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Old 11-14-2020, 03:00 PM   #1
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What does your Transit weigh?

Just curious - has anyone weighed a recent Ford Transit conversion? I'm concerned that we'll have trouble with the 9500 GVWR and having enough payload capacity . . .


Current plan is 9500 GVWR on a 350 "Extended" high roof. According to Ford, the payload capacity is 3590 . . . . Next step is the 9950 GVWR, but it's only another 230 lbs of payload.



Thanks!


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Old 11-14-2020, 04:33 PM   #2
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You challenge will be not overloading the rear tires.

The 9,950 GVWR is a dually, which will certainly provide ample cushion to the rear tire ratings, but you lose space between the wheel-wells. And at that point you might as well get the 10,360 GVWR because it comes with 7,275# rear springs.

Do you have any idea what your layout will be? Other people's builds might be completely irrelevant depending on layout and where the utilities are. You might be better off calculating your probable weight, by starting with the base weight (3,000f/2,600r for a 148 extended... the difference in variants is trivial, plus 200 in the rear for a dually) and adding in the weight of your components. Just don't forget to calculate the load center in relation to wheelbase.

I think your concerns are founded. With all that space under the body, behind the axle, there's potential to add a lot of weight there.
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Old 11-14-2020, 04:44 PM   #3
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Good point . . . I can easily do the "mechanical" components (fridge, furnace, batteries, etc.), but I haven't figured out how to estimate the Sportsmobile cabinet work and finishes . . . .


There are some other trade-offs because of the weird way some of the Ford options work, but I'm having second thoughts about them :-(
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Old 11-14-2020, 05:51 PM   #4
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The weight distribution is also a concern - we're looking to get maximum fresh water storage (my wish list to Sportsmobile said 40 gallons!), and our current plans place that behind the rear axle . . . . which doesn't sound ideal to me.
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Old 11-15-2020, 04:48 AM   #5
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@carringb - Where did you find the spring info and the F/R weight numbers? I keep searching on ford.com for the GAWR numbers, but all I can turn up is the GVWR numbers . . . .


Thanks!


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Old 11-15-2020, 06:32 AM   #6
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Dan, I can't tell you what my Transit weighed but I can offer some insight, be it legal or not. I had a 2016 T350 for a long time with a home built interior that I set up for hot shot/expedite work as well as camping. It had 5 gallons of water, cabinetry throughout, 2 6v golf cart lead acid batteries and was not built with weight mitigation in mind. I routinely put up to 4k of pallets of auto parts in it and rolled down the road with no issues. My usual loads were more like 2-3k, 4 being the most I ever put in it. I did add air bags to the rear but that was late in my ownership of the van and was really a waste. All it did was help with sag. The van handled unbelievably well with all that weight, it just squatted down in the rear. I still ran 75 mph on the interstate and went down maybe 2 mpg.

I'm merely offering what the van can handle, not what it should handle or what is legal or a good idea for long term.

https://www.sportsmobileforum.com/fo...sit-20987.html
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Old 11-15-2020, 09:26 AM   #7
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All specs can be found here:

https://fordbbas.com/publications

The scroll down and expand the "+" by Vehicle Specifications, then you can click the PDF for the 2020 Transit. No substantial changes for 2021, besides some new option pacakges, so the 2020 specs should be close enough.

You'll see many of the specs have a slash (2,800/3,080). The first number is the RWD variant, and 2nd number is AWD. It's a little confusing at first. Until you get to the options weight table, then it becomes Front/Rear.
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Old 11-15-2020, 12:52 PM   #8
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Thanks!!! For 2021 there's also an 11000 GVWR in both RWD and AWD
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Old 11-15-2020, 01:41 PM   #9
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Yup. But the 11,000 GVWR is already an option on the cutaway chassis, so you can use the spring-rate info from that if needed.

Do beware that all-AWD and the 11,000 GVWR RWD vans have the 6-lug wheels, which currently only have ONE aftermarket wheel option. There's also a couple obscure options not available with the 11k option, like the factory inverter.
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Old 11-15-2020, 02:39 PM   #10
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I did notice the 6-lug wheels when I was pricing it out . . . . no plan right now for after-market wheels/tires. Thankfully the "stock" tires are LI 113, so the capacity should be OK.


I'm still hoping to find someone who has actually weighed a recent conversion :-)
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