Pin weight
How many know their actual pin weight. Serious 5vr's should. Most discussion regarding trucks are more about towing capacity, when it needs to be about pin weight which is the biggest part of cargo ...
Forum Discussion
lanerd wrote:
I've never had a 5er so I was wondering just exactly HOW do you weigh the pin? Do you disconnect from the truck and put the pin on some sort of stand or do some simple math to determine the weight?
Ron
You can actually do that but it's probably more hassle than it's worth (plus be careful):
- Block the wheels so the trailer can't roll.
- Get a stout wood beam maybe 10' long(say a 6x8).
- Place one end on a bathroom scale (try to get an accurate one) and the other on a heavy duty floor jack.
- Place the beam so the floor jack is is only about 1ft from the pin and the scale is as far away as possible.
- Place another piece of 6x8 on the beam to support the pin box. You need to be careful that it is braced and won't fall over.
- Now jack up the end of the beam until the 5th wheel legs are barely off the ground (1/4inch is plenty), read the bathroom scale and drop the jack back down.
- If you used a 10' beam and the scale read 200#, you have a 2000# pin weight (200# 9ft from the pin on the scale plus 9 times that on the jack 1ft from the pin)
Or you can go to a truck stop and pay to have it weighed. Assuming it's one of the higher quality scales, they can give you an axle by axle weight. Do it with and without the 5er on and the difference in the PU rear axle is the pin weight.
