Who has ever been weighed when RV towing?

Sidney,

I like your answer. probably a better answer than some.....

Jim,

Just for your info, and old time engineer like you designed the roads. THAT old time engineer like you, made the specs as to what the road can handle weight wise. THAT is what folks like wadcutter have to enforce. NOT the old time engineer that designs trucks and cars. FOlks like wadcutter have been enforcing road limits since the early 1800's in some jurisdictions of the US. Possibly as long back as when the Romans starting building roads. Did cars and trucks as we know it exist as far back as the early 1800's and romans? no, but they put limits on what your horse cart could put on the road per tire. If the cart fell apart. oh well. If you truck falls apart...oh well. If the road that the government, ie we the people own.......because you took a vehicle that was designed to be greater in strength than the road. you WILL HAVE issue with we the people!

You can drive a pickup with 2 25K axels per an old time engineer like you. If you run into wadcutter in your rig at 50K lbs, YOU WILL get a ticket for being 10K lbs overweight! Because the old time engineer that designed the road bed said you can only put 20K per axel on the road!

At the end of the day, there are two different old time engineers at work. One that designed the road, the other that designs the vehicle. The one that designed the road will ALWAYS win in a legal fight! Now a civil court fight, all bets are off!

marty

And

Happy Holidays!

shakyjay wrote:
All of this from one simple one line question and most the posts don't even answer it, typical. :R

OP asked:
Has anyone ever been stopped and weighed by enforcement authorities while towing an rv?

My answer: NO

Oops... You're right... forgot to mention it.

Nope never been weighed by LEO.

All of this from one simple one line question and most the posts don't even answer it, typical. :R

OP asked:
Has anyone ever been stopped and weighed by enforcement authorities while towing an rv?

My answer: NO

I'm repeating myself from another thread... hopefully you won't judge me to harshly:

GVWR is determined by using a sophisticated social media / internet forum protocol formula.

(FAWR + RAWR)* X = GVWR

Where X is the "Variable Internet Forum Coefficient" or VIFC.

The VIFC is randomly determined by former NASA technician who were responsible for black tank flush maintenance and winterizing the space shuttles. The former technicians live in Houston TX and enjoy RVing, Camping, Boondocking and LT vs ST tire debates.

The VIFC was developed for entertainment purposes only... to encourage lively intellectual debate among RV enthusiast.

However, the VIFC has since morphed into a "COW" (can of worms) that can be taken literally, casually or ignored completely solely dependent upon what size TV you currently own.

I want to know if my rig can tow up a 30% grade at gcwr and not stall out? "WHERE" in the towing guide does it say WHAT the actual performance specs are?

The performance specs can change as noted by an OEM engineer. Based on frontal area, aerodynamics of said frontal area. Gears in the axels, gears in the trans, engine hp and torqe......the list goes on and on and on.

marty

I've been through my states moving road side safety sticker/insurance check points a few times some years ago towing doubles with my 5er and a 18' bass boat. The stop was set up by the county and state boys on small state hiways between two large rock crushers. They give dump truckers fits with weight checks. DOT guys were there with portables and new recruits.

Guess it was slow so they asked me if they could check my drivers. I was well under the trucks RAWR/tire load rating. They also measured my combo for length/checked my break away cable/lights/stickers on the trucks license plates/etc. My state has no weights registration requirements for private use trucks.

The dot guy laughed and said he had never checked a RV combination before that had a dark blue/white truck with a white on green/brown 5th wheel trailer and a two tone blue and grey metal flake boat with a black max on it.

Oh yeah, ok on safety sticker and insurance.

;;Though it was a design engineer from Chrysler, Ford or Ram that used the manufacturer component ratings to set up tow ratings for one's truck....I don't care what the road bed can tow....I care about what "MY" truck can tow safely without abusing it. I will look at GVWR numbers, GCWR numbers, RAWR and FAWR numbers...can't help it, I'm an Engineer,and old school at that. I know buffers have been built in...I know what the experts have stated...I can go out and buy a license for carrying more capacity than truck is rated at and for more GCWR than truck is rated at, and people do it...and it's legal....doesn't mean it's safe whether a LEO cares about it or not...doesn't mean you might not be abusing your truck whether you care about the numbers or not or have paid for a license that states you can carry and tow more...that license doesn't make the suspension components, the axle, the tranny, and the brakes more "heavy duty"....Can't help myself...I KNOW if I follow the specs, I won't be overloaded, I won't abuse my truck and I know the truck will perform at it's peak safety processes...nothing more, nothing less...being able to purchase a sheet of paper doesn't make it right or safe....I'm an idiot, I go by weight ratings, and know I have buffer in all the numbers and don't have to worry about
compromising my safety or prematurely wearing out my truck.

Hey, I really don't care if one want's to overload their truck, possibly wear it out sooner and possibly limit safety factors built into the truck...not my truck, not my rv and not my family. But I'm going to go with what the design and manufacturing engineers recommend what I tow and load into the truck they manufactured..figure it'll give me my money's worth in the long run. In the long run, I'm not going to change anyone mind on this and no one is going to change mine...so, let's hook up and go camping.........

Wadcutter wrote:
I spent a career stopping overweight trucks, over 3 decades. I taught truck weight laws. The IL Supreme Court recognized me as an expert witness on truck laws and weights.
Think about what the OP asked. The usual weight limit is 20,000 lbs on a single axle and 34,000 on a tandem axle. Think about that. Do you really think your 5er weighs 34,000 lbs on the tandem axles? Do you really think you're hauling 20,000 lbs on your pickup axles? Really? If anyone thinks so then they really don't have any comprehension of weights. That empty truck and semi trailer you see running down the highway weighs more than most 5ers do fully loaded. If we don't care about empty semi truck weights do you really think your 5er is a concern? You aren't even close to max weight either on axle or gross.

As one says, one has the REAL answer from a REAL wt cop! As I described, there is no way in HE!! any of us as RV'rs are near the max load per the laws they have to enforce! which is HOW MUCH the road bed is designed to handle! It does not matter what the rig is designed to handle, but what the road bed is designed to handle. So yes, and "engineer" has decided the max wt you can be. BUT, it is not based on the engineers of your vehicle!

marty

Never been stopped and weighed but twice have been stopped in Ca. Once pulling doubles and the officer didnt believe it was legal but he was wrong and another time as the officer wanted to know about my pickup and why i could pull my 35 ft fifth wheel up hwy 50 and never slow down on any hill. He was in the market for a new truck. Have been stopped in a water truck.