This thread or qustion of the bikers at Hubb - is also valid for us 4x4 Overlanders specially if we travel inside of the 3.5 ton class:

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...lly-need-37855

Many of us dream about a overlanding car with Front bar, winch, rear bar, two reartyre holders, about a really capable Offroad verhicle for our big trip.

We want to add some armor, to add a roof rack, to add stuff above. Yes, we can do that, but then most of the cars are on their legal weight limit, when we finish our buildup.

I tried to write down some stuff you can see on many cars on worldtrips: Just the basics, people on extended trips carry usually more than that, more food & beverage also in this calculations are no clothings and shoes and so on - just the basic stuff....




As you can see, with an fully equipped "highend" offroad equipped car, there is not much weigh left - for passengers and for camping gear.

I suggest strongly that you weight your car bevore you decide what you will add to the bill. Mostly you will see much more weight on the bill than is noted in your car papers.

This way you can load and balance your travel setup more conscious, maybe you can save some kilos with more leightweight stuff.

This weight calculation above is with 5 tyres, to add a 2nd spare will make it worse...

Article in English
4x4tripping: the buildup of the verhicle: Winch, Frontbar, Sparetyreholder

Article in German
4x4tripping: Geländewagen-Umbau Seilwinde, Stosstange, Ersatzreifenträger, Zusatztank

If severall offroad equipment is necessary that is up to you. You can find your offroad challenge in most areas of the world, inside of a radius of 40km. But not everyone search for such a challange during their journey, and need stuff like trail armor, winch, bars and so on.

How did you travel? Did you ever weight your vehicle fully equipped for a trip?

If your start your buildup - weight it, and balance your setup between the axcles, look for a setup who is not too much above And maybe you look for a car, who allows to add more kilos in a legal way.

Surfy

__________________
About Overlanding, Travelogues, Equipment
Trans-Africa over the west coast