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Axle Weight

Posted: Tue Mar 20, 2012 9:26 pm
by Ian
If your Bongo is registered as a campervan/motorhome, the next time you put it through your equivalent of the MOT you will be asked to provide the axle weight.

The cargo in a Bongo is evenly distributed over the front & rear axles.

Gross Vehicle Weight (ie carrying capacity) = 2360 kgs
Axle Weight (front) = 1180 kgs
Axle weight (rear) = 1180 kgs

They will have to take our word for it. The Bongo does not have an identification plate with the axle weights as it is not a legal requirement in Japan (or the UK).

Re: Axle Weight

Posted: Sat Aug 18, 2012 12:53 pm
by mattb
Ian, Thought you might be interested - I had to get confirmation of axle weights for my van from mazda for the DOE in Ireland- they eventually confirmed 950kg for front and 1250kg for back. Fran from Corberts in Waterford went through Mazda Europe to get the information based on the chassis no. I suspect that this will become an issue in the UK once EU regulations are fully implemented.

Re: Axle Weight

Posted: Sat Aug 18, 2012 4:19 pm
by RobEvans
Cheers

Re: Axle Weight

Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2015 4:35 am
by helen&tony
Hi
Just looked on my logbook. The larger of the 2 logbooks is marked to show the individual axle weights, so it will be in line with EU regs. It is registered as a company car. They just didn't fill the weights in on the logbook...in fact they didn't bother with a lot of details, but as they get tougher, they will have to be on there. It's a requirement here to carry a logbook, so there is a credit card sized one as well to produce if stopped....AND the vehicle is photographed for the MOT, and checked...so, as Bulgaria doesn't do anything unless it has to, I suspect all this is coming. There are 74 items on the logbook checklist!...Half of the MOT here is filling in paperwork, so I suspect that it will get a lot harder to move from one country to the next if the original registration did not have the EU "Certificate of Conformity", which is the bugbear that holds up personal imports to EU countries. I had checked round a lot of the popular places where English emigrate to in the EU, and had been advised to check with each country's motoring organisations for assistance, and the only 2 helpful ones were Ireland and Italy!...
So....back to axle weights..The MOT here involves weighing the car before it progresses onto the brake-tester...EACH axle weight...everything is confirmed on a computer, and printed out!...also, the whole show involves details of your driving licence, national identity card, local county insurance, car insurance and road tax. As I've already said, Bulgaria doesn't do anything if it doesn't have to...and it'll be the same with every EU country soon...?...so, this is going to be EU- wide...oh, it doesn't end there...the same thing applies to trailers...MOT every 2 years AND they have to be insured...frankly, it's a good idea, as there are some frightful things towed behind cars in the UK!!!! Also, trailers have to have a log-book, an individual registration, plus they are photographed.
The UK has a pretty healthy import scheme of old or exotic vehicles from outside the EU, and as far as I've ascertained, there's no plan to stop it...BUT...it means that you are going to find it VERY hard soon to import to another EU country....and this is the difficulty with France...The Bongo does NOT have an EU "Certificate of Conformity", and the old nutshell of the sliding door being on the wrong side is just what the individual county (department) MOT testers tell you to put you off, because they don't want to go through the rigamarole of explaining!!!!!...Some people have succeeded in registering in France (I suspect the international certificate of intention in the form of folding paperwork avoidance tokens has helped) ....and once registered , I guess you can re-register in another county.
As there's no immediate intention in the UK to stop non-EU imports, it may be worth considering long-term plans regarding where you live, but if you are on the move now, hurry up and get the vehicle re-registered!
Cheers
Helen

Re: Axle Weight

Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2015 8:13 pm
by cmm303
mattb wrote:Ian, Thought you might be interested - I had to get confirmation of axle weights for my van from mazda for the DOE in Ireland- they eventually confirmed 950kg for front and 1250kg for back. Fran from Corberts in Waterford went through Mazda Europe to get the information based on the chassis no. I suspect that this will become an issue in the UK once EU regulations are fully implemented.
Justifies the bigger tyres spec'd for the rear

Re: Axle Weight

Posted: Thu Apr 25, 2019 10:46 am
by misterparsley
I'm in the process of having my Bongo tested for the first time in Ireland (Waterford). The axle weights question came up and I was able to provide an export cert (form Japan) that the original UK owner had, however it only showed the kerbside weight (1800kg overall with front axle 840kg and rear 960kg). The cert also specified a Gross weight figure of 2240kg but nothing for gross front and rear axles. So the CVRT test centre took the kerbside figures and of course it failed on all fronts (overall, front and rear).

I was told to try Mazda main dealer or get an engineer to do the measurements. I spoke to Fran in Corbetts (previously mentioned in this thread) but he couldnt get anywhere as he was blocked by Mazda UK who said due to new restrictions they couldnt vouch for measurements anymore (EU rules?). I have been in touch with an engineer and am waiting to see if they can help (and how much it would cost).

Does anyone have any recent experience of this in Ireland? Would it be worth it taking it to another test centre to see if they are less strict. I tried to argue with the CVRT garage about the Gross weight on the export cert and that maybe they could calculate the gross axle weights from that figure based on the the kerbside weights shown. But it seems they need something in writing from an official source (ie Mazda, or and engineer).

I did talk with someone from Galway who has a few Bongos for sale on Donedeal - he said he has no problem his CVRT centre to sign off on the axle weights. So there may be some value in finding a test centre with a more flexible view on the whole issue.

Any ideas?

Re: Axle Weight

Posted: Thu Apr 25, 2019 11:46 am
by Ian
I can't help you about the specifics of this issue I'm afraid other than to tell you that Mazda UK are now under instructions not to supply information about grey imports because of the deluge of enquiries they have been receiving due to the introduction of London's Ultra Low Emission Zone.

It might be worth raising the issue on the Mazda Bongo Ireland Facebook Group. There's more on locals there than there are on here.

Re: Axle Weight

Posted: Wed Jun 12, 2019 11:45 am
by Alkers
Hi there, there is a specific form that you can fill out to declare the axle weights for the CVRT. Your test centre seems to be making a meal of it. You can download the form here:
http://www.rsa.ie/Documents/Vehicle%20T ... ements.pdf
I suggest you do this and then go back to your test centre and if they don't play ball then try another centre.
The figues I use are GVW: 2,380kg, front axle 1,090kg, rear axle 1290kg.
Once you do this once, the form will be uploaded to the vehicle record and should be visible to any test centre that you take the van to.
If you setup an account at CVRT.ie you should be able to access your vehicle and see previous tests and the completed form etc.
Let me know if I can help you any more?

Re: Axle Weight

Posted: Sun Oct 25, 2020 4:46 pm
by Kavodk
Hi misterparsley,
I'm having a similar issue but I can't get mine registered.
The vrt are looking for a letter from a main dealer confirming specs weight and vin.
If you are at the CVRT point am I correct in saying that you have had it registered already?
Did you have the same issue as I'm having?
Any resolution ideas would be much appreciated.

Another issue is that mine is a rebadged ford Freda version.

Thanks in advance.
Dave