Where to weigh your Travel trailer

Poohper wrote:
We don't have very much where I live except we do have Trucker stops with scales not far away that I can probably get a close estimate of the weight from. The RV repair place we go to said that we were close to our truck towing weight so I am a little nervous to travel now. Even though we only have towels, pots and pans in it. We have a 2007 Ford F250 diesel truck.

What are you towing that you'd be close to the limit in an F250?

Our F250 has a payload capacity rating on the door pillar sticker of 2800 lbs. At a typical 13% tongue weight (normally about 12-13% of the weight of the TT), that'd mean we could tow up to 21K lbs which would one heck of a long & heavy TT. But. Any options you add to the truck and anything in the truck from passengers, pets & groceries to firewood and camping stuff in the bed comes off the payload capacity which can substantially reduce what you can tow. As well, receivers and WDHs have a max. weight rating and we are limited to 1200 lbs in our case and at 13% tongue wt., that'd translate to a 9K lb TT. Our 29' TT weighs 7K lbs.

Further to another thread you started, it sounds like perhaps you don't have the WDH correctly set up to transfer weight from the TT's tongue back onto the steer axle. If you don't, the truck can squat in the rear and look like it is overloaded. You can adjust a WDH at a scale, but be prepared to be there a while. Measuring front fender height is faster but not as accurate - suggest you do this first before going to the scale. For an optimal towing experience, there are some other factors to consider besides setting up a WDH such as sway control and having the correct psi in the truck & trailer tires. It's my understanding that older F250s can squat in the rear a little more than other trucks, and ours certainly does even with near 100% weight restored back onto the front axle.

It's always a good idea to go to a scale to know where you stand on your weights. With 3 separate passes, you can get the weight of the truck, the TT's weight, the tongue weight and the amount of weight transferred back onto the steer axle. Getting side to side weights is also a good idea because a TT can weigh more on one side and have an affect on the load capacity rating of tires. When you go to the scale, you want the truck loaded up as you would for camping plus a full tank of fuel and the TT should also be fully loaded for camping. Don't forget that if you plan to tow with a fully loaded holding tank(s) that adds 8.3 lbs per gal and depending on FW tank location, can affect the tongue wt and handling/sway.

FWIW, I love our F250 for towing. Took a while to do all the "right stuff" to optimize towing and eliminate sway and is now lotsa fun on the twistiest of roads or on the interstate.