To give you an idea of how you’re easy it is to overload your vehicle, we have chosen two popular 4x4s – Toyota 200 Series Land Cruiser and the Ford Ranger – and added typical touring 4WD accessories. Let’s see how they stack up.
| MODEL | Land Cruiser 200 | Ford Ranger |
| Kerb weight | 2740kg | 2200kg |
| GVM | 3350kg | 3200kg |
| GCM | 6850kg | 6000kg |
| Towing capacity | 3500kg | 3500kg |
LET’S START LOADING THEM UP:
| EQUIPMENT | Land Cruiser 200 | Ford Ranger |
| Bulbar/lights/winch | 100kg | 100kg |
| Roof rack | 50kg | 40kg |
| Canopy | N/A | 80kg |
| Hi-Lift/shovel | 20kg | 20kg |
| Rear bar dual carrier | 80kg | 80kg |
| Rear drawers | 40kg | 50kg |
| Fridge/slide | 80kg | 80kg |
| Long-range tank | 60kg | 50kg |
| Fuel fuel Tank | 135kg | 70kg |
| Accessory battery | 30kg | 30kg |
| Additional wheel | 15kg | 15kg |
| LT tyres | 55kg | 55kg |
| TOTAL ACCESSORIES | 665kg | 670kg |
| Kerb weight | 2740kg | 2200kg |
| Actual GVM with accessories | 3350kg | 3200kg |
| LOAD CAPACITY | 55kg overweight | 330kg |
As you can see in the tables above, the Land Cruiser is already overweight before you even start to pack the essentials, or even passengers. The Ranger hasn’t got much load capacity left either.
TOWING
If you didn’t think it was complicated enough; there are further considerations when towing. Again, we’ll use the Land Cruiser as an example. If you add the maximum braked towing weight (3500 kg) and the GVM (3350 kg) together you get 6850 kg, which happens to be the GCM (Gross Combined Mass). So at GVM, you’re able to tow the 4WD’s full rating of 3500 kg. However, that’s not always the case for every car.
Now, let’s do the sums on the Ranger. Just like the Land Cruiser, it has a braked towing capacity of 3500 kg. The Ranger only has a GCM of 6000 kg. So with the Ranger, if your towing full capacity of 3500 kg, you will have next to no room for any accessories, such as bull bar, canopy, dual battery, etc.
The Tow Ball Mass (TBM) also affects you GVM. When you’re towing 3500 kg, with either the Ranger or the Toyota, if you’re Tow Ball Mass is 350kg (10%) of your van, you can add that weight directly onto the 4WD’s GVM.
GVM UPGRADES
BEFORE you give up and throw the keys in the bin; there is salvation in the form of a GVM upgrade. In the case of the Land Cruiser, you can install an upgrade that will lift the GVM from 3350 kg to 3800 kg, giving you a massive payload increase of 450 kg.
The Ford Ranger GVM upgrade will get you from 3200 kg up to 3500 KG.
