Gross Vehicle Weight and Camping/Overlanding

christopheru

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I have been unable to find the Gross Vehicle Weight of the Bronco Sport anyplace. Ford isn’t telling…

This matters as each vehicle is specified for a maximum weight allowance for it to carry. That weight includes the vehicle itself and all options, tires, and any addons. It also includes people.

One of the full size specs has a max cargo load of 1160 pounds. That is NOT much.

Toss on a roof rack, tank of fuel, spare fuel and water, camping equipment, winch, fridge, power supply, solar, basket, food, clothing, recovery gear, big tires, a bumper? Etc and you can easily have a really cool truck which cannot carry people.

IF you are going to use your Bronco Sport as a low rent overland truck, remember this.

Suggestions are use Falken tires not KO2 as they weight 6lbs less each. That adds up if you are going to have a full size spare. Use aluminium addons, not steel. Put your rig - full fueled up with all your kit and all your people on a weigh scale and see how stuffed you are and then start tossing stuff.

If you modify your suspension, do so with an eye for increasing your vehicle capacity, not just getting a lift. Sadly, we have a unibody vehicle. I am not sure how easy it would be to increase through re-engineering the underside gross vehicle weight. People who know what they are doing can add bracing in the right spots for increasing GVW with a frame truck.

If you do load it up, consider braided brake cables, and much beefier brakes. Also, consider a transmission cooler (oil) and perhaps coolers for the clutch heading back to the rear in the drivetrain (non badlands models). Perhaps accept a longer setup and break down time and ground camp. Use back packing kitchen gear and leave the cast iron at home. Carry as little as possible. Titanium stuff is wonderful for being tough and very light.

Riding 1000s of km of rough roads and tracks will destroy an over weight vehicle (and over weight is quite likely illegal anyways).
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ChefDank

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I have been unable to find the Gross Vehicle Weight of the Bronco Sport anyplace. Ford isn’t telling…

This matters as each vehicle is specified for a maximum weight allowance for it to carry. That weight includes the vehicle itself and all options, tires, and any addons. It also includes people.

One of the full size specs has a max cargo load of 1160 pounds. That is NOT much.

Toss on a roof rack, tank of fuel, spare fuel and water, camping equipment, winch, fridge, power supply, solar, basket, food, clothing, recovery gear, big tires, a bumper? Etc and you can easily have a really cool truck which cannot carry people.

IF you are going to use your Bronco Sport as a low rent overland truck, remember this.

Suggestions are use Falken tires not KO2 as they weight 6lbs less each. That adds up if you are going to have a full size spare. Use aluminium addons, not steel. Put your rig - full fueled up with all your kit and all your people on a weigh scale and see how stuffed you are and then start tossing stuff.

If you modify your suspension, do so with an eye for increasing your vehicle capacity, not just getting a lift. Sadly, we have a unibody vehicle. I am not sure how easy it would be to increase through re-engineering the underside gross vehicle weight. People who know what they are doing can add bracing in the right spots for increasing GVW with a frame truck.

If you do load it up, consider braided brake cables, and much beefier brakes. Also, consider a transmission cooler (oil) and perhaps coolers for the clutch heading back to the rear in the drivetrain (non badlands models). Perhaps accept a longer setup and break down time and ground camp. Use back packing kitchen gear and leave the cast iron at home. Carry as little as possible. Titanium stuff is wonderful for being tough and very light.

Riding 1000s of km of rough roads and tracks will destroy an over weight vehicle (and over weight is quite likely illegal anyways).
The sticker in the driver's door has the GVWR
 

VirtualJMills

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Put your rig - full fueled up with all your kit and all your people on a weigh scale and see how stuffed you are and then start tossing stuff.
Also, if you will be towing: Ask for a PER AXLE weight, not a TARE weight. Costs should be about the same for either type.

Keep clear notes of exactly how the vehicle was configured at the time (weight of each occupant including their clothes, state of fuel -- ideally "full tank", any accessories, cargo, etc… already installed/inside).

Also, you might want to go over the critical numbers on the truck-scale printout with fine indelible ink pen/marker, because chemical-triplicate printouts tend to fade to illegibility.

Once you have this data, you can leverage the door sill-plate data (Gross Vehicle Weight Rating, Front Gross Axle WR/Rear GAWR, and Gross Combined VWR -- the latter "with trailer") to determine what you can add.

If you're towing, and are willing to make some basic tape-measurements, you can also use online trailer-physics calculators to figure out impact of tongue weight on front/rear axle weights.
 


VirtualJMills

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Ok. The number is 4630 lbs - max weight including cargo, fuel, and people. Now I need the dry weight ?
For me:

Badlands trim level, Badlands package, Falken stock 235 tires.

Full fuel tank.

~165 lb driver
~ 60 lb dog

4020 lb tare weight.

Not equipped for towing yet, so once that's done I'll do a per-axle re-weight.
 

Rgill

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Ahhh, this takes me back to when we were thinking of towing a full RV trailer and had settled on an F250 (changed our minds during the pandemic). All the calculations and mathematics! We ordered the BS BL with tow but are only planning on using it to pull a snowmobile for fun and no camping. Our FJ cruiser gives us a little more tow ability if needed. But then I have to pull out the damn math book again! :)
 

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You'd also want to know the load and speed rating of your tire, psi.
 

Rgill

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Glamdring70

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Ok. The number is 4630 lbs - max weight including cargo, fuel, and people. Now I need the dry weight ?
Right next to the sticker with the GVWR is the other sticker, which at the top, specifies your maximum load. The stickers are build-dependent so the factory already took your GVWR and subtracted vehicle weight to give the number on that sticker.

FWIW, I also find the vehicle weight rating marginal. Two people with what I would call a typical amount of gear and snacks for a day or weekend trip, that put mine at 4400lbs (measured on a highway scale). With a 4730 GVWR rating on mine, that barely leaves enough leftover for a trailer or a roof system or a third person but not really a combination of those.
 
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christopheru

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Figured it out. I have about 1087lbs to play with (not seeing the weight with sunroof for some reason) Rounding that down to 1000 lbs in order to stay within limits.

Not a lot for two people, kit, fuel, and all that really.

So here is a thought. That is sprung weight. I wonder how tires play in. I want the KO2, but the Falkens are lighter. Likely I will go lighter because of the better mileage and stopping.

Either way, beefier suspension will boost what the vehicle can hold to a point, and then it becomes silly for a bronco sport. It isn’t powered by a 3l td six with a beefy transmission to match.
 

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When I bought this Escape on steroids I was sure I’d not be maxing it out or going, ‘overland’.
If I was wanting to lug gear and friends I’d have bought a much more substantial vehicle.
 
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christopheru

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When I bought this Escape on steroids I was sure I’d not be maxing it out or going, ‘overland’.
If I was wanting to lug gear and friends I’d have bought a much more substantial vehicle.
Yay for you!
When I bought it I was sure I was!
Should things come together, ours will see all three oceans that touch Canada and roll down some of the nastiest gravel and mud roads in North America.
It won’t be used off road though.
 
 




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