Need help figuring out why my rig is overweight
Hey folks, this might be a weird question, but I need help figuring out why my rig is overweight. Let me explain.
We have a Grand Design Momentum 354M 5th wheel toy hauler. Here are the stats that matter:
Basic arithmetic tells us that with full fresh water and fuel tanks but nothing else, the weight is 15,211 pounds. That leaves us with 1,289 pounds for cargo.
The problem is, when we are fully loaded with cargo and full fuel and fresh water tanks, the CAT scales put me at a whopping 17,500 pounds (3,220 on the pin and 14,280 on the axles).
I know that CAT scales are reliable, but I still used 2 different ones to be sure. I also weighed the truck without the trailer attached so I could get an exact calculation.
Here's the thing, though: There's absolutely no way we have that much cargo. We use the garage for our son's bedroom. We don't have "toys." The heaviest things we have in the RV are our washer/dryer combo (150~ pounds), a cabinet we added in the garage (<200 pounds) and our mattress (100~ pounds).
Other than that, all we have are food, clothes, baby toys, and miscellaneous items like some camping gear and alpine skis. None of it weighs more than 30 pounds, and there isn't a lot of it. We aren't hardcore minimalists, but we don't like having a lot of stuff. We do regular purges of unneeded items.
I can see MAYBE having 500-800 pounds of cargo (after the items listed above), but there's no way that we have a total of 2,289 pounds (which is what we'd need to hit 17,500 pounds).
There's also no way that we have 14,280 pounds on the axles. The only things in the garage are the cabinet, washer/dryer, our son's crib, and some baby toys.
The only thing that I can figure is that I'm somehow using the scales wrong. However, I'm using the 3 boxes and getting weights for steer axle, drive axle, and trailer axle, so I don't think I've positioned it wrong.
Does anyone have any ideas?
We have a Grand Design Momentum 354M 5th wheel toy hauler. Here are the stats that matter:
- Dry weight: 13,400
- Pin weight: 2,700
- GVWR: 16,500
- Axle Rating: 2 x 7000
- Fresh water capacity: 157 gallons
- Fuel capacity: 60 gallons
Basic arithmetic tells us that with full fresh water and fuel tanks but nothing else, the weight is 15,211 pounds. That leaves us with 1,289 pounds for cargo.
The problem is, when we are fully loaded with cargo and full fuel and fresh water tanks, the CAT scales put me at a whopping 17,500 pounds (3,220 on the pin and 14,280 on the axles).
I know that CAT scales are reliable, but I still used 2 different ones to be sure. I also weighed the truck without the trailer attached so I could get an exact calculation.
Here's the thing, though: There's absolutely no way we have that much cargo. We use the garage for our son's bedroom. We don't have "toys." The heaviest things we have in the RV are our washer/dryer combo (150~ pounds), a cabinet we added in the garage (<200 pounds) and our mattress (100~ pounds).
Other than that, all we have are food, clothes, baby toys, and miscellaneous items like some camping gear and alpine skis. None of it weighs more than 30 pounds, and there isn't a lot of it. We aren't hardcore minimalists, but we don't like having a lot of stuff. We do regular purges of unneeded items.
I can see MAYBE having 500-800 pounds of cargo (after the items listed above), but there's no way that we have a total of 2,289 pounds (which is what we'd need to hit 17,500 pounds).
There's also no way that we have 14,280 pounds on the axles. The only things in the garage are the cabinet, washer/dryer, our son's crib, and some baby toys.
The only thing that I can figure is that I'm somehow using the scales wrong. However, I'm using the 3 boxes and getting weights for steer axle, drive axle, and trailer axle, so I don't think I've positioned it wrong.
Does anyone have any ideas?
