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Old 10-16-2021, 04:06 AM   #1
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Finding "dry weight" vs GVWR?

I've been reading & looking into shuttle buses, and only finding the GVWR but what's the dry weight?

Meaning, if we can find out what a empty weight is, then we'll have a good idea of how much we can load it up. Make sense?


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Old 10-16-2021, 08:11 AM   #2
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The only weigh to know (see what I did there?) is to have your bus weighed. Find a truck stop with a scale...often with the Cat sign...and get it weighed. It's quick and easy. Other options include your local landfill, which might have a vehicle scale, or a metal recycling yard...any place where they have to weigh incoming and outgoing vehicles to determine loads.
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Old 10-16-2021, 09:50 AM   #3
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What Ross said.
And to ad....bulk landscape supply places, farm coops and or bulk farm animal feed suppliers, bulk sand and gravel yards, if grains and foods are grown by farmers in your area, find out where they are trucking to, they too will have scales. Just don't get in a line of trucks waiting to get weighed, do it some other slow time.
I use to use a scale at a cannery and frozen foods processing company. They utilized an unmanned semi truck size scale that they left on 24/7 and not fenced off. Anybody could drive in and get a weight slip from the scale.
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Old 10-16-2021, 10:53 AM   #4
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How would this work if we're looking at an auction, dealer, or other online resource?

I guess it just doesn't make sense to drive or fly 4-hrs JUST to weigh a vehicle before even considering whether we're interested or not. There's got to be a better way than that, no?
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Old 10-16-2021, 11:12 AM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Midwest_RVer View Post
How would this work if we're looking at an auction, dealer, or other online resource?

I guess it just doesn't make sense to drive or fly 4-hrs JUST to weigh a vehicle before even considering whether we're interested or not. There's got to be a better way than that, no?
I can't think of a precise way based on merely looking at online pictures. Buses are built to order in many custom sizes (most shuttle buses have had the frames cut in half and extended). Different window and seating configurations weigh differently.

As an example I have two 2001 rear engine school buses from the same manufacturer, one is 2 feet shorter than the other, but is about 2,000 pounds heavier thanks to a slightly different front body construction, add on accessories including AC and pass through storage bays, and chassis differences.

But what you may be able to do is do a rough calculation by counting the number of seats and assuming an average weight for a passenger. Take this number and subtract from the GVWR and now you have an estimated payload capacity. The seats themselves will probably add up to be another few hundred pounds in a shuttle bus and perhaps you can use this as a buffer margin.
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Old 10-16-2021, 11:17 AM   #6
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The ID plate on my bus had GVWR as well as "unladen weight". The scale at the dump confirmed the unladen weight to within 100 lbs, which I found pretty amazing. I'm guessing from the other responses that the "unladen weight" entry is rare, but maybe ask the seller for a pic of the VIN placard just in case?
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Old 10-16-2021, 01:04 PM   #7
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If you want to get a sense of how much weight you can safely add to a shuttle bus, count up the number of seats and multiply that by 200 pounds (the weight of a large-ish person). That will give you a total weight that for sure the bus can handle (and really it will be able to handle more than that, since you'll be removing the seats).
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Old 10-16-2021, 01:52 PM   #8
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Unladen weight on VIN tag
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Old 10-18-2021, 12:03 AM   #9
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Thanks! Great insights. I look for the VIN and see if the unladen weight is there. But if not, then perhaps calculate 200 lbs per seat might be helpful to calculate a close average.
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Old 10-21-2021, 02:00 AM   #10
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In Oregon, weigh-station equipment is 'on' 24/7.
We want our vehicle operators to know and understand their loads.
.
Oregon has an unossifered weigh-station for farmers about six miles from our place.
Of course, we take advantage of this...
* My 1996 BMW R1100RT weighs 560#... much heavier than expected.
* Our toy-hauler I built on a 12k goose-neck commercial chassis is near GVWR... a shock.
.
* The front-axle on our ExpeditionVehicle is 8,000#, our rear-axle carries 6,000#.
14,000# offers a nice cushion for cargo on a 29,000# GVWR.
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