I got the bus road worthy again and took it back to the CAT Scales. I got some fuel while I was there and met someone else who was bringing a bus home.
The weight differences from the first time I weighed it came from having the windows and (4) bus seats installed along with the room raise and the rear bumper/ hitch additions. I was very surprised at the effects on front/rear weight distribution with the heavy rear bumper I built. Having that weight 8’ behind the rear axle removed 80 lbs from the original front axle weight and added 540 lbs to the rear for a 47/53 distribution.
After my first trip to the scales yesterday, I came back home and added 1920 lbs worth of paving bricks and other junk behind the driver’s seat where I’m planning on mounting my water tank. At first I was thinking about mounting heavy stuff behind the rear axle to put my weight distribution in proportion with the current axle capacities. I had a long conversation with a member on this forum, Mr. Charlie Aarons, and he passed along some wisdom from real-world experience. It would have been a mistake to progress the build with most of the heavy things at the rear.
My second trip to the scales yesterday showed 7920 lbs on the front axle and 9180 lbs on the rear for a 46/54 distribution. Since I’m planning on single military tires all the way around and equal capacity axles front and rear in the future, it makes sense to shoot for as close to a 50/50 distribution as possible.
We also took it on a mild off-road track through a creek crossing and across some pretty decent dips and drop offs (by bus standards).
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