Load distribution ?

[Mikendebbie]

I have not weighed my rig in a long time, and the one time I drove across a CAT scale, I did not do it properly to get a tongue weight.

When you look at the layout of my rig and the diagram of where the storage spots layout - so much of it is forward of the axle. There is very little opportunity to shift any weight to the back (if I was of a mind to try to lessen the tongue weight). I never put more than 5 gallons in the fresh water tank and do not intend to put more water in the tanks. I never drive with fluids in the black or gray tanks. We have stuff in all of the cabinets and the closets, and you can see in the diagram that most of that storage weight is toward the front. At some point in the near future we intend to get a splendid stackable washer & dryer, which will sit just in front of the axles and will add some weight to the tongue.

Just curious what others have done to add weight to the rear and offload weight from the tongue? I don't see any good options.

[DadsHemi]

Probably be best to see where your at weight wise now to know if there is room for more weight on the trailer axels and pin. I can tell you on my 3160RL I have 4487 pin and 12,680 on my 5th axles, we are loaded down and I keep a 1/2 to 3/4 tank of fresh water, gray and black have enough water and chemicals to Slosh around the tanks. Our GCWR run just under 28,000lbs. Oh… and we have a splendid combo that is in our bedroom where washer closet.

[twindman]

If you trailer weighs > 17000 lb and total is 28000 doesn't that make your truck weigh 11,000??? Wasn't sure about the GVWR - that is usually a fixed number for the truck and/or trailer.

[DQDick]

I know it's not what you want to hear, but we have always traveled with our fresh water tank 1/3 full.

[Montana Man]

Good question. I would first weigh the rig properly to see if there is even a problem.

[WeBeFulltime]

Originally Posted by Montana Man

Good question. I would first weigh the rig properly to see if there is even a problem.

Absolutely sound advice. You need to know an accurate starting point. Don't put too much weight on the rear. It's MUCH better to be a little pin heavy than rear. A retired trucker with 3 million miles logged said this.

[Mikendebbie]

I could not find the actual sheet but I found a pic of the CAT Scale weight printout from July 2019 and a pic of the weight sticker on the RV. Interpret this for please.

[Montana Man]

The trailer axle weight is good. It would be helpful to have the truck weight with full fuel and hitch and a pic of the door jamb sticker gvwr.

[WeBeFulltime]

You need to weigh the truck ONLY now. Have it full of fuel and loaded as you normally travel to include passengers. With that ticket and the one you have of the complete unit you can calculate pin weight and have all other information you might want. If you have an in-bed aux fuel tank fill it also.

[AZ Traveler]

Mike,

Is there a problem you are trying to fix?

[Carl n Susan]

The door sticker would give the limits for the front and rear axles. I suspect your are under on both being a DRW.

The trailer axles are well under the 14K rating.

The only value you are missing is the pin weight. This will require a re-weigh to determine the actual value. Ideally the truck should have the same load: people; hitch; fuel; etc; as the first time to get an accurate weight. But given your axle weights you are OK.

[Mikendebbie]

Thanks for the information - and I suppose I have always wondered if I have too much stuff in the basement storage area, closets, pantry etc. etc. plus we are going to add a stackable washer and dryer soon and I started wondering if we will be overweight. I suppose just overthinking it and working up a needless case of the worries.

[Mikendebbie]

I got my truck weighed today…full tank of diesel, both dogs, DW and I…did not have the hitch in but had a bunch of groceries from Sams…so this is probably within 50 lbs…9100 lbs…how do you determine tongue weight?

[AZ Traveler]

Mike,

Subtract your weight without the trailer from the front and rear axle weight with the trailer attached.

There may be some slop if your truck was not loaded the same as with the previous weighing.

[DadsHemi]

3780 pin weight

[DadsHemi]

Here are two weigh tickets, 12/18 is our truck loaded, full of fuel before hitching up the 3160RL. This is the start of our full time adventure

The 2nd ticket 12/20 nearly two years later shows how much we have grown, the numbers to the side is how much we have added weight or deducted weigh.

The deduct is because I went from a Curt slider to a Companion slider, all the pin weight is over the rear driver, I’m going to adjust the head to push some weight on the front axle.

We’ve added 860 over the drive
640 over trailer axles
1,140 over all on the trailer


https://www.montanaowners.com/forums...1&d=1621775812

https://www.montanaowners.com/forums...1&d=1621775812

[DutchmenSport]

I don't see where you have any problems. You are towing with a 3500 Chevy and apparently have had no issues towing. Adding another 300 pounds (or less), is not going to affect the pin weight of your camper very much, especially since the location of the washer and dryer will be slightly ahead of the axles. And that weight will be heavier on the axles than on your king pin.

For what it's worth, the Splendide Stackable washer and dryer doesn't weigh that much. The dryer weighs 67 pounds.

DV6400X
Max. Dry: 13 lb
Drying System: Vented
Electrical: 120V
Weight: 67 lb
Data Sheet: PDF

The washer weighs:

WFL1300XD
Max. Wash: 15 lb
Electrical: 120V
Weight: 148 lb
Data Sheet: PDF


The combined weight of both is 215 pounds. If adding 215 more pounds to your camper, distributed between 5 different points (4 tires and the king pin), and most of that weight is going to be carried by the tires, you may be adding 25 pounds to the king pin... well.... if adding 25 pounds to the pay load of your truck puts your truck at risk, then you need a heftier truck.

My friend, install the washer and dryer, and move on. Quit sweating this. Adding one more adult passenger to the cab of your truck will put more weight on the truck than the washer and dryer in the camper ever will.


http://splendide.com/portfolio-details_WFL1300XD.html

http://splendide.com/portfolio-details_DV6400X.html

[DutchmenSport]

For what it's worth, we added the Splendid stackable washer and dryer in our MHC 375FL. The washer and dryer sits slightly behind the axles. After they were installed, I was concerned about reduced king pin weight. I never had my rig weighed, but when actually driving, there was absolutely no noticeable difference at all, none, nada.

Get the washer and dryer installed. You'll not regret it. It was one of the better additions we did to our Montana. I just wish we would have done it 2 years ago, when it was brand new. It would have saved us a lot of trips to the laundry mat. We wash a load every 2 days now and that keeps our laundry done up all the time. And we use the washing machine as our laundry basket between washes. No need for baskets or boxes, or bags to store dirty laundry any more. The space lost by installing the washer and dryer was more than made up when we eliminated laundry baskets, and simply shifted a few things around. We eliminated a bunch of junk we didn't need. So, getting the machines actually saved us space. For us, it was a win-win-win situation all around.

[DadsHemi]

Yup, plenty of room to grow.

[laverdur]

If your fresh water tank is in the rear as mine is, you can carry water to give you ballast. At 8 lbs/gallon, a 60 gallon tank will take ~ 240 lbs off the pin.