RVSEF weight results...Arrgggh - Montana Owners Club

richfaa · 10-02-2009, 06:28 AM

Just got our readouts from the fall rally weigh in.. There are RED numbers.(overload conditions) All tire ratings..everything else is well within. Right tires front -40 rear -90 left side front -115 rear -340. We need G rated tires...... We did have 60 Gallons of liquid on board which is about 500lbs. Aas as we speak we are heaving things over board to lighten ship. We have already removed over 400lbs of stuff in addition to the liquid weight. Helen has a scale set up and we weigh as we remove. All the red numbers are down in the Margins area of the print out.

Exnavydiver · 10-02-2009, 06:56 AM

Enjoy the offload, we finally dumped about 50% of out movable junk before we headed for the rally. We did a Cat Scale weigh on the way home in the spring and were well within specs but I decided that if we hadn't used something in the last year it was history. The only things that we kept that we haven't used were some large socket wrenches for suspension and wheel hubs and the associated wrench handles. Fully packed up we can toss a basket ball through the basement and not hit anything. On the inside we got rid of all the clothes that haven't been worn and books that have been read and decorations we won't use this Xmas. We ended up emptying half the closets and drawers. We now have a ton of extra storage space. Since we came in before the scales were set up at the rally we didn't get the full weigh that other folks got, but I am sure we are much farther under the max weight than we were the last time we weighed. Good luck on your offload. The one thing we did get rid of that we need was winter coats.

Now we have to find Betsy a good stadium coat until we get to Georgia or Florida... Dave

Art-n-Marge · 10-02-2009, 10:09 AM

To be fair, I think you should only get a ticket if someone ELSE catches you... if you catch it yourself you get an "attaboy". LOL.

richfaa · 10-02-2009, 11:04 AM

How embarrasing...and me the weight police.

What is worse is we had our shackle failure on the way to the G.L rally and we were then running on the 6K axles. The axle that the shackle broke on was 600lbs over at the time... Holy Moley..so ..the lesson learned is..Pay no attention..the spec's are just suggestions..why read the manufacturer's manual..on Routine maint...what do they know.. I paid the price for my negligence and it could have been much worse. If you have one of the heavier Montana's like the 3400 with the 6K axles get it weighed. Check your tire specs. If you went with LT E rated tires the chances are you are over spec's. This raly sure was educational in more ways than one.

wswebster · 10-02-2009, 01:46 PM

We have the same rig as Rich, only 1 year older and we were under by 800

We also received our weights in the mail today. We were under by #800. All tanks were empty ( gray & black) and half a tank of fresh water. That is how we usually travel. We added extra clothes (that's normal for us) the usual tools. Bill & I had a bet going on this and I won. Glad this was offered at the Rally.

Mudchief · 10-02-2009, 02:14 PM

Rich, just load the wagon and don't worry about the mule going blind. Be like me and don't weigh it and you won't have to worry about it. Be careful when throwing things out that you don't throw out any of Helen's organic apples. You will be in real trouble if that happens.

richfaa · 10-02-2009, 03:32 PM

"We have the same rig as Rich, only 1 year older and we were under by 800" under by 800 where??? I was only over on tire ratings. We were 1115 under on GCWR. What were the tire ratings??? axle ratings??? Since I was parking and at the weigh station a lot and curious I saw a lot of campers over the tire ratings. I saw a lot of high numbers.. these are heavy campers...

scductman · 10-02-2009, 04:30 PM

Rich I am not FT yet but I did find out what my weight was. I was under everywhere thankfully. My tires were all within specs susie can pack another 900# in the monty. But you may have to quit long timing To get yours down "LOL".
bobby

Glenn and Lorraine · 10-03-2009, 12:01 AM

My rig and TV are both within specs but still I will be putting the Monty on a diet this winter. There are clothes and shoes we don't wear.

Here's something that truly amazes me. We are fulltimers coming up on 6 years on the 18th of October and therefore we carry all of our personal belongings with us. A number of cabinets are empty or close to it. I have extra space in the basement. What amazes me is many of the Short Timers and Long Timers have their basement stuffed so full you could barely find room for a toothpick. WHY IS THAT???? Just what additional stuff do you feel you absolutely have to drag along?? As soon as you get home, go thru all that "stuff" and see just what you used and just what "stuff" just went along for the ride. I am willing to bet that many many items you thought you couldn't live without were not needed and just created a weight problem. Forget the weight, In these days of rising fuel costs what is the sense of carrying all the extra weight. EXTRA weight only decreases your fuel mileage

Tom S. · 10-03-2009, 02:31 AM

I was really surprised but happy about our results. The rig and rear of the truck were well within specs. The front axle of the truck is over by 125 pounds. Oddly enough, my winch weighs about that much. I was told that was common for GM's because of the weight of the Duramax. Also, the GVWR of the truck was over a bit. All the tires (truck & trailer)were well under their limits. The trailer axles were almost dead even, which the guy doing the weighing said was very unusual for a Montana.

Initially I had balked at paying $49 to get everything weighed, but now I'm glad I did.

richfaa · 10-03-2009, 03:21 AM

That we had @ 500lbs of liquid on board was a factor. Even then we were under on everything except the tire ratings.The tires are E rated generals rated at 3085lbs at 83psi.We were well within axles but the tires are the weakest link. Pin weight was 2915 which was lower than expected. The camper axle load was front 6325..rear 6600. The tires can handle 6170 per axle..close but no cigar. I think the rear 6600 was affected by the water in the fresh water tank and the galley tank is over those axles. Wish we had the chance to dump before we weighed. We suspected the tire rating would be a problem. It is just the tire ratings.If we had G rated tires we would be fine. In fact I think if we had our normal water load on board we would have been fine.The truck was of course well within all spec's.. Anyhow I was surprised at the weight of the 3400. The OEM 6K axles IMO..are not sufficient. Oh....The ST Mision tires would have ben well within tire spec's.

sreigle · 10-03-2009, 01:16 PM

I have not yet received the info by mail but I do have the numbers Rick gave me after the weighing. On the 3400RL we are over only 30 pounds on one tire, the left rear. We are under on both trailer axles although we would have been over on both had we still been running the 6k axles (which is why we had tire problems and axle bending problems before the axle upgrade).

Today we arrived at Camp Keystone. When they weigh the trailer on Monday we'll see how close their scales are to RVEF's numbers.

On edit... I probably should note that one big reason we are not over the tire ratings other than the 30 lbs on one tire is the Freestar tires supplied by Tireco to replace our OEM Mission tires are far heavier despite both being load range E. The Mission had a weight rating of 31xx. The Freestar is 3520 lbs at 80 psi.

Tom S. · 10-03-2009, 01:59 PM

Steve, I wonder if that's why your Missions failed? Mine are "E" rated, but the weight on them is 3,525. Maybe that's the reason so many people had trouble with them?

KTManiac · 10-06-2009, 04:09 AM

If you can shift some of the heavier stuff forward to your front storage areas, it will take most of the weight off of the trailer tires and put it on the pin and TV's rear tires and axle (if you have wiggle room on those weight specs)

richfaa · 10-07-2009, 03:09 AM

We got weighed here at the service center. this is apparently now a part of their procedure when the unit is here. They use a good set of digital scales. We lost a lot of weight and we are now within all spec's. We lost nearly 300lbs on the axles. Of course we have no axles???? As far as Keystone is concerned this 06 3400 is rated for 6K axles and as such we are out of 6K spec's. The sticker on the side is what we are no matter what we have under the camper..

Tom S. · 10-07-2009, 09:48 AM

You still have axles - otherwise you wouldn't have anything to mount the wheels and brakes on. You're missing the axle tubes. Well, you probably don't actually miss them...

SlickWillie · 10-07-2009, 10:44 AM

I would think the IS just has spindles on it. I thought maybe it had a partial torsion axle, but on the Mor Ryde site it doesn't look to have an axle.

ols1932 · 10-07-2009, 01:39 PM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by SlickWillie

I would think the IS just has spindles on it. I thought maybe it had a partial torsion axle, but on the Mor Ryde site it doesn't look to have an axle.

There are axles or what look like axles that go from one wheel to the other. I can't imagine them being anything else. We have the IS.

Orv

sreigle · 10-07-2009, 01:53 PM

Tom, our Missions didn't blow out or go flat. They just wore through the tread to the belts but just in spots. I doubt that was weight related. However, we did wear some down on the edges rather severely, also. And that was probably bent axles due to weight.

Rich mentioned Keystone's scales being digital. They weighed our 3400RL on Monday. We came in 135 pounds heavier than the weight from the RVSEF guy came up with. Keystone has us at 15,610 while the RVSEF guy had us at 15,475. Those numbers are close enough to being the same, for my purposes.

richfaa · 10-07-2009, 02:59 PM

The service center now weighs your unit when it is in for service and goes over the results with you. The sticker on the side of the unit is used for reference. No matter what you may have done to it, IS suspension. 7K axle upgrade , you are what your VIN says you are as far as Keystone is concerned.Nothing changes that.

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