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Hammerboy's avatar
Hammerboy
Explorer
May 23, 2019

Cat Scale Results

For those of you who are into numbers I went to the Cat scales with our rig finally for the first time with this truck and trailer combo.

I went to the scale with just my truck and then about an hour or so later with our fifth when we were on our way to campground for the weekend. These are the results that I pulled from the tickets with the truck and fifth fully loaded with wife, me, and all our normal gear with the exception of our aluminum bikes that normally go in the back seat of the truck: Note my wife (140#) was not along for the ride on the solo run.

- My truck empty but with full tank diesel, B&W Patriot slider (221#), me (215#) is 8100#

- Factory dry weight of fifth is 9020# and pin of 1510# with a GVWR of 11,900#

- Loaded fifth weight of 10,700# and a pin of 2040# putting it 1200# under it's GVWR.

- My truck is 280# over its weight rating of 10,000# although I'm not concerned as I am under my axle and tire ratings

- Drive axle loaded with fifth 5540#, rated for 6200# and tire rating of 3525# or 7050# total

- Steer axle under by 420# (5200# rating)

My truck landed about where I thought it would but I was surprised at how much cargo ## that we have, I would have guessed around 1000# and I didn't carry any water with us either. I'm just glad we have a healthy cargo capacity on our fifth.

Although I feel very comfortable towing with it and am satisfied with what Cat scale results were, my next truck if it ends up a diesel again will be a SRW 350/3500 even though it is highly unlikely we will ever move on to something bigger due to campground site sizes.

Dan


  • JIMNLIN's avatar
    JIMNLIN
    Explorer III
    May 24, 2019
    Allworth wrote:
    In some instances the GVWR is edited by the manufacturer to keep the truck within certain registration limits (in states where tags are priced by weight).

    Good point and also marketing is a big player in those vehicle mfg gvwr numbers.
    All moot anyways as he is well under the trucks fawr/rawr for safety.
  • Allworth's avatar
    Allworth
    Explorer II
    May 24, 2019
    In some instances the GVWR is edited by the manufacturer to keep the truck within certain registration limits (in states where tags are priced by weight).
  • spud1957's avatar
    spud1957
    Explorer
    May 23, 2019
    Hammerboy wrote:
    twodownzero wrote:
    So your truck has 1,900 pounds of payload and with the wife on board, you're overloaded by over 400 pounds--over 20% of your payload capacity.

    Why is your truck itself so heavy? Can you move load to the trailer? Mine weighs 7,100. I know newer trucks are heavier, but where did they put the extra thousand pounds?


    Actually my truck weighs in at 7534# dry i'm assuming because I have 2466# payload according to the door sticker. The 8100# on the scale ticket is with Me, hitch, and full tank of diesel, that comes off the stated payload leaving me with the 1900# left over. Short of moving my wife to riding in the fifth I can't shift anything to the fifth and I don't think she would go for that ;-)

    Dan

    Edit: Now that I think about it I wonder if the door sticker includes a full tank of fuel? Me = 215#, hitch = 221#, 36 gallons fuel = 280# plus I added running boards and spray in bedliner, all that should be around 850# I would think but yet it scaled at 8100#. Who knows...:h


    Your 7534 curb weight is based on all fluids full which includes fuel. Add you and hitch and you’re pretty close to 8100
  • RCMAN46's avatar
    RCMAN46
    Explorer
    May 23, 2019
    I calculate a pin weight percentage at 19 percent. On the low side for a 5th wheel.

    If you have any bucking or chucking you may need to transfer weight for a higher pin weight percentage.
  • Hammerboy's avatar
    Hammerboy
    Explorer
    May 23, 2019
    All I know is my GVWR is 10,000 and a door sticker that says 2466# payload, If payload is figured with a full tank of fuel then it adds up perfectly because me, hitch, aftermarket accessories bring usable payload down to 1900#. I know this truck is a bit heavier than my 2004 Duramax, but that one only had 9200# GVWR.
  • twodownzero's avatar
    twodownzero
    Explorer
    May 23, 2019
    Hammerboy wrote:
    twodownzero wrote:
    So your truck has 1,900 pounds of payload and with the wife on board, you're overloaded by over 400 pounds--over 20% of your payload capacity.

    Why is your truck itself so heavy? Can you move load to the trailer? Mine weighs 7,100. I know newer trucks are heavier, but where did they put the extra thousand pounds?


    Actually my truck weighs in at 7534# dry i'm assuming because I have 2466# payload according to the door sticker. The 8100# on the scale ticket is with Me, hitch, and full tank of diesel, that comes off the stated payload leaving me with the 1900# left over. Short of moving my wife to riding in the fifth I can't shift anything to the fifth and I don't think she would go for that ;-)

    Dan

    Edit: Now that I think about it I wonder if the door sticker includes a full tank of fuel? Me = 215#, hitch = 221#, 36 gallons fuel = 280# plus I added running boards and spray in bedliner, all that should be around 850# I would think but yet it scaled at 8100#. Who knows...:h


    Something doesn't seem right about that. The "curb weight" my my truck was within 20 pounds of the actual weighed weight, and that includes a full tank of diesel. What kind of truck is it?

    Your "payload" number should include all the options the truck has and full of fuel. While it's hard to argue with a weight ticket, 8100 pounds for a truck with one person and a trailer hitch in it sounds high to me. Like I said, new trucks are heavy, but my Ram weighs 7,080 and my hitch is ~180 pounds. If your truck is a long bed, I'd estimate another 300 pounds for that. Even then though, why is your truck so heavy?

    Certainly the running boards and bedliner add a bit, but as trucks get heavier empty, they sure suck up GVWR pretty quickly. I'm wondering if the 3/4 ton truck is going to become completely extinct if they can't figure out how to put them on a diet!
  • kmac7800's avatar
    kmac7800
    Explorer
    May 23, 2019
    I thought I read somewhere that they weigh the truck with a full tank of fuel and 1 avg human as the driver before calculating that trucks payload capacity to put on the sticker in the door. This was GM specific where I read it.

    Take it with a grain of salt, as I read it on the internet, and we know how accurate that can be...

    //KMac
  • Hammerboy's avatar
    Hammerboy
    Explorer
    May 23, 2019
    twodownzero wrote:
    So your truck has 1,900 pounds of payload and with the wife on board, you're overloaded by over 400 pounds--over 20% of your payload capacity.

    Why is your truck itself so heavy? Can you move load to the trailer? Mine weighs 7,100. I know newer trucks are heavier, but where did they put the extra thousand pounds?


    Actually my truck weighs in at 7534# dry i'm assuming because I have 2466# payload according to the door sticker. The 8100# on the scale ticket is with Me, hitch, and full tank of diesel, that comes off the stated payload leaving me with the 1900# left over. Short of moving my wife to riding in the fifth I can't shift anything to the fifth and I don't think she would go for that ;-)

    Dan

    Edit: Now that I think about it I wonder if the door sticker includes a full tank of fuel? Me = 215#, hitch = 221#, 36 gallons fuel = 280# plus I added running boards and spray in bedliner, all that should be around 850# I would think but yet it scaled at 8100#. Who knows...:h

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