Weight questions

two-niner wrote:
At Camp Freightliner, it was stated the weakest part on most suspensions would be the tires. You have new ones, that's good.

Still, being at near gross weight, a four corner weighing is almost mandatory!

That's interesting and according to the tire charts, max air would carry a lot more than my GVWR rating. Even a good bit less than max would do so easily.

At Camp Freightliner, it was stated the weakest part on most suspensions would be the tires. You have new ones, that's good.

Still, being at near gross weight, a four corner weighing is almost mandatory!

presidio40 wrote:
Hi,

We are new to RVing and have a question about load limits. We loaded the RV (we are full time), filled fuel, water and propane and drove onto a Cat scale. We got the following:

GAW (forward) 11920
GAWR is 12000

GAW (rear) 19760
GAWR is 20000

So GVW is 31680 and GVWR is 32000

I guess we are just below limits. My question is, can we tow our 2600Lbs car if the GCWR is 42000.
Also being close to the limit is a real problem or can we live with it as this is as heavy as we will ever be with all tanks full.

Thanks

Looks to me that you're 10K lbs to the good and then some for towing and you should be good to to go, with whatever toad you choose, as long as your hitch rating is for 10K lbs, as well.
Even a 10% overload is nothing too critical and if it was, then half of all the rigs on the road would have to be removed immediately and as we speak.
Those long 6% grades is what usually tells the story and most always with transmission oil temps. If not for that, many would never know the difference.

DSDP,

Thanks for the info. I will call them tomorrow.

"presidio40"....I'm guessing you'll be coming down I-5 through Oregon and into California. Just before the California border you'll pass through Grants Pass, Oregon. There is a WELL known shop there called Henderson's Line Up. Make an appointment with them. They will, for a modest fee, check out your entire suspension, weigh your coach and road test it. At the end they'll give you a report of what you may immediately need and what will make your coach handle better if you decide to add items later. They're pretty busy, so I would make an appointment.

They have two spots in front of the store that have power, which would allow you to arrive the night before your appointment. There is also a nice campground in town, even though it's right on I-5, called Jack's Landing that you can spend the night at prior to your appointment.

I could never find scales that would let me to weight corners, but I was using quiet electric compressor to inflate the air bags before engine start and since it took some time, I could observe how it pumps up.
It is the rear suspension that makes for side to side difference, while front is equalized.
So one side lifted at 60 psi, the other at almost 90 psi. That knowing the axle weight allow me to calculate the side load.
Whoever design the conversion put batteries and tanks on the side of fuel tank. The other side has ... refrigerator.

I have the Brakemaster air brake with breakaway switch for the car.

presidio40 wrote:
So GVW is 31680 and GVWR is 32000

I guess we are just below limits. My question is, can we tow our 2600Lbs car if the GCWR is 42000.
Also being close to the limit is a real problem or can we live with it as this is as heavy as we will ever be with all tanks full.

Thanks

GVW is below 32000 pounds (Max GVW is 32000 so you are good there)

If you add 2600 Pounds of car you will be at 32280 pounds which is well below your 42000 pound Max CGVW so you are still good.

DO make sure the car has an aux brake system,, Invisi Brake,, US-Gear, M&G, Air force one.. One of the INSTALLED systems with a break-away cable.. Avoid the all-in-one box in the driver's seat systems.

Best place to get a true four corner weight is at a FMCA area or National Rally or Escapees Site or Rally. I do not believe there are any in the area or time frame you have given. We also had ours done once at Josams when we had our front end aligned in Orlando FL. Sorry I don't know any place along your route.

You can use most of the closed OR truck scales to weigh (scale is not turned off) and you can get off to the side so you can do one side at a time. If the MH is not level (leaning to one side) because the pavement besides scale is lower than the scale (does not take much) your readings will be off. Here is my post on how to negate this by weighing one side and then turning around.

You 110 front and 90 rear is the minimum for your weights with 275s. Because of the leaning like in the above, I go 5 psi over the minimum and it's not just the crown in a road. I'll still travel in a strong cross wind which will shift a lot of weight to the down wind side. In this situation my tire temps will be less on the up wind side and 10-15 degrees hotter on the down wind side.

In your situation I would run 115 and 95.