Weighing Fifth Wheel at CAT Scale with Weigh My Truck App

[ependydad]

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%.

[rhagfo]

Cummins12V98 wrote:

juzplanekrazy wrote:
Did I read that right, that your 2018 Dodge 3500 DRW weight is almost 10,500 lbs ?
I'm not sure, but I'm thinking my 2017 F-350 is 8500 +/-.
Why so much ? Interweb says that thing should be 7000lb ish
Must need to deduct Pin.

Me thinks you should visit the scales.

Well Krazy, have you ever visited a scale with your F350 (DRW?) as stated earlier our 2016 Ram Laramie 3500 DRW from the factory weighed 8,589# with driver (150#) and a full tank of fuel. Now add me over 150#, DW, small dog, hitch, adapter frame, and in bed tool box, we added 1,411#. Anything you add to your truck reduces it’s “Yellow Sticker” payload!
Go to the scales ready to tow with all stuff and passengers and a full tank of fuel, you might be surprised.

[learntorv]

RoyBell wrote:

Cummins12V98 wrote:

juzplanekrazy wrote:
Did I read that right, that your 2018 Dodge 3500 DRW weight is almost 10,500 lbs ?
I'm not sure, but I'm thinking my 2017 F-350 is 8500 +/-.
Why so much ? Interweb says that thing should be 7000lb ish
Must need to deduct Pin.

Me thinks you should visit the scales.

This sounds like a lot to me as well. I weighed my 2500 Megacab Diesel @ 8600 lbs with just myself and over half a tank of fuel and some fire wood in the back. I have to assume the megacab weighs pretty close to a crew cab with 8' bed. I am also deleted with no DEF or DEF filters. Those exhaust components were heavy, I assume another 100 lbs easily. I do have heavier than stock tires, but only 4 of them, so add for the 2 extra wheels @ 130lbs each + longer axle, another 100 lbs. 3 extra passengers if he had company= 500 lbs. Assume another 10 gallons of fuel= 80 lbs

That would push my truck to about 9650 lbs. Where does the extra 800 lbs come from? Hitch? I have a goose ball so my hitch weight is on the camper.

For me, I have 4 passengers and a lot of stuff in the truck bed (10g of extra fuel, Clam screen tent, sewer bladder, adjustable ball hitch, bike rack, 300 lbs. Trailer Saver hitch, a tote of river floats, wood for under the front jacks, a Weber Q grill, a firepit, and likely more that I'm forgetting).

We were fulltime and it was everything we owned.

[RoyBell]

Cummins12V98 wrote:

juzplanekrazy wrote:
Did I read that right, that your 2018 Dodge 3500 DRW weight is almost 10,500 lbs ?
I'm not sure, but I'm thinking my 2017 F-350 is 8500 +/-.
Why so much ? Interweb says that thing should be 7000lb ish
Must need to deduct Pin.

Me thinks you should visit the scales.

This sounds like a lot to me as well. I weighed my 2500 Megacab Diesel @ 8600 lbs with just myself and over half a tank of fuel and some fire wood in the back. I have to assume the megacab weighs pretty close to a crew cab with 8' bed. I am also deleted with no DEF or DEF filters. Those exhaust components were heavy, I assume another 100 lbs easily. I do have heavier than stock tires, but only 4 of them, so add for the 2 extra wheels @ 130lbs each + longer axle, another 100 lbs. 3 extra passengers if he had company= 500 lbs. Assume another 10 gallons of fuel= 80 lbs

That would push my truck to about 9650 lbs. Where does the extra 800 lbs come from? Hitch? I have a goose ball so my hitch weight is on the camper.

[Cummins12V98]

juzplanekrazy wrote:
Did I read that right, that your 2018 Dodge 3500 DRW weight is almost 10,500 lbs ?
I'm not sure, but I'm thinking my 2017 F-350 is 8500 +/-.
Why so much ? Interweb says that thing should be 7000lb ish
Must need to deduct Pin.

Me thinks you should visit the scales.

[RoyBell]

I tried this app today. It was the first time I ever weighed and it was very easy. Thank you for posting this.

[rhagfo]

juzplanekrazy wrote:
Did I read that right, that your 2018 Dodge 3500 DRW weight is almost 10,500 lbs ?
I'm not sure, but I'm thinking my 2017 F-350 is 8500 +/-.
Why so much ? Interweb says that thing should be 7000lb ish
Must need to deduct Pin.

Have you weighed your DRW ready to go camping? Our 2016 Ram Laramie 3500 DRW has a curb weigh of 8,589# and a payload of 5,411#, but scales at 10,000# ready to tow with me DW, beagle, full fuel and DEF and in bed tool box.
Look at your yellow payload sticker, then subtract the listed payload from the GVWR, that is what your truck weighed off the assembly line. Now start adding people and stuff and it only gets heavier.

[Acdii]

Got to try this out yesterday, pretty slick. First weigh of my F350 with the family so I know what I have for available payload. About a ton. This will save a lot of time on reweighs.

[juzplanekrazy]

Did I read that right, that your 2018 Dodge 3500 DRW weight is almost 10,500 lbs ?
I'm not sure, but I'm thinking my 2017 F-350 is 8500 +/-.
Why so much ? Interweb says that thing should be 7000lb ish
Must need to deduct Pin.

[ependydad]

For folks who prefer videos, I have put this same information together in video form:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oB68BKFB1s

[Splashers3]

I had my both the truck's and hitched trailer's tires individually weighed, which is even better than having the axles weighed (which I have also done).

I would recommend this if the situation ever presents itself. The guy then pulled out the tire manufacturer's weight vs tire pressure chart and told me what tire pressures I could safely run instead of the max tire pressure (in my case 110PSI) given the tire weights.

Safety should be a priority and Knowledge is always good.

[Learjet]

great right up...due for a re-weight since only weighed new...added batteries and other things...plus have a new tow vehicle.

Luckily I have Cat scales close by ...thanks!!!

[Super_Dave]

4x4ord wrote:
I use the self weigh scales along our highways. If it was going to cost me I don't think I'd bother getting my weights..... It's kind of like stepping on the bathroom scale ... nice to know but it doesn't change anything.

Is the self weigh scales the truck scales or port of entry scales? I've never seen self weigh scales before.

[ependydad]

4x4ord wrote:
I use the self weigh scales along our highways. If it was going to cost me I don't think I'd bother getting my weights..... It's kind of like stepping on the bathroom scale ... nice to know but it doesn't change anything.

It changes a lot for me. I suffered a buckled frame back in 2017 while fulltiming and that's an experience that I don't want to repeat.

Right now the rig is a bit overweight which means I need to ensure I'm carrying as little water as possible and follow-thru with purging more.

[ependydad]

K Charles wrote:
I don't use a phone or credit card or email. Drive on the scale, push the call button, when they ask for a name I say private. When they say OK I drive around stop at the office pay the 12 bucks and get the slip.

That was my wife's job. I'd drop her off and then go start unhitching.

Both ways work. I'm glad both are offered as it lets each person choose which works best for them.