weights

[Phil P]

Hi

If you go to a Cat Scale the platform is commonly big enough for you to get the front axle on the front axle pad the rear axel on the most forward pad of the 2 rear axle pad the big trucks use and your trailer axels on the trailer pads.

This will allow you to get all 4 axel weights.

This gives you your GVW and all excel weights.

Drive around in a circle and position the truck so you have the truck axles in the truck pads but the trailer front landing gear legs on the section between the truck pads and the trailer pads.

Then put you front landing gear legs down they will contact the space between the truck axle pads and the trailer pads. Release the parking brake and take the truck out of park. You can then lift the weight off the truck.

Pay for a reweigh and that will give you your truck weight. I do this without unhooking the trailer you just have to be careful and make sure you only lift the trailer so you can see light between the trailer pin box and the hitch and make sure the pin hasn’t contacted the bottom of the hitch jaws.

You can also just park the trailer in one of the truck parking lanes and weight the truck. I am just lazy.

You get your trailer weight by subtracting the truck weight from the total of the first weighing.

It looks like you may be a little heavy on the truck. If you have a generator installed there isn’t much you can do about that except got to the DRW truck. If you are using the front generator compartment for storage without a generator then you can move some weight around to get the truck weight within specs.

Phil P

[JandC]

I always tried to keep track my weights in the easiest way possible. While traveling if I was fueling at a Pilot or other truck stop that wasn't busy I would run across their scale and get my ticket. Then within the next couple of weeks there would always be a truck stop scale close to where we were camped. So I make sure everything was still on my truck and bobtail over the scale again and get my weight ticket.

Then at my leisure I would take both tickets and punch all my numbers into a formula, and record all my numbers.

The negative side of doing your weights this way is that you end up paying $20.00 (for weighing twice) instead of $10.00.

The positives though are that you are weighing when it is convenient for you and you are not unhooking and hooking up in the back lot of some truck stop. If there ends up being a week or even a month between your 2 weigh-ins who cares, the numbers aren't changing. I tried to do my weights twice a year this way.

[richfaa]

That works. In our case we attend at least two major RV rallies in the course of a year and will get weighed at one or the other every couple of years. Once weighed properly the weight will not change much.

[MHC305RL]

I finally got everything weighed last week on the way to the beach. I wanted to find the worse case scenario so waited until all 4 of us were going (2 kids in college)and loaded up with a weeks worth of food, etc. I weighed 3 times and disconnected once to get all the weights:

Total combined 22,620
Trailer axles 10,040
Rear truck axle 7,560
Front truck axle 5,020
Whole truck with camper 12,560
Front camper axle 5,240
Rear camper axle 4,820
Pin weight 3,660
Camper weight 13,680
Front truck axle without camper 5,040
Rear truck axle without camper 3,900
Front Jacks 5,360

This was all four of us in the truck with two dogs, half tank of fuel, two bikes in bed of truck, two bikes on rear of camper, full propane, empty tanks except 1/3 fresh water. This is as heavy as we will ever be because there are usually only 2 of us and less food and chairs, etc.

I am surprised that the front Jacks are only 5,360 with as much as they strain. I had a fault again trying to auto level. It said jack was out of stroke. The RR did not go down all the way but it did in manual. We are pretty loaded on the front end but with 2 Jacks that are supposed to lift 10k pounds, they strain a lot.

We are under weight on every aspect but not far off from gvwr of truck (13k). Anyway, we are starting vacation so it's ALL good!

[JABURKHOLDER]

quote:Originally posted by Phil P



It looks like you may be a little heavy on the truck. If you have a generator installed there isn’t much you can do about that except got to the DRW truck. If you are using the front generator compartment for storage without a generator then you can move some weight around to get the truck weight within specs.

Phil P

To the OP, Concur with Phil. You need to get some of that weight out of the truck. Too many bad things can happen with suspension and especially handling.
Montana's are heavy and you need more truck. The truck I had when I got my Montana was an '06 F250 4X4, 6.0L. All the "numbers" indicated I could tow the RV with that truck. I had to raise the hitch height, install airbags and have an almost empty RV basement just to get the proper hitch weight and ride height. The thing is though, none of that changed the trucks ratings. The truck was still very close to maxing out. Stepped up to a '16 F350 DRW 4x4, 6.7L. Much better. No muss, no fuss, no stress. [on me or the truck]

[MARK A]

quote:Originally posted by JABURKHOLDER

To the OP, Concur with Phil. You need to get some of that weight out of the truck. Too many bad things can happen with suspension and especially handling.
Montana's are heavy and you need more truck. The truck I had when I got my Montana was an '06 F250 4X4, 6.0L. All the "numbers" indicated I could tow the RV with that truck. I had to raise the hitch height, install airbags and have an almost empty RV basement just to get the proper hitch weight and ride height. The thing is though, none of that changed the trucks ratings. The truck was still very close to maxing out. Stepped up to a '16 F350 DRW 4x4, 6.7L. Much better. No muss, no fuss, no stress. [on me or the truck]

Thanks,
I appreciate your input, but the only difference between my pickup and yours is the dual wheels and long bed, and the axle gear ratio. I think I'll take my chances as I'm only a few hundred pounds over the recommended load.
Side by side my Short bed actually carries the trailer better than the 15 F350 DRW the previous owner had. His pickup was noticeably lower in the rear.

Mark

[richfaa]

Thanks,
I appreciate your input, but the only difference between my pickup and yours is the dual wheels and long bed, and the axle gear ratio. I think I'll take my chances as I'm only a few hundred pounds over the recommended load.
Side by side my Short bed actually carries the trailer better than the 15 F350 DRW the previous owner had. His pickup was noticeably lower in the rear.

Mark

That difference is what makes the difference and it is a big difference but as long as you are aware anf accept that.