How to avoid getting blown all over the road

valhalla360 wrote:

Mike134 wrote:

valhalla360 wrote:

JRscooby wrote:
Your trip to the Cat. Make 1 pass, hooked up like you tow, another with just TV. I have never understood what useful info is gained with loose bars, but the change in weight of TV, and where that weight rides is important info.
BTW, if you tell them it is re-weigh for the 2nd (or more) passes only charge a fraction.

For an extra $2-3 get all the info.

It's technically possible to back calculate with just the 2 measures but beyond most people's understanding of how to calculate.

I don't see how that's possible because you'd have to guess at a variable. For example calculating tongue weight would be impossible from one pass with just the truck and the second pass with weight bars connected which will put weight on the front axle and ADD weight to the trailer axle. You'd have to guess what the tongue weight is.

You can do it but you have to include the axle spacing and isolate for the unknown variables taking into account the moments created in the WDH. I'm not even going to try and explain the process...it's a whole lot simpler to just disconnect the bars and take another measurement.

What is so important about knowing what what the TW would be while the trailer is not hooked to the TV? And if you think that number is important, pulling the trailer across the scales with bars loose will not give it to you because the front of trailer will be low. The TW that will change the handling is the weight the TV is carrying down the road. Getting that, and GW of the trailer so you can figure the percentage is simple if you don't add all the extra number from the loose bar pass.
Now if you where planning to replace the TV, that pass might be worthwhile if you where smart enough to figure out what the change in wheelbase and overhang will do.