Weights with the new truck came out pretty good

Funny how people with adequate tow vehicles have the best time towing. Good to see those on here once in a while rather than the folks that have to leave the kids at home to keep from being overloaded or are looking for some magic hitch to bail them out. Good job.

Thanks Fred. Other than some SD spring weather the trip was fantastic. 10 days out there and you can really start to feel at home. It is always hard for me to come back.

You lucky dog - you live near Mt Rushmore and Custer State Park, can go out and enjoy them a few times each year!

How did your trip into the Black Hills go? I hope everything is working out fine.

Fred.

Yes and a big thanks to you Eric. I did find that the suspension wasn't quite up to the job and had it rebuilt so there was a small adjustment after that so I decided to hit the scale and check it out. Off to the Black Hills next week.

Hey Paul - looks like you have it dialed in!

I am actually glad that I got numbers this good at 7 links because before I had the suspension on the TV rebuilt I was on 6 links and it didn't leave much clearance for the dual cam arms in turns.

phenrichs wrote:
Truck Only with whole family and full tank of fuel
Steer - 4860
Drive - 3540

Truck with TT no WD bars
Steer - 4400
Drive - 5100
Trailer - 7840

Truck with TT WD bars on 7 links
Steer - 4780
Drive - 4600
Trailer - 8000


I was considering going to 6 links to tighten it up but I think that is a pretty good setup. 7 links gets it within 1/2 inch of unloaded height too.

Yes I agree that your bars are at the correct tightness. You might even check it out with them loose 1 more link, and see what happens. Some people tighten them so much it acts like a spring, and induces bounce.

You can see it takes 460 pounds off the front axle, so the trailer has a fairly high hitch weight, around 1,100 pounds. When the bars are tight, the rear axle has 500 pounds less on it, with 160 being put on the trailer tires and 380 added to the steer axle.

I like to quote numbers like this to the in-experianced trailer owner, who do not seem to understand yet about weight distribution and the importance of the WD bars.

Has anyone explained how easy it is to get off the WD bars and put them back on by first hitching up to the truck ball, and thenraise the tounge jack about 6"? That makes installing the hitch bars simple and easy.

Have fun camping!

Fred.

Looks like a job well done. Congrats.

Actually the only thing that wasn't in the trailer that would be was food. We do keep a few things like some bottled water and some dry goods all the time but the fresh stuff we load out for each trip because we don't have the ability to keep fridge on all the time. I would bet no more than another 100 pounds. This weight includes all appliances including fridge in the outdoor kitchen. I can tell by your post that you are as surprised as I was.

Yes, the numbers look good.

But -- did you have the TT loaded as it normally would be loaded for camping?

If I have the correct information,
the indicated TT weight of 8960# is only 878# above the brochure "dry weight",
and is 2140# below the brochure GVWR of 11,000#.

If you plan to add much more weight to the TT, you might want to go to six chain links under tension.

Ron