Weighing at Cat Scales
After watching a couple of youTube videos, apparently the only way to determine the exact pin weight of a 5th wheel trailer is to weigh the truck/trailer and then disconnect the trailer and weigh the ...
Forum Discussion
1st pass WDH spring bars attached shows you how the weight is distributed between the trailer and the trucks 2 axles.
2nd pass no spring bars shows how the trailer loads the rear axle of the truck and lightens the front because of the tongue weight which you can find from the 3rd pass.
3rd pass truck only.
To find tongue weight subtract the 3rd pass from the trucks weight you found with the second pass. That difference is the tongue weight.
You can determine how much weight the WDH is distributing by looking at your front axle weight of just the truck alone and when you have the spring bars connected. I like no more than a 100lb difference between truck alone and truck with WDH spring bars connected for the front axle.
valhalla360 wrote:
Tells you what the weight distributing part of the hitch is doing.
Very useful if you are trying to dial in the correct tension on the bars. If the tension is too light, it may be distributing very little to the front axle and that would show up as a having almost the same front axle weight with and without the bars tensioned down.
The only numbers that making a pass with bars loose can let you calculate that you can't get from the other 2 passes is the TW when not hooked, and what percentages is transferred to steer and trailer. The only way to change the percentages steer/trailer is change wheelbase ratio. If you can't change it, do you need to know it?
Tongue weight needs to stay in the range when bars are in place. Add the weights marked as 'steer' and 'drive' when hooked up, compare to gross of TV alone, you have the weight of the trailer the TV is carrying, the definition of TW.
Old school thinking was when loading a truck you always wanted your steering to carry part of the load. Towing a TT behind a Vista Cruiser, always put enough tension on the bars to mash front down too. Sometime in the safety evolution of pickups that idea way lost. From what I read, nowadays they only want the spring bars to return the front back to what you have with MT truck.
