Montana Owners Club - Keystone Montana 5th Wheel Forum - View Single Post

brenkco · 10-22-2011, 01:50 PM

Here is the exercise I just went through. On a recent trip to Oregon, I had a chance to weigh the truck & trailer. I weighed the total truck, then just the rear axels. Next I weighed the total trailer and last, just the rear axel. I was amazed how far over weight I was. More later. When I got home, I had pulled the hitch out for service (a pullrite super glide), filled the rig with fuel and headed down to the local scales.

The truck (2006 Dodge Larime 2500) with no hitch or passengers weighed 7200 lbs. The GVWR of the truck was 9000 lbs, leaving me just 1800 lbs for the hitch, driver, passenger, cargo and pin weight of the trailer. Not even close. The specs of the truck according to the book had 2000 lbs carrying (payload capacity). I also made the mistake of relying on the specs of the trailer, which showed a pin weight of 2200 lbs. I figured I might have been over between 200-300 lbs which i thought would be within tolerances.

As Art points out, my naiveté was relying on printed specs. The truck towed and handled just fine but in all reality I was 1600 lbs over. I was at the limit on the rear axel rating and 20 lbs over the front.

I really loved my old truck for a few reasons, the biggest one is that it was paid for. I was concerned about the safety factor as well as the potential damage I could be doing to the truck. I just took delivery of a 2012 Ford F350 SRW. It doesn't have the payload capacity of the DRW but I will be within specs, barely.

I just had the hitch installed, filled the rig with fuel and headed back down to the scales. The truck weighed in at 8300 lbs, no passengers. With a GVWR of 11,500, that leaves me 3200 lbs for passengers and pin weight. Ford specs shows the carrying capacity of this truck to be 4000 lbs which according to their literature includes one 150 lb driver and a full tank of fuel, no options. Ford actually publishes the weight for each and every option so in reality had I taken the time to add all of them up, the difference might not have been as great.

Bottom line is that, as it has been stated so many times on this forum, the proof is in the actual numbers of the truck and trailer. Hope this might help.

10-22-2011, 01:50 PM	#12
brenkco Montana Master Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Lincoln Posts: 860 M.O.C. #8154	Here is the exercise I just went through. On a recent trip to Oregon, I had a chance to weigh the truck & trailer. I weighed the total truck, then just the rear axels. Next I weighed the total trailer and last, just the rear axel. I was amazed how far over weight I was. More later. When I got home, I had pulled the hitch out for service (a pullrite super glide), filled the rig with fuel and headed down to the local scales. The truck (2006 Dodge Larime 2500) with no hitch or passengers weighed 7200 lbs. The GVWR of the truck was 9000 lbs, leaving me just 1800 lbs for the hitch, driver, passenger, cargo and pin weight of the trailer. Not even close. The specs of the truck according to the book had 2000 lbs carrying (payload capacity). I also made the mistake of relying on the specs of the trailer, which showed a pin weight of 2200 lbs. I figured I might have been over between 200-300 lbs which i thought would be within tolerances. As Art points out, my naiveté was relying on printed specs. The truck towed and handled just fine but in all reality I was 1600 lbs over. I was at the limit on the rear axel rating and 20 lbs over the front. I really loved my old truck for a few reasons, the biggest one is that it was paid for. I was concerned about the safety factor as well as the potential damage I could be doing to the truck. I just took delivery of a 2012 Ford F350 SRW. It doesn't have the payload capacity of the DRW but I will be within specs, barely. I just had the hitch installed, filled the rig with fuel and headed back down to the scales. The truck weighed in at 8300 lbs, no passengers. With a GVWR of 11,500, that leaves me 3200 lbs for passengers and pin weight. Ford specs shows the carrying capacity of this truck to be 4000 lbs which according to their literature includes one 150 lb driver and a full tank of fuel, no options. Ford actually publishes the weight for each and every option so in reality had I taken the time to add all of them up, the difference might not have been as great. Bottom line is that, as it has been stated so many times on this forum, the proof is in the actual numbers of the truck and trailer. Hope this might help.