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Thu Nov 20, 2008 7:23 pm

Just for the fun of it, I've kept track of the weight of my Westfalia since buying it. (No it hasn't put on much weight.)

Empty, but with driver
Front 1000 or 52%
rear 800 or 48%
Total 1810 KG = 3982 lbs

Full ready for a trip, with driver, passenger and fuel
Front 1140 or 54%
Rear 920 or 46%
Total 2120 KG = 4664 lbs

I also notice that the driver's side weighs about 52% in either case.

Then I stripped out all the interior, one propane tank and poptop canvas, so
empty but with driver
Front 970
Rear 710
Total 1680 KG = 3696 lbs

Wow, that is a lot of built in stuff - about 130 KG or 286 lbs.

Anyone else weighed their van?

Thu Nov 20, 2008 7:25 pm

Good question! I wish I could contribute an answer.

What year is your van?

Thu Nov 20, 2008 7:27 pm

1988 Westfalia GL. Pretty standard - no extra racks or special equipment.

Thu Nov 20, 2008 9:07 pm

As we left home on our last road trip we weighed 5100 with my wife and I in the van(together we weight 300), full everything, 82 air cooled, but with a TDI pushing it around, still got 34 MPG at 67 MPH.

I think that with a full fuel tank, no water and an essentially empty van (full westy) my van weighs 4300. Its been a while since I weighed it empty though.

Ahh, I searched my old posts, 4280 with me in an "empty" van,

Quote: NO driver in van,
front 1980
rear 2140
right 1940
left 2140

With me in the driver seat,
front 2140
rear 2140
Right 2000
left 2280

Thu Nov 20, 2008 10:15 pm

We hit a scale on the way back from a campout a few weekends ago and fully loaded, 1.8T engine conversion, oversize wheels and tires, full tank of gas, near full tank of water, me and the Mrs. with three kiddos in back topped out at 5400 lbs.! :shock:

Without water and family on board automatically drops the van nearly 700 lbs to total of about 4700 lbs. Take out some extra gear and swap out for some CLK 320 wheels (sitting in the basement waiting for the current tires to wear out), and I bet I could drop it another 150 lbs. I don't think 4550 is outside the range of normal for a 2wd Westy.

Thu Nov 20, 2008 10:38 pm

1621 wrote: We hit a scale on the way back from a campout a few weekends ago and fully loaded, 1.8T engine conversion, oversize wheels and tires, full tank of gas, near full tank of water, me and the Mrs. with three kiddos in back topped out at 5400 lbs.! :shock:

that's a petite lil' flower~ :lol:

Fully loaded on a dump run a week ago, I was at 4770 on the way IN(oops...)....I hate using the Westy for a dump runner, but, duty called and damn you can get lots of stuff in these things.

Fri Nov 21, 2008 8:41 am

1621, Hah hah, great minds think alike! I stopped at the SAME weigh station you did on the same day!

I dunno about outside the NW, but here in Orygun most all rural road truck scales are always turned "on". Just drive onto the pad, and get an instant readout of your van's weight.

'86 Westy
1/2 tank gas
1/3 water
1/2 roll of paper towels
all beer consumed
only svelte little me . . .
4,250 lbs.

PS - JackBombay, do you always have to chime in with your superb mileage on every post you make, regardless of topic? I get so envious every time I read those stats. :)

Fri Nov 21, 2008 9:43 am

So I've asked this question before in another thread. When fully loaded, my 89 Westy with a couple large ice chests packed with beer and ice, Thule box fully loaded, extra gear bags on top, firewood on board, inflatables stowed, I weigh in at 5700-5800 pounds. I always hit the same scale. This summer on one trip when I had two friends with me, I actually hit 6200 lbs on the same scale. I couldn't believe it. I figured that time there were three people and a dog in the van at about 700 lbs, so the van was at about 5500 lbs alone. People on this forum have a hard time believing a packed Westy can weigh that much, but that's what I'm hitting.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=240065

.

Fri Nov 21, 2008 10:39 am

PDXWesty wrote: So I've asked this question before in another thread. When fully loaded, my 89 Westy with a couple large ice chests packed with beer and ice, Thule box fully loaded, extra gear bags on top, firewood on board, inflatables stowed, I weigh in at 5700-5800 pounds. I always hit the same scale. This summer on one trip when I had two friends with me, I actually hit 6200 lbs on the same scale. I couldn't believe it. I figured that time there were three people and a dog in the van at about 700 lbs, so the van was at about 5500 lbs alone. People on this forum have a hard time believing a packed Westy can weigh that much, but that's what I'm hitting.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=240065

.

That is one packed van, when mine was 4800 pounds alone, there was no extra space anywhere, and I had a bunch of tools for skatepark construction squirreled away wherever I could fit them, all the cabinets were absolutely full, BUT I have no luggage bin so it was empty, and 2 ice chests full of beer and ice are not light. I assume the space above your engine was packed to the bottom of the roof as well?

Fri Nov 21, 2008 12:48 pm

My stock passenger Syncro with just me in it weighs 3995. Weighed on the way into the dump to get some free compost. I am curious to see how much it weighs since I put the Suby engine in

Fri Nov 21, 2008 10:27 pm

Damn, them Vanagons are heavy! I guess beer weighs a lot!
JUst for comparison, my 76 Westy, with Golf engine, half a tank of water, half tank of gas, 40 pound tool box= 3500, with me standing off the scale. Thats less than I thought it would be.
I'm not ready to weigh myself in, though. 8)
Oh, I forgot, I had no spare tire at the time. Thats got to be it. :wink:

Sat Nov 22, 2008 2:17 am

She weighs;
16 tons and wada ya get,
Another day older, and deeper in debt.