Vehicle Regulations

hey all,

today i called up the road departments about suspension/body lift upgrades and got forwarded to technical, but already at 12pm they've all gone home...fkn brilliant

i called up because i also checked with my insurance company what modifications were allowed for suspension, etc and was told there is no limit to anything as long as it was road legal.

after browsing i came across this site:
http://www.toyo.com.au/TechInfoPDFs/Alternative%20Wheels%20&%20Tyres%20%20-%20Regulations.pdf

which states...

TYRES
Overall Diameter
For passenger cars or passenger car derivatives, The overall diameter of the wheel and tyre combination must be no more than 15mm larger and not more than 26mm smaller than that of any tyre designated by the vehicle manufacturer for that model.
For off-road passenger or commercial vehicles , The overall diameter of the wheel and tyre combination must be no more than 50mm larger and not more than 26mm smaller than that of any tyre designated by the vehicle manufacturer for that model.
Where a vehicle has its GVM re-rated, the tyre load capacity must be capable of the carrying of the revised GVM, both in total and across individual axles.

i then called up the road department asking if my navara tray back ute was classified as a commercial vehicle. through their database against my insurance it is listed that my vehicle is a 'goods vehicle' which is also supposedly a 'commercial vehicle' which thus means i am able to increase my tyre size diameter by up to 50mm, not the standard 15mm

i will call again about the technical side as i want my car to be legal as i'm a younger driver and a crash is more likely to occur so i definitely dont want insurance denying a claim because i did something illegal to the car that voids warranty of the insurance.

hope you WA guys found this handy

In Vic, I believe your allowed 2" tyres, 2" suspension and 2" body lift. But looks like the rules are going to be nationalised, I know they are trying to impose a 2" total height limit.
That will suck!.

My understanding is that you can exceed those limits with an engineering certificate.

The issue is in the structure of the vehicle. It's been designed for certain heights, wheel diameters and offsets etc, and for those specifications, has certain bearings, bracing, suspension components blah blah blah.

There are also limits to vehicle widths and how far your tyres can protrude from guards etc etc. You also need to be careful how far the rolling centre of the wheel is from the designed centre (offset) - too great a number and the bearings undergo an increased loading, which the engineer may not give a certificate without beefing up the bearings themselves.

Those documents that you've found do have all this detail in them (or should!). It's a minefield of mumbo jumbo that basically says if you're going to go outside some rather narrow limits, you need that certificate.

Oh, and what they might not say is, in order to make sure that certificate actually counts, it has to be lodged with the insurance company and the RTA or whatever your state calls its department for "stealing money from car owners in the name of registering the vehicle".

Kudos to you for investigating this, too. Most young 'uns would go and do the mods and then consider bankruptcy as a viable escape route.

i just want to find out what are all the current legal limits without obtaining a engineers cert. as i've been told those cost a fair bit of cash? anyone know?

currently my upgrade wheels/tyres are the biggest i can go according the the 50mm diam specification....so if i put bigger wheels on then its no longer road legal or what? or can i have bigger wheels put on and then get it certified by an engineer?

theres so many grey areas with insurance that its lame, but yeah, if anything is changed and need a certificate i'd show insurance asap.

If you get any definites make sure u post em here, it gets very confusing with the differences between states etc...

last time i heard an engineers cert will set you back around the $600 mark but thats just what ive heard no hard facts i wonder if solid D22 would know surely he would have one after that kind of mod

Mine was about $800.

bloody hell!

Pro-Nav2.7TDi said:

Mine was about $800.

Click to expand...

$800 is cheap! Can cost thousands depending on how many mods you have done.

i found in ADR lists a whole bunch of info, and this came to my eye since i'm doing exhaust modifications...

by the way, light goods vehicles, or the cars we drive, are known as NA category (goods vehicles under 3.5GVM)

Cheers Maddog! Was handy....

Will be interested to know about the body lift situation in WA....

body lift?

i was never really a fan about it, but i guess i could look up the legalities of it, but i'm pretty sure its illegal.

I did a bit of research about body lifts in WA late last year and from memory I'm pretty sure you have to put it through a lane change test with the transport department - I think it's around $750 to do.
The regs are on their website, I'll have another look and post it if I can find it.

Drew said:

I did a bit of research about body lifts in WA late last year and from memory I'm pretty sure you have to put it through a lane change test with the transport department - I think it's around $750 to do.

Click to expand...

I know Toyota Monthly reckons QLD have the worst rules but I reckon WA takes the cake by far.

Well, I just tried to look it up again and I keep getting refered to the National code of practice (from the WA Transport gov site) and that says lifts up to 50mm are ok as long as the regs are followed!

If you look up the WA transport site and follow what needs to be examined, etc it sends you to these regs:
National Code of Practice for Light Vehicle Construction and Modification (NCOP)
If you click on NCOP11 for suspension at steering you'll get this:
http://www.infrastructure.gov.au/ro...ction_LS_Suspension_and_steering_3Feb2006.pdf

on page 21 it says

Bodies can be lifted up to 50mm using spacer blocks on the chasis mounts and can be approved under codes LS3 & LS4 and LS5 &LS6

Click to expand...

I take from that that they are legal as long as you get them inspected.

I've sent an email and I'll post the reply.
Drew

Sorry maddog if I've interupted your thread! If you look in those regs mate you might find what you are looking for.

it says light vehicle, but i dont see anywhere about the reference to our vehicle category 'light goods vehicle' (NA, being GVM less then 3.5t)

i'm going to call up the road transport mob myself and get some direct answers and confirmations. that way if anything does happen such as an accident and i'm told that a so so modification is illegal then i can put my evidence forward.

called the mob up today, its 9216 3880 incase you wanted to know

does my 1998 diesel ute need a cat? NO

does my 1998 diesel ute need a muffler? NO, as long as its below the noise limit (99dB for standstill, 80dB moving)

are exhaust stacks legal? YES, as long as they are shielded

where can my exhaust exit? as long as its a tray back, it can exit anywhere under the tray as long as its 230mm from the back of the cab and is pointing down at a 45 degree angle. cant exit to any sides. if stacks they have to be facing so the exhaust gases escape backwards, not to the sides.

can i have a body lift? YES, up to 150mm above the manufactuers stated roof height.

NOTE: all modifications, especially the body lift, need a full engineering/licensing approval. application forms on the website.

A SPECIAL NOTE: i was also told that even for leaf springs, if i use 2" lift springs then you still need to get a approval that they are up to scratch and all fitted properly. HOWEVER, i replaced my springs as they were sagged and old, and apparently changing them over even though they are 2" lift springs is fine because its under 'repairs'.

interesting stuff ay?

and another thing i read,

the distance between the ground and the top of your headlights cant be more then 1.2m...

if it is then your car is too tall and again illegal...

Damn, it would have been easier my way!!

Well at least now we know for sure what has to be done. Cheers for that mate.

i couldnt find any of the exhaust stuff in the pages on the website, so i found it simpler to just ask and get a proper explanation on WHY i cant do this or that.

asking exhaust q's cause i'm after a new system and you got people saying 'no no no, you need a cat and muffler' or 'no no no, you only need a cat, all cars need a cat' rah rah rah

least this way i got what i wanted to know, and its surprising also that a whole bunch of exhaust shops i called earlier (and made a big post on) said that i dont need a cat for the navara, yet i do according to the licensing centre.

bit of a worry ay