Whoa, this puppy's going on a diet, like it or not - Montana Owners Club

sreigle · 05-31-2005, 04:15 PM

Some of you know I've posted numerous times that at last weighing (probably 18 months ago) our Montana 3295RK weighed 13,980 lbs with pinweight of 3,120. I also said since that time we've offloaded some things and now carry 1/3 to 2/3 fresh water rather than the full tank we used to carry. So, I surmised we'd dropped a couple hundred pounds, maybe more. Wrong!

We put this Montana on a CAT scale and I have to say I was stunned. This thing weighs 14,360 with pinweight of 3,300! The GVWR is 14,300 so we're 60 lbs over the GVWR. This Montana is going on a diet.

Total weight (GCW) of truck and Montana with both of us in the truck and the truck with a full load of fuel (drove about 100 yards to the scale after filling to the brim) is 22,920. The truck's GCWR is 23,00 so we're under that, barely. Tow rating for the F250 is 15,400, so we're ok on that, too. However, we are over on GVWR and rear GAWR on the truck. The Montana is ok on the axles. Actual weight on the axles is 11,060. GAWR for the two axles combined is 12,000 so we're ok there. I wish now I'd had those two axles on separate sections of the scale but I didn't. The tires are wearing nicely so I think we're ok there.

Bill Hill · 05-31-2005, 04:27 PM

Steve,
How about an explanation as to how you figured the weights. Did you have the truck axles each on a different scale, and the trailer on a separate scale? How do you figure the pin weight? Thanks.

sreigle · 05-31-2005, 05:38 PM

Bill, the CAT scale has several different segments. I had the front truck wheels on one segment, the rear truck wheels on another, and the trailer wheels on yet another (I wish I'd had each of the trailer axles on separate segments as they were available). I pushed the button and the person inside did whatever they do to record the weights from each segment plus total weight. I then pulled off the scale and dropped the trailer, drove the truck back on the scale with the wheels on the same segments as before. I pushed the button and asked for a "reweigh". I'd previously asked this procedure. Then Vicki went inside and paid ($8 for the first weighing plus $1 for the reweigh) and picked up the weight sheets while I hitched up again. The pinweight I figured as the difference between the truck weight (both axles added together) when hitched minus truck total when unhitched. Can't figure on just the rear axle since some of the weight from the pin goes to the front axle (about 200 lbs if I recall in this case).

I sure wish I'd had each trailer axle on a separate segment, too.

jrgwdenner · 05-31-2005, 06:33 PM

Oh, I thought this was another discussion about ice cream. My mistake!

stiles watson · 05-31-2005, 07:10 PM

Steve,

If you lose just two pounds a day, then WALLA, in thirty days you will have lost those sixty pounds.

Bill and Ann · 06-01-2005, 01:16 AM

Steve: Unbelievable how that weight creeps up on you. I go over the Flying J Scales a few times a year to make sure we aren't putting more in than we take out. Was it necessary for you to go off the scales and unhook? I usually just drop the front legs and take the weight off the truck to obtain the same result.

Bill Hill · 06-01-2005, 04:10 AM

Thanks Steve,
That makes sense to me. We'll be going out again in a couple of weeks and I'm going to go through one of the truck scales here in the L.A. Harbor area and check it out. Thanks for the breakdown.

Jeff Heiser · 06-01-2005, 05:39 AM

I lost 68 lbs on Atkins, maybe it will work for your Monty. :-)

Jeff Heiser
Merritt Island Florida

jrgwdenner · 06-01-2005, 07:39 AM

Congratulations on your loss, Jeff. I'm not sure which was easier or harder. Taking things out of the Monty when it holds almost all your possessions for daily living has got to be tough. And I know loosing weight is TOUGH!

sreigle · 06-01-2005, 06:27 PM

Well, Stiles, I could stand to lose about 20 of that but 60 would turn me into a scarecrow. Jeff, congrats on the loss. I know it's difficult so you are to be complimented.

Bill, there was a trucker getting weighed, too, so I didn't want to hog the scale and make him wait.

Judy, LOL on the ice cream. As for removing items, I know we have some things we've never used and really don't need to have onboard. The basement has become a real mess lately for a couple of reasons, so as I pull everything out to reorg the storage I'll re-evaluate their necessity. We'll get the weight down. Sixty pounds can't be that difficult. I hope.

patodonn · 06-02-2005, 03:55 PM

Bill: Re getting the rig weighed in the LA Harbor area, unless you have to take the Monty through that area and on those roads anyhow, it might be easier to wait until you are on the real "road" and can access a CAT scale at any of the truck stop facilities. It will be a lot easier. We used to live in Long Beach, and I avoided that area (the 710) if at all possible, even in a car or truck, mainly due to 18wheeler traffic and road conditions. Once you are out of the LA Basin, life is a lot easier....which is, BTW, why we left 2 years ago.

Best regards,

Northstar · 06-04-2005, 09:08 PM

Well I guess the issue here is stop being a pack rat!!!!!

jrgwdenner · 06-05-2005, 01:51 AM

When you live in the Monty, you can fill it up fast. For shorter trips the units have very ample storage. But in our prep for our five month trip to Alaska, she's filling up fast. It's a whole different ballgame when you fulltime or snowbird or something close to it.

CountryGuy · 06-05-2005, 02:20 AM

Some dear friends of ours who went fulltiming ohhhh, maybe 10 years ago now, told us, the best advice they got from another full timer was

"If you ain't used it in 6 months, TOSS it out!"

Something our friends did was to review everything in the unit at least every 6 months, take every thing out of a cupboard or drawer and really look at it, decide if you can do with out it, if so, out it goes.

I am fine for short trips too, but 2 to 3 months get me, as we need to take more clothes, LOTS more dog food, and more books and research (all of which is HEAVY!!) And, gotta leave room for gifts for the twins when we come home!

Constant review of what is on board does help us, but of course, we are still only parttimers, and we can switch to "lake" mode when we need to, and then unload all that extra lake stuff when we return to the stick built.

Always a challenge.

sreigle · 06-05-2005, 01:58 PM

You got it, Northstar. We have arrived in Independence, MO, so will review everything and drop some things off in the kids' basements. Carol, we do that review periodically, too, but seem to have accumulated some serious weight since the last review. So everything will get another look and a decision to take or leave. For the most part, if not used it will get left behind. The exception is tools that thankfully have not been needed but are necessarily required to be onboard, just in case. But some of this may move to the truck's bed toolbox although it's just about plumb full, too.

Like Carol and Al, we find we carry far more as fulltimers since we won't be "going back home" in a couple of weeks or so. For example, we carry winter and summer clothes. Whichever is not in season is in space bags under the bed with the overflow in the basement. Pots, pans, movies, books, etc., etc.

OntMont · 06-06-2005, 04:41 PM

We weighed recently too, and although we are not too much over, we are exceeding the truck's GRWR a bit. (Axles and Combination weights are OK. We started housecleaning but could not find any big heavy items to remove, but it is amazing how much little things do add up. We are going to try stowing more things in the back of the trailer while travelling to relieve some of the weight from the truck.

(We happened to meet "Bill and Ann" at the Flying J where we weighed. We used his weighing technique - seems to work just fine.)

Montana_3032 · 06-06-2005, 05:15 PM

Yeah...hubby keeps threatning to put the Monty on a diet...I tell him to expect an equivalent wait gain for the Monty as he has witnessed for his wife after marriage

sreigle · 06-07-2005, 04:53 AM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by OntMont

(We happened to meet "Bill and Ann" at the Flying J where we weighed. We used his weighing technique - seems to work just fine.)

That's the method I've used in the past, too, but this time there was a trucker waiting behind me and I didn't feel I should hold him up. We were not in a big hurry so it wasn't a real big deal although it was more work to unhitch/rehitch.

I need to do this weighing thing more often.

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