Stopped at a weigh station
I stopped at a weigh station this past weekend on my way home from camp. Washington state leaves the scales on at this particular station. Since there are two sides so I wouldn't be blocking anybody, I decided to play around a little and get some numbers:
Truck in signature towing toy hauler in signature. Eaz-lift with 1400 lb bars. Max number of washers for max tilt. Tanks mostly empty with 1/3 of a 100 gallon fresh water tank left (sits on top of axles). 1/2 tank of fuel (sits behind axles). So here are the numbers. Note: I wasn't able to get truck alone yet.
Truck axle ratings
F: 5500
R: 7000
Payload (Yellow sticker): 3840
GVWR: 10800
Trailer axle ratings are 5000 each axle.
Dry weight on trailer sticker: 7020
Brochure weights
Tongue: 987
Unloaded weight: 6671
GVWR: 9980
Actual numbers (scale is in 20 lb increments)
First weigh hooked up with 1 link dangling
Truck front: 3880
Truck rear: 5020
Trailer (both): 7440
Weigh with WD bars undone:
F: 3520
R: 5560
T: 7240
Then I unhooked the coupler and weighed the tongue.
Tongue: 1660.
Holy bleep! I knew the tongue was heavy, but I didn't realize it was that heavy.
Just for fun, I managed to tighten up the bars and leave 2 links dangling.
F: 3980 (surprised only 100 lb difference)
R: 4680
T: 7460
Lessons: I'm really glad I got rid of my F150 for this trailer. I can't believe I was towing that. My F150 receiver was only rated to 1050 lbs(!). Even after upgrading my hitch to a Torklift Superhero with a 1600 lb WD rating, I was still overloaded. That tongue also must have took up nearly all of my cargo rating. 1660 actual - 987 dry = 673 lbs over the published weight. That should be a lesson to anybody who assumes that they can tow the dry weight of a trailer. Yes, it's a toy hauler, but I'm now within all ratings on my Ram 3500 and it makes a huge difference. It's amazing how naive I was when I bought that.
The only concern I have now is that my bars are apparently still undersized even at 1400 lbs. The receiver is rated at 1800 lbs and I'm obviously still getting some Weight Distribution, but there are no bigger bars for this system. I really don't want to get a different system (translated: my wife thinks I've already spent too much switching trucks and doesn't want to put any more into it), but it appears a Blue Ox may be in my future. Other than a Torklift which would require a different receiver, I'm not sure what other system could handle that tongue weight. Any thoughts? It tows fine now.
Truck in signature towing toy hauler in signature. Eaz-lift with 1400 lb bars. Max number of washers for max tilt. Tanks mostly empty with 1/3 of a 100 gallon fresh water tank left (sits on top of axles). 1/2 tank of fuel (sits behind axles). So here are the numbers. Note: I wasn't able to get truck alone yet.
Truck axle ratings
F: 5500
R: 7000
Payload (Yellow sticker): 3840
GVWR: 10800
Trailer axle ratings are 5000 each axle.
Dry weight on trailer sticker: 7020
Brochure weights
Tongue: 987
Unloaded weight: 6671
GVWR: 9980
Actual numbers (scale is in 20 lb increments)
First weigh hooked up with 1 link dangling
Truck front: 3880
Truck rear: 5020
Trailer (both): 7440
Weigh with WD bars undone:
F: 3520
R: 5560
T: 7240
Then I unhooked the coupler and weighed the tongue.
Tongue: 1660.
Holy bleep! I knew the tongue was heavy, but I didn't realize it was that heavy.
Just for fun, I managed to tighten up the bars and leave 2 links dangling.
F: 3980 (surprised only 100 lb difference)
R: 4680
T: 7460
Lessons: I'm really glad I got rid of my F150 for this trailer. I can't believe I was towing that. My F150 receiver was only rated to 1050 lbs(!). Even after upgrading my hitch to a Torklift Superhero with a 1600 lb WD rating, I was still overloaded. That tongue also must have took up nearly all of my cargo rating. 1660 actual - 987 dry = 673 lbs over the published weight. That should be a lesson to anybody who assumes that they can tow the dry weight of a trailer. Yes, it's a toy hauler, but I'm now within all ratings on my Ram 3500 and it makes a huge difference. It's amazing how naive I was when I bought that.
The only concern I have now is that my bars are apparently still undersized even at 1400 lbs. The receiver is rated at 1800 lbs and I'm obviously still getting some Weight Distribution, but there are no bigger bars for this system. I really don't want to get a different system (translated: my wife thinks I've already spent too much switching trucks and doesn't want to put any more into it), but it appears a Blue Ox may be in my future. Other than a Torklift which would require a different receiver, I'm not sure what other system could handle that tongue weight. Any thoughts? It tows fine now.
