stock FG weight?

[garybo]

I've looked at the usual literature
http://www.mitfuso.com/en-US/Resources/Literature
and the service manual. The max payloads are listed, but not the truck avg base weight. Also emailed a note to Mitsubushi.
What's the avg dry '03-'06 133" WB truck weights before any modifications? Don't need to be totally correct- just looking for avg:
FG 639
FG 649
FG 140
FYI, after getting our rig weighed all 4 corners next week and subtracting out the base weight, I'll post our camper/modifications weight.
Gary

 

[ThomD]

The Mitsu site says that the curb weight for the FG 140 2006 is 5,842 lb.

http://www.mitfuso.com/Content/Documents/pdf/Archive/SpecSheets06/06_FG140.pdf

 

[garybo]

What about curb weight on any year 639? The 649 and 140 would be heavier.

 

[blackduck]

gary
going off the weighbridge certificate for rego purposes the tare weight of my 2007 FG649 as a baby cab chassis was 2640Kg
Ill leave it to you to do the conversion to pounds, shillings and pence.
hope this helps

 

[garybo]

That's one 5808 and one 5842 lbs on the 140 and 649. Both these are heavier and carry a ton more than my lighter 639 whose weight is still a mystery. Any 639 owners out there?? I'm going to really hate being the only one!

 

[garybo]

Just found the '03-'04 "body/payload" to be 6255 lbs. With GVWR of 12000 lbs, guess the truck weighs 5745 lbs.

 

[garybo]

5842 lbs for the older 140s
5808 lbs for the 649, 34 lbs less steel
5745 lbs for the 639, 97 lbs less steel, 2000 lbs less payload than either of the above, same drive train
thanks

 

[garybo]

Got all corners weighed, full fluids, both of us sitting in cab.
Our 639 GVWR is 12000. We weigh 13800, 1800 lbs over GVWR but under GAWR, front and rear. The engine/drive train for the 649 is the same as ours but has a GVWR of 14000 and 97 lbs more steel in the frame.
Front corners were equally balanced and not overweight.
Estimated weights for incidentals: 2 spare tires/wheels and rack (250), Knaack under chassis storage box with 2 air compressors, jack, blocks, tools (100), 55gal fuel tank and fuel (500) and 2 new C-channel mounts (250), for a total of 1100 lbs.
Truck weight = 5745 lbs
Payload (8055) - incidentals (1100) = 6955 lbs for fully loaded camper. You'll ask, "what in the world do you have in that camper that weighs so much"? Don't know. The camper has 2 inches of insulation plus wood plus fiberglass and an unusually large amount of inside and outside filled up storage- haven't seen another camper with this combination, even the GXVs, which we closely examined at the Expo.
We're getting the 649 springs today. We've renewed or rebuilt all systems.
This rig has traveled 43 countries without anything breaking. We had the camper remounted by Unicell. We may unload some but based on a successful travel history with the same weights, we're going to hit the northern US/Canada roads for a trial run year. Hoorah!!

 

[mog]

For reference my 2001 Fuso FG by the book is 5800 lbs. bare.
It was 9142 lbs. on commercial scales.
This is with me at 240 lbs, 20 gallons of fuel at 135 lbs, and of course full service of oil, water, etc
So that should mean my ‘box' and extras are around 2967 pounds.
The box is an empty 14-foot long Marathon commercial box (8 feet high, 8 feet wide).
Construction is .040 aluminum on 24” stringers, so that is pretty lightweight construction. BUT the floor in 1.5 inch hardwood, over heavy joist beams, with 2 heavy longitudinal beams also. Plus doubled 4 x material to space the bed up to match the frame step height. Also it has a hydraulic lift gate, so I'd guess that is about 600+ pounds with the gate, deck, ram, motor/pump and hydraulics. And I'm sure it's current roll-up rear door is a heavy weight also.
It can get some of a diet, but I don't think changing the floor would be worth the effort for the weight savings gained. Obviously for a camper, I don't need the load rating that floor has.

Mark

 

[garybo]

So a commercial 14' mounted enclosed box with hydraulic lift gate, roll up door and a few extras is about 3000 lbs. Our loaded camper is 7000 lbs. We've lived full time in it for a year. Prior to yesterday we felt every pebble and imperfection, jolting us severely, even after getting Rancho adjustable shocks, thinking that our ride was due to being overweight. We couldn't even rock the rig by pushing on the sides, front, etc. Yesterday we had Mitsu put 649 springs on our 639. The rig now rides like a Cadillac!! Amazing improvement. $4000. Decided against Deaver, National, Alcan, etc, just because we wanted to stay with Fuso parts, mechanics, advice, and experience- it was a good choice for us. The old springs were just worn out, even though another Fuso/International shop took off our passenger side springs, "tested" them and said they were OK. In spite of this we pressed ahead with the replacement. Conflicting opinions cause us confusion!
Now for the 11 mo old Rancho shocks, remotely adjustable from 0-9. These don't raise the rig like an air bag. They just make the ride soft to firm. Before we got the new springs, if we had more than 3 on the front the ride got worse! We now have a great ride. Our thinking is that having the pump, air hoses and a hard to get Rancho parts, we're better off with the straight Fuso shocks. Don't know if the adjustable feature would come in handy? We'll sell them on Craig's.

 

[dhackney]

Gary,

Very glad to hear the 649 springs worked well for you! That's great news.

we're better off with the straight Fuso shocks.

I could not disagree more. The stock shocks are worthless.

I can't speak to the value or performance of the Rancho shocks, but I can say the stock Fuso shocks are of minimal or less value and capability.

IMO, you cannot extrapolate your success with a stock Fuso part with the 649 springs to the shocks.


Doug

 

[kerry]

What are the differences between the 639 and 649 springs?

 

[SkiFreak]

Conflicting opinions cause us confusion!

One of the joys of the internet is that forums like this one exist.
The problem is that, like any forum, you will always get differing views on just about everything. The challenge is to sort the wheat from the chaff and determine what information, if any, is suited to your particular situation.

Personally, I see forums as a place to get ideas rather than solutions, and for that I think they are brilliant (especially this one).

 

[garybo]

the 639 springs are for GVWR of 12000 lbs, the 649 for 14000. I don't know the specific metal construction differences.

 

[kerry]

Do they have the same number of leaves and the same arch (originally)?