Weighing rv
This is a silly question I am sure, but here it goes. I know you can weigh your rig at a truck stop on their scales. I was wondering if you can use those random truck scales on the side of the high...
Forum Discussion
At the risk of whipping a dead horse, my comment is, unhitched tongue weight means little when properly distributer by a WD hitch.
People ask where does the weight go? The weight does not go anywhere, it is redistributed to the truck and trailer frame. How do we know this? There was a decades old advertisement showing an Oldsmobile Torenado with front wheel drive pulling a trailer with the rear wheels remove.
All the tongue weight was transferred by the WD hitch to the car's front axel and the trailers axels. There was no weight on the rear axel so the wheels were removed.
You would get the same effect if you welded a large I beam to the trailer frame and the truck frame. The tongue weight is still there, but it is spread out along the length of the I beam. You would not even need the hitch ball. Of course you could not turn either.
As mentioned, either you believe the numbers or you do not. If your WD hitch is adjust so the rig sits level and the scale shows your max axel weights, max cargo, (usually a bit less then the combined front and rear axel weights} and your trailer axel weights are okay; with about 10 to 15% of the trailer weight is on the ball, then your tongue weight had been properly distributed.
But what if you put some super gonzo, heavy weight trailer and WD hitch on your poor little half ton? When you level the rig and go to the scale, it will show that the redistributed weight exceed the weight limits of your axel or max cargo rating or both.
There is no free lunch, if your trailer is too heavy, it is too heavy. Folks who are close to there max cargo will sometimes shift the load inside the trailer. This of course has its limits also.
So again the tongue weight of the sitting trailer means little. It is how it is redistributed to the axles by the WD hitch that is important.
People ask where does the weight go? The weight does not go anywhere, it is redistributed to the truck and trailer frame. How do we know this? There was a decades old advertisement showing an Oldsmobile Torenado with front wheel drive pulling a trailer with the rear wheels remove.
All the tongue weight was transferred by the WD hitch to the car's front axel and the trailers axels. There was no weight on the rear axel so the wheels were removed.
You would get the same effect if you welded a large I beam to the trailer frame and the truck frame. The tongue weight is still there, but it is spread out along the length of the I beam. You would not even need the hitch ball. Of course you could not turn either.
As mentioned, either you believe the numbers or you do not. If your WD hitch is adjust so the rig sits level and the scale shows your max axel weights, max cargo, (usually a bit less then the combined front and rear axel weights} and your trailer axel weights are okay; with about 10 to 15% of the trailer weight is on the ball, then your tongue weight had been properly distributed.
But what if you put some super gonzo, heavy weight trailer and WD hitch on your poor little half ton? When you level the rig and go to the scale, it will show that the redistributed weight exceed the weight limits of your axel or max cargo rating or both.
There is no free lunch, if your trailer is too heavy, it is too heavy. Folks who are close to there max cargo will sometimes shift the load inside the trailer. This of course has its limits also.
So again the tongue weight of the sitting trailer means little. It is how it is redistributed to the axles by the WD hitch that is important.
