Empty Weight - Fleetwood Tioga 29Z on a Ford E450 Chassis?

I just reweighed the 1998 Ford E-Super Duty chassis now that the entire motorhome structure and rear frame extensions have been removed. It is now as close as I could get it to the way it left the Ford plant as a cutaway cab/chassis. Only the roughly 48" mid-section frame stretch remains.

I fueled up to the same half tank fuel level as the first weigh and again it was only me onboard.

Steer Axle: 3460-Lb

Drive Axle: 2420-Lb

Gross weight was 5,880-Lbs

That is a huge weight loss down from 12,520-Lbs.
Now it is time for the rebuild...

I finally scaled the 1994 Fleetwood Tioga 29Z on the 1998 Ford E-Super Duty chassis...

Half tank of fuel,
Holding tanks empty,
No auxiliary battery,
All cabinets and storage compartments empty as well,
And only me onboard...

Steer Axle: 4640-Lb

Drive Axle: 7880-LB

Gross weight was 12,520-Lbs

John Wayne wrote:
See if anyone in the area has individual wheel scales and will let you rent or use them then weight it at home.

Thats a great idea...I just wish I new some people here in eastern North Carolina that had some scales. About the only people that may have them in this area are people that are into racing or have a performance shop maybe?

The nearest CAT scale is 21 miles away if I drive straight through town and about 25 miles if I take the back roads and avoid going through town. I asked DMV about getting a transport tag to drive it there and back and they said they would only give me a temporary tag for getting it inspected and I would have to insure it. I already know it wont pass inspection yet as the tail light wiring is hacked and it has a temporary set of lights plugged into the trailer connector. I wasn't planning on registering it until next spring.

Thank you to all who have replied. I'm just going to drive it to the scale one day next week and get an exact weight. I just want to figure out how much weight it loses after I put it on a diet. Hoping to get the Onan MicroQuiet 4000 generator running this coming weekend and also test out the heater and all appliances before I remove them. I am planning on reinstalling the Attwood heater, Coleman A/C, and Onan generator when I am done with the rebuild but the holding tanks, stove, fridge, water heater, refrigerator, and all the bathroom stuff are not going back in.

See if anyone in the area has individual wheel scales and will let you rent or use them then weight it at home.

I think that the GM chassis GVWR was only around 12,000 pounds, while the Ford E-450 is GVWR of 14,050 pounds.

So when it left the factory, if it was 'legal' weight, then it must have been below 12,000 pounds. Or it might be that the chassis was over it's GVWR, leading Cruise America to change the box over to a higher GVWR chassis - kinda expensive option, but I guess it can be done.

Cruise America might have been having problems with the GM chassis and it's loaded GVW. If it exceeds the GVWR when passengers are on board, then that can cause legal problems.

Again I have no way to tell you what it should have been as it left the factory. I do know that my buddy bought a Fleetwood in 2004, and the brochure stated that the RV dry weight was about 12,950 pounds and GVWR 14,050 pounds. So his total cargo rating was only 1,100 pounds. It was a 31' class C with a slideout. And because Fleetwood built it on the 14,050 pound rated chassis, they did not need to skimp on weight like they would have on a lighter weight chassis.

Also the GM chassis seems to be about 500 pounds lighter weight than a 1997 Ford F-53 chassis of the same length. Probably similar condition in the class C chassis of the era. Ford used a thicker steel in the chassis that is not heat treated. By using tempered steel, the GM chassis can be just as strong, but thinner steel, and thus lighter weight. However it is easier to damage with stress cracks, and difficult to repair, due to being heat treated, you loose that strength if you weld on it.

Good luck!

Perhaps you can find someone who had a brochure on the 1994 Fleetwoods someplace, and can look up the information for you. It should give you a base weight for a 1994 model, and it's trailer weight capacity from the factory.

Fred.

I was just hoping for a guesstimate. I know Fleetwood did make the same Tioga 29Z in the late 90's with a Ford E450 chassis but I haven't had any luck finding out the dry weight of one. I asked Fleetwood but haven't heard back yet so I figured I would try asking here before driving an unregistered motorhome (with a questionable roof) about 40 miles round trip to a scale.

Thanks.

Any estimate, even what the RV weight was when it left the factory will be way off once Cruise America changed it from a GM to a Ford chassis. Who knows how much they changed the factory mounts, cabinets, plumbing, and other related items?

You would have to take it to a scale to get anything accurate for this unit. Even if I took my 97 Bounder that I bought brand new, I would have weight difference than when it left the factory. I installed a inverter, and several other options, awnings, ect. So the factory weight is not going to give me any indication of how much the weight is now, just a guess to go by.

Good luck,

Fred.