Forum Discussion

Downwindtracke1's avatar
Jun 22, 2017

Real Weights

When guys and gals are looking at purchasing a TT,they look at the brochure . But to get an idea of reality, our brochure weight dry was 4100#, the factory out the door sticker was 4600# dry ,when I ran it over the scale,fully loaded for an across Canada trip,the two axles were 2830 kg.(2.2lb=1kg).

This is all a so what to me, I switched out the axles to 5200# and the tires to either 2700# or 2900# truck, 16" 10plys .And I pull with a diesel 1ton. But someone with a 1/2 ton, might not have a so what attitude driving down the road.

30 Replies

  • I didn't realize how much stuff we carried until we unloaded our previous 5th wheel onto the carport so we could deliver it to the dealership to trade for our current TT. Easily several hundred pounds.
    Our currency here in the US is metric. I don't know why we still use thumbs and feet for everything else.
  • 1600lbs isn't a lot of stuff. sounds typical to me. things add up fast. anyone that figures 3-500lbs for "stuff" doesn't really know what things add up to. My trailer is 7100lbs empty, loaded for a trip it weighs 9200lbs. this is why I say to add at least 1500lbs to the dry weight. this will get you close to your ready to travel weight. its also why you need to look at CCC. some trailers only have 1200lbs, some (like mine) have a 4100lb CCC. 7100lbs dry and 11,200 GVWR.
    And they shipped mine with "D" rated china bombs. they lasted about 500 miles before a tire shifted a belt. I installed "E" rated Carlisle`s that carry much more weight. haven't had an issue since.
  • I assume the point of his post was to not trust the states dry weight. I don't know why everyone is so concerned with the added gear the OP loaded into his trailer. Maybe his wife is like mine, we have a 5 yo and a 3 month old and we basically take our entire house when we camp for 9-12 days. By the time I load up firewood, bikes, ice chests, pack and plays and whatever else I need I'm sure I add considerable weight.....maybe not 1600.

    I agree on the tire swapping though, my trailer weights 10,350 fully loaded ready to camp with roughly 9100 on the axles. It came with d rated tires that support 10,240 on the axles. When I replace them I'm going with E rated tires for a little extra weigh carrying capacity.
  • Downwindtracker2 wrote:
    Canadians use both , and can convert.


    Not me, I never refer to anything in kg, nor would I ever refer to fuel mileage rated in Imperial gallons or even litres per 100 km, the stupidest form of metric measure. rv.net is a US based forum with the vast majority of members being Americans, it only makes sense to use US measure, whether volume, weight, whatever. :R

    That said, what's the point of your original post? - I've yet to see any trailer where it's actual stickered dry weight won't be noticeably higher than it's listed brochure weight - big surprise. What is surprising is how just 2 adults could find it necessary to load so much additional weight into the trailer, making the end result far heavier than it really needs to be. :E
  • That is why DRY weights have no meaning and are useless.

    One should look at the GVWR of trailer and then run the numbers to see of their two vehicle of choice is enough
  • Downwindtracker2 wrote:
    When guys and gals are looking at purchasing a TT,they look at the brochure . But to get an idea of reality, our brochure weight dry was 4100#, the factory out the door sticker was 4600# dry ,when I ran it over the scale,fully loaded for an across Canada trip,the two axles were 2830 kg.(2.2lb=1kg).

    This is all a so what to me, I switched out the axles to 5200# and the tires to either 2700# or 2900# truck, 16" 10plys .And I pull with a diesel 1ton. But someone with a 1/2 ton, might not have a so what attitude driving down the road.


    This is 6226 lb loaded. Which means you are carrying a LOT of stuff---1626 lb. Unless that is batteries and water... I can't imagine where in a TT you would put that much weight.
  • Full fresh water, propane ,batteries, the wife's packing,and tools.

    We 're on a bluff over looking the sea in PEI, tonight.The TT has a big picture window across the back,so I parked that way.I don't know the next WiFi.

    Canadians use both , and can convert.

    The wife is a rockhound,so there can be a few 5gal buckets of semi-precious rock in the back of truck as well.
  • 6,226 pounds by the way. Yeah, that was annoying.

    Where did you pick up 1500 odd pounds of stuff?
  • Switching back and forth between pounds and kilos makes your post a hard read.