Franklin specs?

[Deleted]

Hi all.
Can anyone help with some info on Franklin caravans? ie, tare weight, GVM etc.
I have a Franklin Hunter, 15 ft, which I believe is a 78 version.
Number on the drawbar is V8288.

Thought it was gunna be a piece of cake to register and tow it to where it's gotta be, but not so.

Was a time in SA we could take the rego number in, hand over some bux, and walk out with the sticker. But after an hour of standing around, trying to guess what the tare weights etc might be ... despite the fact the .... female person ... behind the counter had all the details right in front. I gave up. 3 day permit it is, and I'll get another when I need to move it again.

[viscount6116]

Gday Eddy
Im assuming that you are in SA. If you want to save a heap of drama trying to register your caravan go back to the person you bought it from and get them to re register the van in their name(ie as it appears on the registration certificate) and then just transfer the registration into your name and pay the transfer fees,the rego cost and the stamp duty.

Believe me it is a hell of a lot easier than pushing on with a new registration on an old vehicle....choice is yours !!!

Cheers Andy

[Deleted]

Yeah I now that Andy. Normally I would have, but I bought it from a bloke who bought it from a bloke who got it from a deceased estate.
Bloke I got it from has never used it ... sat in his shed for 2-3 years. Previous owner never had it registered either as far as we can tell, coz the number plate that came with it was for something completely different.

[millard1399]

G'day eddy,

If you just need to give them some weight figures, and you don't need to have any proof (like a weighbridge ticket), then you could give them the following information:

15ft single axle caravan = 880kgs tare weight, and 1180kgs ATM

These figures are based on rough calculations that can be done for caravans from the 1970s.

cheers,
Al.

[Spin]

Oct 5, 2012 7:56:36 GMT 10 @eddy said:

I have a Franklin Hunter, 15 ft, which I believe is a 78 version.
Number on the drawbar is V8288.

Hi, I have just had a look at the info I have for my Franklin Arrow. The warranty card is dated 17.4.1975 and the serial number is V8791.
From that info I would date your van as a 75 version.

Spin.

[ForumMod]

G'day spin, and welcome to the forum! ;D

You may be just the person I've been waiting for to come on the forum with the original paperwork for a Franklin van.

What exactly does the warranty date relate to? The van itself?...or one of the appliances in the van?

A chassis number of V8791 means it's the 8,791st chassis built in the year, and considering Franklin were building up around 10,000 units per year in the early 1970s, the 8,791st chassis would have to have been built pretty close to the end of the year.

That would make me think your van was built at the end of 1974, but not sold until April 1975 (which seems like a long gap, but maybe possible?)

Can you give me a bit more info about what the warranty date relates to, please?

cheers,
Al.

[spin]

Hi Al, Thank you for the welcome.

Below is the hand written part of the Warranty.
With the product being a FA 18-8. I decode this to Franklin Arrow 18' long by 8' wide.
What do you think?

It is a 18' van single axle with an island bed and two hatches (not 4 seasons).



Spin.

[ForumMod]

G'day Spin,

Thanks for sending the info through in a PM.

I agree with your presumption that the FA 18-8 relates to Franklin Arrow 18ft x 8ft.

I also feel a lot more confident that the 'V' series of Franklin chassis numbers is from 1974. I'm a bit curious about why it took until April 1975 to sell the van, but I do know from history that there was an oil crisis in 1973/74 and a recession in 1974/75, so maybe 18ft vans were dropping off the list of popular van sizes at that time.

cheers,
Al.

[spin]

Hi Al, Sorry for the slow reply.
I wonder if the long delay in selling was due to it having an island bed.
It's half way between a big van and a small van. The in-laws had a 20' van with the same layout as ours in the bed room but a front kitchen. There’s seemed to make sense, where ours seems like a smaller van that is trying to be a big van.
I have not seen another with the same layout as ours in the time I have owned it.

Spin.

[Kelly]

Hi we have purchased a 15 ft franklin arrow that didn't have any rego sticker on it , unrego... What do I do to get it reg without this info, have the vin num

[ForumMod]

Kelly, the best thing to do is to make contact with your local rego office. They will tell you exactly what information they will require from you for the rego. The process differs from State to State and from one office to another, we have found.

cheers,
Al.