Overloaded vehicles
What is your hunting vehicle weight? We have all seen the overloaded Toyota Hilux or Landcruiser on the highway, bum dragging on the ground like a dog with worms. Many of us have probably been guilty of it at some stage (the overloaded vehicle that is).
In recent times, we have experienced the epidemic of the dreaded caravans on our outback roads. This has seen the likes of Queensland’s Transport and Main Roads department increasingly ever present. I know of 2 people with camper trailers being sent home and receiving a hefty fines in 2016 for being over their GCM. So the odds of being caught are high.
What’s possible worse than that is if you’re in an accident and your caught with your vehicle overweight, you could be found liable and have to pay damages out of your own pocket (with no coverage for your vehicle).
Vehicle GVM
So what is GVM? What is GCM? What is your payload or in layman’s terms; what’s the weight of your hunting vehicle?
GVM is Gross Vehicle Mass. This is the maximum recommended weight given to a vehicle by its manufacturer. Exceeding your GVM will void your warranty, void your insurance and wreck your springs.
GCM is Gross Combined Mass. This is the maximum recommended weight given to a vehicle and its trailer, by its manufacturer. Exceeding your GCM will void your warranty, void your insurance, wreck your springs and cause brake fade.
In this article we will address GVM and leave GCM for another day.
Payload
The payload of your vehicle is reflective of your GVM. That is the weight of your vehicle plus your payload. Let’s use an old 2013 Hilux dual cab turbo diesel manual as an example (a vehicle I’m sure most of you own or have owned). The Hilux has a kerb weight of 1,720kg and a payload (carrying capacity) of 990kg, the GVM is 2,710kg (sourced from Redbook).
The payload of 990kg includes everything; occupants, bull-bar, tow-bar, tray, service manual, air freshener, floor mats, lollies, drinks, the lot. Everything you have in your vehicle is included in your payload as your carrying capacity.
What’s your hunting vehicle weight?
*Please note some of these weights are guesstimates and your results may vary.
| GVM | Weight | Quantity | Sub-total |
| Hilux | 1720 | 1 | 1720 |
| Tray – steel | 250 | 1 | 250 |
| Side steps | 15 | 2 | 30 |
| Bull-bar | 75 | 1 | 75 |
| Tow-bar | 40 | 1 | 40 |
| Under tray tool box | 7 | 2 | 14 |
| Winch | 27 | 1 | 27 |
| Recovery gear | 20 | 1 | 20 |
| Water | 20 | 1 | 20 |
| Long range tank | 40 | 1 | 40 |
| Air compressor | 10 | 1 | 10 |
| Bash plates | 30 | 1 | 30 |
| Spotties | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Occupants | 85 | 2 | 170 |
| Dog cage | 40 | 1 | 40 |
| Dogs | 40 | 2 | 80 |
| Fridge | 40 | 1 | 40 |
| Firearms | 5 | 4 | 20 |
| Ammo | 50 | 1 | 50 |
| Quad | 300 | 1 | 300 |
| Unleaded | 15 | 2 | 30 |
| Cooking gear | 40 | 1 | 40 |
| Sleeping gear | 30 | 1 | 30 |
| Total | 3,080kg | ||
| Hilux GVM | 2,710kg | ||
| Over by | -370kg |
Even removing the quad bike your still over, no room for tow ball weight. Note this 3,080kg total does’t include; what’s in the glove-box, centre console, UHF, aerials, floor mats, light bar, shooting spotlight, etc.
As you can see, it’s very easy to go over you GVM/payload on your hunting rig (even on a quick hunting trip).
Basic vehicle weights
So let’s examine what weight we cant avoid and see what we are playing with.
| GVM | Weight | Quantity | Sub-total |
| Hilux | 1720 | 1 | 1720 |
| Tray – Steel | 250 | 1 | 250 |
| Side steps | 15 | 2 | 30 |
| Bull-bar | 75 | 1 | 75 |
| Tow-bar | 40 | 1 | 40 |
| Under tray tool box | 7 | 2 | 14 |
| Winch | 27 | 1 | 27 |
| Long range tank | 40 | 1 | 40 |
| Bash plates | 1 | 30 | 30 |
| Spotties | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Occupants | 85 | 1 | 85 |
| Total | 2,315kg | ||
| Hilux GVM | 2,710kg | ||
| Under by | 395kg |
With only the driver and all the fix items I have 395kg to spare. That’s not much. As soon as you add a second or third person you only have half the weight left. Or you put a quad on your only left with 95kg. That’s not much weight to play with.
Common mistakes
Upgrading your rear springs to 300kg constant load or similar does not increase your carrying capacity. What these springs are designed for is increasing you everyday carrying load (i.e. carrying tools everyday), so that your vehicle handles better.
Another temporary measure is; air bags or air assist. But these to are not for increasing your carrying capacity either.
To increase your carrying capacity you need to do a GVM upgrade such as that done by Creative Conversions, which is very expensive and involves beefing up your rear axle to take the extra load.
Although the 300kg constant load springs and airbags will keep your ride level and maybe the cops off your back, they wont keep you legal.
Hunting vehicle weight reduction
What are the solutions? Well of course you could start leaving stuff behind but most of what’s listed is required on a hunt.
My recommendation is to get a trailer. Even a small un-braked box trailer is going to be; much safer, reduce your hunting vehicle weight and keep you legal. If you use your hunting rig as a daily driver, the best part is you can pre-pack the trailer the day before you leave.
Other heavy vehicle weight loss considerations
Why does everyone want a steel tray? An aluminum tray will save you about 130kg. By using an aluminum tray you would now have room for 525kg, this is getting to a respectable figure.
I have heard some people complain about the aluminum tie-down rails bending when tying down quads. But the reality is they are probably strapping them down to excess.
I live in the city and I would suggest 90% of utes here have aluminum trays and I haven’t seen many with bent tie-down rails. I understand if you throwing stuff in them all the time steel will last longer. But how many people do you know of that had to replace a “worn out” aluminum tray?
Do you really need under tray tool boxes? What have you got in them? More unnecessary junk? Save 14kg plus the excess weight of the contents.
Could you do without a winch? Do you need bash plates? Might be time to do a stock-take. Work out what you actually do and don’t need in order to reduce your hunting vehicle weight. Consider building a dog box from aluminum instead of steal.
Heavy hunting rig payload conclusion
I think there are 2 reasonable options:
1. Fit an aluminum tray
2. Use a trailer
If most of your hunting is solo, fitting an aluminum tray is probably a great idea.
However if your hunting with friends, using a trailer is really the only way to reduce your hunting rig’s weight/payload, but retain all your hunting items.
Get yourself a good trailer!
Ripper of a trailer spotted on Brisbane high way, dual axle, aluminum bed and Off-road tyresSo coming soon is “What’s your hunting rig’s GVM?” and selecting the correct trailer.