Help calculate pin weight ,

[rich_and_char]

Hi all .
I had a chance to hit a Certified Cat Scale yesterday on the way back from Lake George NY. I-87 exit 21-b With truck and 5th wheel in Sig. Normal load , minus fire wood , couple cases of water , ect , I can ball park that in .
As normal the truck never broke a sweat , it handled the grades with ease , and lots of extra power if needed , anyway ,

What would you ball park the pin weight to be ??

Here's the Numbers ,

Truck Door Pillar ,
Front gawr. -5940
Rear gawr. - 9000
GVWR - 13300

Manuf. Sticker on Trailer ,
dry - 13069
cargo - 2274
GVWR - 15402
7000lb axles
G614 tires - 110psi

Cat scale numbers ,
Steer axle - 5680
Drive axle - 7500
trailer axle - 11000
gross weight - 24180

I have not weighted the truck ready to camp with out the trailer .

Thanks Rich,

[ohiopicker]

A lot of farm feed mills will have scales where you can have your rig weighed.

[ependydad]

goducks10 wrote:
We have ODOT scales in Oregon that are open all the time and free. So I'm never in contact with an operator. Never used a CAT scale. Is it possible to just lower the landing gear till the pin weight is off the 5th hitch? Or are you in a line and need to keep moving?

IMO, just do 2 weighings. One with the truck + trailer. One with just the truck.

Then a little math goes a long way.

[goducks10]

We have ODOT scales in Oregon that are open all the time and free. So I'm never in contact with an operator. Never used a CAT scale. Is it possible to just lower the landing gear till the pin weight is off the 5th hitch? Or are you in a line and need to keep moving?

[ACZL]

Should have stopped at x16 off the northway coming back. They have Cat scales w/ ENGLISH speaking staff. Like other posters have said, you cannot get accurate weights for either until you weigh truck on it's own. If you do it again w/ 5er hooked, weigh whole rig, pull off scale, drop trailer, go back on scale, ask for a re-weigh. Hook back up and go pay the 10-12 bucks and get both tickets. The diff on trucks drive axle is pin weight.

[ependydad]

rich and char wrote:
Well , after I pulled on the scales and placed where I wanted to be , and got my 4 weights , I wanted to drop the front landing legs and lift the pin off the hitch , "take the weight off the truck " that way I could get just the truck , and just the trailer , but that seemed to be a problem , and communication and understanding was non existent. I would of payed the extra 10 bucks for the weights.
Oh well ,another time and another place.

I'll post back an update when it happens , anymore educated guesses, maybe i'll post a small camping gift for the closest guesser to keep it fun and light .

Thanks Rich,

Here you go, for next time- How to Weigh a Fifth Wheel Camper

[wilber1]

If you have a transfer station or landfill with a scale they might give you a weight for your truck. They have for me.

[avvidclif1]

Next time thru pull up on the scales and weigh. Move off and unhitch and then back on the scale with just the truck. Ask for a re-weigh. Most scales the first re-weigh is free. When you go in you will get 2 weight slips and you can figure everything from there.

[rich_and_char]

mdamerell wrote:
They will never let you drop a trailer on a CAT Scale. It just is not going to happen. You have to drop the trailer off the scale in a parking spot and pull back on. The act of dropping a semi trailer like that would mess up the scale so there is a no trailer dropping policy. Sliding axles on a scale is another big no-no.

Sorry we didn't know ,that could have been just explained to us ,We were traveling with another family w/5th wheel and we both wanted to be weighted . It would of only taken a extra 10 min. to unhook and rehook.

Thanks, live-n-learn
Rich

[mdamerell]

They will never let you drop a trailer on a CAT Scale. It just is not going to happen. You have to drop the trailer off the scale in a parking spot and pull back on. The act of dropping a semi trailer like that would mess up the scale so there is a no trailer dropping policy. Sliding axles on a scale is another big no-no.

[rich_and_char]

Well , after I pulled on the scales and placed where I wanted to be , and got my 4 weights , I wanted to drop the front landing legs and lift the pin off the hitch , "take the weight off the truck " that way I could get just the truck , and just the trailer , but that seemed to be a problem , and communication and understanding was non existent. I would of payed the extra 10 bucks for the weights.
Oh well ,another time and another place.

I'll post back an update when it happens , anymore educated guesses, maybe i'll post a small camping gift for the closest guesser to keep it fun and light .

Thanks Rich,

[Me_Again]

I will take a swag at it. Let me know how close I am when you weigh it.

Truck ready to tow 9500 lbs. Which if you subtract the steer axle of 5680, which does not change much with a 5th wheel, gives you a rear axle weight of 3820. That subtracted from 7500 measure rear axle gives a pin weight of 3680.

Chris

[1711tab]

donn0128 wrote:
Until you drop the trailer and drive back onto the scales there is no way for you to determine pin weight. Except to take 20% of the trailers GVWR at this point.

X 2... You need the steering and rea axle weights of the truck (without the trailer) to determine the ACTUAL Pin Weight...

Tim

[rich_and_char]

donn0128 wrote:
Until you drop the trailer and drive back onto the scales there is no way for you to determine pin weight. Except to take 20% of the trailers GVWR at this point.

Yea , I hear ya ,
I was getting really aggravated with non English speaking female at that point , who was clueless for what I was looking for. Just wasn't sure if I could get a ball park.
Next time.
Thanks
Rich

[donn0128]

Until you drop the trailer and drive back onto the scales there is no way for you to determine pin weight. Except to take 20% of the trailers GVWR at this point.