pounds worth....but I would say that apples-to-apples, if you had two identically-engined-and-spec'd SMB's, one an RB and one an EB, you'd see a lighter front axle weight on the EB. (Even though the total curb weight would be higher than the RB!)
Fun thought experiment.
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Mike T
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'95 Ford E250 RB30 PH
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