The payload talk: have it before you quote

How to work out ute payload with a tray and canopy before you quote: a worked Ranger example, rear axle loads and when to raise a GVM upgrade.

Three weeks after handover, the customer rings. The back of the ute sits low, it wallows through every dip on the highway, and a mate has told him he's over GVM. He wants to know why nobody worked out his ute payload with a tray and canopy before he paid the deposit.

That conversation is easier at the counter, before you quote. Payload is the vehicle's GVM less its kerb weight, and everything you build comes out of it: tray, canopy, drawers, water, fridge, then the people and their gear. On a dual cab, a tray, a touring canopy and a few options can use a third of the payload before anyone gets in. Add two people and it's close to half.

Payload is GVM minus kerb weight

GVM, or gross vehicle mass, is the most the ute is allowed to weigh on the road, fully loaded. It's in the owner's manual and the maker's published specs. Kerb weight is the ute as delivered, before anyone or anything gets in. The difference is payload, and it has to cover everything: the build, the passengers, the fuel in an extra tank and every tool in the drawers.

Two things catch customers out. A cab-chassis kerb weight normally has no tray on it, so the tray comes out of payload like everything else. And anything fitted before the ute reaches you has already taken its share: a bull bar, a tow bar, side steps, a winch. CarsGuide's worked example starts with 1,000 kg of payload and halves it with a steel tray, bull bar, side steps and tow bar, before a single tool goes in.

An overloaded ute is rarely one heavy item. It's a long list of reasonable ones:

• the tray, and the canopy with any roof rack on it
• drawers, fridge slide and water tank
• the water, at about 1 kg per litre
• the fridge, and what's in it
• people
• tools, recovery gear and camping gear
• the tow ball weight, if they tow

Working out ute payload with a tray and canopy

Take a typical touring build on a Ford Ranger PY dual cab cab-chassis. Its payload is approx. 1,220 kg from published figures: a 3,280 kg GVM less a 2,060 kg kerb weight. The part weights are catalogue weights, and the people are an allowance of 75 kg each.

Most customers hear 655 kg and relax. Then the trip gets packed. The 110 kg line is the slide and a full tank; the fridge and its contents are still to come. So are the recovery gear, the camping gear, whatever goes on the roof and a third or fourth passenger. Put the same tray and canopy on a tradie's ute, fill the drawers with tools and fittings, and the margin shrinks faster.

These are estimates. The payload depends on the exact variant and what the dealer fitted, and the part weights depend on what you build. Check the maker's figures for the customer's ute, not a brochure for the range, and confirm final weights at fit-out.

Under GVM can still mean over the rear axle

The total is one limit. Each axle has its own rating too, and 4WDing Australia's Aaron Schubert explains how a ute can be under GVM and still over an axle. Dual cabs are the usual problem. By his figures, many have about 300 mm of load space ahead of the rear axle and about 1,500 mm behind it. Weight behind the axle pushes the rear down and lifts the front. In his tow bar example, a 132 kg ball weight puts about 190 kg on the rear axle. He also points out that if a GVM upgrade doesn't raise the rear axle's capacity, the axle is still the limit.

The layout is the part you control. His advice is to carry heavy items over or ahead of the rear axle, and where the build allows, that's where they belong: the water tank, the fridge, the drawer of tools. Leave the back of the canopy for light, bulky gear. When the layout can't do that, say so, and show the customer where the weight is going.

Raise the GVM upgrade before the ute is registered

If the estimate leaves less than the customer needs for their gear, tell them at the quote. That's when a GVM upgrade can still be planned around the tray and canopy instead of chased after handover.

There are two routes. A pre-rego upgrade is done before the ute's first registration, as part of the national Second Stage Manufacturer (SSM) scheme. Once the ute is registered it's post-rego: approved at state level by a state-approved engineer or company, and the certification may need updating if the ute moves or is sold interstate (4X4 Australia, CarsGuide). 4X4 Australia's own Ranger was an ex-demo with 6,000 km on it, so pre-rego wasn't possible.

For a workshop, the timing is the point. A customer waiting on a new ute has until it's registered to go pre-rego, so the dealer, the upgrade supplier and your build slot need sorting before delivery. The process differs between states, so tell customers to check with their state's registration authority and the upgrade supplier. On your quote, list the GVM upgrade as included or excluded so nobody assumes.

Put the estimate on the quote

The payload talk takes five minutes. Write it down, so it doesn't rest on what anyone remembers. On the quote, show:

• the vehicle's payload, and that it comes from the maker's published GVM and kerb weight
• the build's weight, line by line
• an allowance for people
• what's left, labelled as an estimate

You need the right details first: the exact variant, how many people usually ride, whether they tow and what they carry. Those belong in the questions your quote request form should ask, and the estimate belongs in your quoting process next to the price. That's why I gave every part in Fitout a weight. Customers watch the estimate move as they add options, so the payload talk has started before they reach the counter.

Confirm the weights at fit-out. Weigh the finished ute and ask for front and rear axle readings, not only the total. 4WDing Australia notes that a weighbridge only gives fair axle readings with a flat entry and exit, and prefers a mobile service that weighs each wheel. Keep the ticket in the job file, so if the customer rings three weeks later, you're both looking at the same numbers.

Talk to Ben to see payload counted against the parts you build.