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. -5940Rear gawr. - 9000GVWR - 13300Manuf. Sticker on Trailer ,dry - 13069cargo - 2274GVWR - 154027000lb axlesG614 tires - 110psiCat scale numbers ,Steer axle - 5680Drive axle - 7500trailer axle - 11000gross weight - 24180 I have not weighted the truck ready to camp with out the trailer . Thanks Rich,

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.

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.ThanksRich

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

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

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,

Help calculate pin weight , | Good Sam Community

ohiopicker
Explorer
Jul 23, 2013
A lot of farm feed mills will have scales where you can have your rig weighed.
ependydad
Explorer
Jul 23, 2013
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
Explorer
Jul 23, 2013
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
Explorer
Jul 23, 2013
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
Explorer
Jul 23, 2013
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
Explorer
Jul 23, 2013
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
Explorer
Jul 23, 2013
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
Explorer
Jul 23, 2013
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
Explorer
Jul 22, 2013
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
Explorer
Jul 22, 2013
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,