Weighing my camper with Reich CWC

Lumbo

Member
T6 Pro
I thought I would share my experience with this bit of kit. I hope this is in the right section.
I bought the Reich Caravan Weight Control 1000kg from campervanstuff.com a little while ago and finally got round to using it. It was £167.
IMG_20230213_122910.jpg
I felt like I wanted to know the weight of my van and had no luck finding a local weighbridge I could use. After a bit of research and some chat with others on here I realised this won't be perfect but I thought I could at least get a rough idea of the weight so I'm not running the risk of being overweight and only finding out when I've been pulled over (or god forbid in an accident) and it's too late.
It was just about the right size to go under a wheel, I've got 18" Wolfrace Assassins with 255 width rims and fortunately (because I didn't check this beforehand!) as you can see from the tyre marks and picture below the device was wide enought to take the whole tyre. IMG_20230213_113815.jpg
As you can also see, the surface was tarmac. I used the smoothest looking bits in our little cul-de-sac (not this bit in the pic) and the instructions said that block paving was not recommended so I didn't use that area. I used a bit of old decking plank for the opposite wheel as instructed to try to keep the axle level and swept the area in front of each wheel before putting the plank/device in place then driving over. I was aware there was a little bit of camber on whichever area I used so again, chose the flattest looking two areas.
I did all four wheels in one direction, then turned the van around and did them all again in the opposite direction in each space. I did this in two places on the driveway so got four total readings. I thought this would at least eliminate a bit of error for surface/camber differences if I took some averages.
For info, my van is a T28, full conversion with the usual pop top, beefy leisure battery, twin hob/sink, fridge, side kitchen/wardrobe, rock and roll bed etc. and a Fiamma two bike rack.
It was full of fuel and ad blue and the onboard water tank was empty. Gas bottle is in there and I had no food/drink on board but had in the van all my usual kit including the awning, two solar panels, toilet and all towels, bedding, windscreen covers and cooking equipment. Basically I could chuck in my weekend bag and some food/drink, stick the bike on the back and I'm good to go. I weigh about 80kg these days so that's included in the readings also.
The bottom of the device has hard rubber feet which seem to have absorbed a bit of the imperfections in the surface.

IMG_20230213_122436.jpg


So, here's the scores on the doors (in kg):

First location:
F Left.......R Left.....F Right....R Right....Total
503............555.........572...........516.........2146
497............543.........523...........508.........2071........Average of these two: 2108.5kg

Second location:
F Left.......R Left.....F Right....R Right....Total
528............520..........524..........504.........2076
487............524..........598..........511.........2120.......Average of these two: 2098kg

Average of all totals: 2103.25kg

Avg each tyre:
F Left.....R Left.....F Right....R Right
503.75....535.5......554.25......509.75

While there are a couple of quite large differences in some readings for the same tyre, I think it looks like a reasonable assumption that my van is in the 2105kg area for weight without luggage/bike/food/drink/missus added. I'm happy that despite the variance in some readings, by taking averages multiple times I'm going to narrow down the possible weight range of my van. And because it's far enough under the maximum permissible weight I'm pretty confident I'm not going to end up overweight. Just need to weigh my bike now!

I will definitely give it another go somewhere else and see how the averages compare. But overall I am content with the results. Very happy for smarter people than me to add a bit of perspective and share their interpretation of the data. Hope it's been of some use.
 
Last edited:
Out of interest, have you tried calculating/estimating the weight of the extras that weren't included in the above figures? Just wondering how close you get to your limit with these added.
 
Out of interest, have you tried calculating/estimating the weight of the extras that weren't included in the above figures? Just wondering how close you get to your limit with these added.
I haven't yet Bav. Will do a bit more on this in the near future. I'll update the thread as I put more stuff in the van. Those rough early calculations suggest I'm a little under 700kg off my maximum. So that's quite a bit. That's a lot of beer! :rofl:
 
Interesting stuff. I took my van to the weighbridge a few weeks ago as I was interested to see what the basic weight was. Mine is a 150bhp, manual T28 with full side conversion (fridge, sink, hob), diesel heater, Reimo pop top and rib style bed. It was full of fuel, 3/4 ad-blue and 1/2 empty 907 gas bottle but mostly empty of other junk, water, people and bike rack. Came in at 2280kg total, so ~500kg to play with. Pic of total, front and rear weights for interest. I plan on going via the weighbridge next time I’m loaded up with all the kit to see what that gives me!

Might be worth getting a comparison done on a proper weighbridge if you think you are ever going to be anywhere near 2.8T, especially with that wayward front right reading (odd it was the same wheel). Yours sounds suspiciously light as the basic kerb weight is about 1900kg+ for a 150bhp panel van. Clearly your spec will be different.

3B6DF5F3-B5CC-4E23-8C55-6523ED1AC7E0.jpeg
 
I haven't yet Bav. Will do a bit more on this in the near future. I'll update the thread as I put more stuff in the van. Those rough early calculations suggest I'm a little under 700kg off my maximum. So that's quite a bit. That's a lot of beer! :rofl:
Just depends on how many clothes your missus likes to pack ;)
 
Where I go for my building materials in Wiltshire, they have a weigh bridge as they sell their sand by the bag full if needs. Basically you drive onto thier weighbridge in your vehicle, they take a pre weight, then you drive to the big sand pile, take what you want, then drive back onto the same weighbridge. bill is generated by the weight differance of the before and after. I've been to weigh my van and slipped them some cash as a thank you.

 
When getting your MOT done, ask for a print out of the brake test. Assuming the station has a reasonably up to date brake tester, then it will weigh the vehicle and calculate the brake performance based on the weight.

My lwb t30 manual full camper comes in about 2500kg. It's due its MOT soon, so I'll try and remember to get the results.
 
Most mot rollers are highly inaccurate, last time my panel van went for mot with about 200kg of stuff in back the rollers said hole van weighed 1484kg, front axle 720kg rear 660kg. Also when i taken my 3.5 ton trucks for mot they never been come up within 20% of what they weigh.
 
Most mot rollers are highly inaccurate, last time my panel van went for mot with about 200kg of stuff in back the rollers said hole van weighed 1484kg, front axle 720kg rear 660kg. Also when i taken my 3.5 ton trucks for mot they never been come up within 20% of what they weigh.
Ours appears pretty accurate. I've seen the calibration guy show us his weigh bridge reading match up to the reading on the brake tester. Also ours matches our own body weights etc too.

It probably depends on what make of brake tester.
 
I did the Willenhall weighbridge last year in my T28 campervanerised, 110, remapped to 150 (is that heavy?) All the gear except the Mrs, full liquids, 2440kg.
Saving up £300 to have it up-plated in due course.
 
Done today, 2330 with full tank and the basic camping/cooking/sleeping gear which never comes out.
 
Back
Top