Weighing Fifth Wheel at CAT Scale with Weigh My Truck App
I'm a huge proponent of staying with truck and trailer ratings. Never had truck issues, but I did buckle the frame of a trailer once. I'd like that to not happen again.
So, weigh early. And weigh often. Especially when there are big changes made. For us, that was the replacement of the crappy RV sofa with one that is super comfortable but also has 3 electric motors for the recliners.
For this weighing, I was carrying some black water, some gray water, water heater full, and less than 1/3 of my 100g freshwater tank.
So first- download the Weigh My Truck app to your smart device. Run it and configure it with credit card information.
When you get to the truck stop, fill up with fuel.
For those who prefer videos, I've now made this into a video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oB68BKFB1s
Everything's ready. Let's do it!
Weighing Truck + Camper
Now, you're ready to pull the truck and camper onto the scale. Pull up so that your driver's window about aligns with the call button/pole.
I put the truck into park and take my foot off of the brake.
This will ends up with your truck’s front wheels on one pad, truck’s rear wheels on the next pad, and trailer axles on the 3rd pad.
In the app, click Accept to confirm your location.
You’re then presented with details about the truck since this app is for commercial haulers. For you, “Private” and tractor/trailer of 1 are fine. These are printed on the weigh slips.
Click Accept.
Verify the price. This tends to run $10-12 from what I’ve seen.
Click Accept.
It’ll show a message that it’s communicating with the weighmaster and will quickly show your weights. It also emails you AND if you like paper, you can go inside where they’ll give you a copy (in pressed triplicate form).
Weighing Just the Truck
Now here’s the tough part. Go park your trailer in a truck spot. I tend to weigh when I know there are easy pull-thru spots. I suck at backing in between trucks.
Unhitch the trailer. If you feel the need, lock the kingpin. Do not leave anyone behind. Make sure all of your passengers stay in the same spots.
Drive back onto the scale with just your truck. Line up about the same place. Again, I put the truck into park and take my foot off of the brake.
This time the app asks you if you’re doing an initial weigh or a re-weigh. Pick “Reweigh”.
Confirm your truck info and touch Accept.
Confirm the fee and touch Accept. $2 seems pretty standard for what I’ve seen.
It’ll communicate with the weighmaster and grab your weights.
Again, it emails you and prints a slip inside. I just do screen captures.
Analyzing the Results
Take the 2 slips and plug them into the Fifth Wheel / Actual Weights calculator on TowingPlanner.com.
It’ll spit out the calculations. Now the fun of comparing this against all of the ratings for the truck and camper.
You want to check the truck’s gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR), gross axle weight rating (GAWR), tire load capacity, and gross combined weight rating (GCWR).
On the trailer, you want to check it’s gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR), it’s sum of the gross axle weight ratings (GAWR), and the sum of its tire load capacity.
You also want to mind the pin weight percentage. For a 2-axle trailer, you really don’t want this much under 17%. For a 3-axle trailer, it can be as low as 15%.
So, weigh early. And weigh often. Especially when there are big changes made. For us, that was the replacement of the crappy RV sofa with one that is super comfortable but also has 3 electric motors for the recliners.
For this weighing, I was carrying some black water, some gray water, water heater full, and less than 1/3 of my 100g freshwater tank.
So first- download the Weigh My Truck app to your smart device. Run it and configure it with credit card information.
When you get to the truck stop, fill up with fuel.
For those who prefer videos, I've now made this into a video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oB68BKFB1s
Everything's ready. Let's do it!
Weighing Truck + Camper
Now, you're ready to pull the truck and camper onto the scale. Pull up so that your driver's window about aligns with the call button/pole.
I put the truck into park and take my foot off of the brake.
This will ends up with your truck’s front wheels on one pad, truck’s rear wheels on the next pad, and trailer axles on the 3rd pad.
In the app, click Accept to confirm your location.
You’re then presented with details about the truck since this app is for commercial haulers. For you, “Private” and tractor/trailer of 1 are fine. These are printed on the weigh slips.
Click Accept.
Verify the price. This tends to run $10-12 from what I’ve seen.
Click Accept.
It’ll show a message that it’s communicating with the weighmaster and will quickly show your weights. It also emails you AND if you like paper, you can go inside where they’ll give you a copy (in pressed triplicate form).
Weighing Just the Truck
Now here’s the tough part. Go park your trailer in a truck spot. I tend to weigh when I know there are easy pull-thru spots. I suck at backing in between trucks.
Unhitch the trailer. If you feel the need, lock the kingpin. Do not leave anyone behind. Make sure all of your passengers stay in the same spots.
Drive back onto the scale with just your truck. Line up about the same place. Again, I put the truck into park and take my foot off of the brake.
This time the app asks you if you’re doing an initial weigh or a re-weigh. Pick “Reweigh”.
Confirm your truck info and touch Accept.
Confirm the fee and touch Accept. $2 seems pretty standard for what I’ve seen.
It’ll communicate with the weighmaster and grab your weights.
Again, it emails you and prints a slip inside. I just do screen captures.
Analyzing the Results
Take the 2 slips and plug them into the Fifth Wheel / Actual Weights calculator on TowingPlanner.com.
It’ll spit out the calculations. Now the fun of comparing this against all of the ratings for the truck and camper.
You want to check the truck’s gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR), gross axle weight rating (GAWR), tire load capacity, and gross combined weight rating (GCWR).
On the trailer, you want to check it’s gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR), it’s sum of the gross axle weight ratings (GAWR), and the sum of its tire load capacity.
You also want to mind the pin weight percentage. For a 2-axle trailer, you really don’t want this much under 17%. For a 3-axle trailer, it can be as low as 15%.
