Weight distribution

Van Living Forum

Help Support Van Living Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

catalekid

Active member
Joined
Sep 15, 2020
Messages
31
Reaction score
1
My van is a one ton 15 passenger Dodge Ram 3500

My battery bank is 360 lbs, my fridge is 60 lbs and my microwave weighs 15 lbs for a total weight of 435 lbs. 

Will I have weight distribution problems if I put that 435 lbs behind the driver seat?

Thank you if you can help.
 
It's not an airplane. You will be fine.

Imagine heavy adults on the left side and children on the right.

Now once you crash into a deep lake you would probably flip in the direction of the driver side. Follow the bubbles.
 
tx2sturgis said:
Anywhere between the axles is good.

Yes, and with extended Dodge and E-series Ford vans it's a good idea to not load much weight in the very back, in the extended part, behind the axle, so you don't get a pendulum effect happening back there.
 
I wouldn't worry about it too much. 
It's a good idea to make sure heavy items are secured.  In a crash heavy things maintain inertia.  I know of a incident where someone was killed driving a van with a unsecured tire & rim inside.  The van stopped moving, the tire didn't.  He died instantly.
 
MrNoodly said:
Yes, and with extended Dodge and E-series Ford vans it's a good idea to not load much weight in the very back, in the extended part, behind the axle, so you don't get a pendulum effect happening back there.

Yep, that's why I recommended this heavy and dense item be between the axles, on the OP's 15 passenger van. 

It's good practice to keep things like a heavy ice chest or fully loaded fridge, lead acid batteries, filled water jugs, water tanks, etc, between the axles on any light van or truck, but especially these 15 passenger extended vans. Secured of course!

Sometimes it's not possible, but in the case of the OP, there is room behind the drivers seat (we assume) and that will be fine.
 
Concur on keeping stuff between the axles. In my experience stuff behind the rear axle takes a beating since it's on the outside of the sprung lever. It's moving up and down a couple inches in the front, thats a foot or two in the back.
As far as left right balance. I've never had an issue when having several hundred pounds of band equipment loaded. It's inevitable that there will be a less than ideal weight distribution since drums weigh only a few pounds and amps weigh about 100 pounds each.
I guess it could affect tire wear?

My main concern with my own vehicle is the top heavy feeling going around turns. Some of that may go away as I install more stuff. But I think I may try some spring stiffener bars and some of those load upgrade springs.
 
The main reason not to over load the back end is it reduces the balance of weight on the front wheels.  In extreme situations it can be dangerously hard to control a vehicle particularly at high speeds. The cliche is a pick up truck overload with something like tile or gravel.  The back end is sagging and the front end is way up.   Unless you have a long van with lots of room behind your rear axle it's hard to get enough leverage to unbalance the front end.  That doesn't mean you should try though.
Anti sway attachments may give your van stability.  You can probably find what you are looking for at JC Whitney or whatever they morphed into.  The easy DIY is just make every effort to load your van for a low center of gravity.  If you need to have solar panels on top then so be it, but big roof mounted cargo boxes raise the center of gravity, a long with cutting into fuel milage.
 
My Transit seems a bit top heavy unloaded. So I am trying to put everything as low as possible. For the storage I do put up top I'm making those out of corrugated plastic material to keep the weight down. Probably just put clothes and light food items up top. Can goods etc go in the lowers.
 
Makes sense to me.  
I love exploiting vertical space as a concept, but it's far better in a stationary environment.  Tall vehicles tend to have a higher center of gravity just by nature of their design, they also have more issues with high winds.  Pop up campers make a lot of sense, lower center of gravity and wind resistance when traveling, more room when on site.
 
Top