Truck Camper VIN Weight vs Scale Weight

Travels with Yoly wrote:
I've told this story before and also posted a video documenting it. We bought a Travel Lite 770R based on it's advertised dry weight of 1,385 lbs and the dealer's word that consequently it would be safe to mount on our Ram 1500. On the way home from picking the rig up, I stopped at the Cat scale. The only addition to the camper was a house battery and the only optional equipment was an A/C unit. The 770R came in at 2,140 lbs. Subtracting a 165 lbs for the A/C unit (8,500 btu) and battery makes the true dry weight around 1,975 lbs or 590 lbs heavier than advertised. I called the dealer as soon as we got home and explained that this put out truck about 400 lbs above the GVWR and rear axle rating. The dealer, D&H RV refunded our money, no questions asked. They told me that they had always taken the manufacturers word on weights and never actually weighed on. My advice to every new TC owner is to immediately get a Cat scale weight just so you know what you've got to work with.

Interesting, a well established TC dealer who does not know most TCs weigh more than their weight sticker when it is so well publicized on the Internet including Truck Camper Magazine in which one of D&H's comments on another topic was recently included.

I don't buy it for a second. If they didn't know that, I won't trust them to know anything about truck campers. My two cents.