Whats Your Real Weights? Truck and Trailer. The Real Deal

[juzplanekrazy]

I don’t know if it’s been done before or not but I was thinking about keeping a running list of real truck weights by year and type, and trailer weights by brand, size and what the total combined weight is of each guys rig. I was hoping the info would be a help for guys wondering about what the real weights are for a certain type of truck and to keep track of the more popular brand 5th wheel trailers. Another thing that will come out of it will be to see just how many guys really know what they are towing and if they know what their weight capacities are.
I’m sure it will take some time to compile a list and it will grow as guys add there info but I’m hoping it will help the newer guys in the long run to be directed back over to this thread in the future.
I’ll keep the TV lists to mainly the big 3 and from ¾ ton and up and I’ll try to keep the 5ers in a group by real GVW, length, and then manufacture. Any ideas are welcome as long as it makes things easier. And only real information can be given, so no guessing allowed. Only guys that have scaled there rigs or are totally certain of the weights.
Let’s see if I can keep the format real simple to type down and that will make it simpler for guys to refer back to and to keep track of.
Here we go……

TV - 2006 Dodge Mega Cab 3500 4x4, real scaled weight with full fuel, hitch, DH-DW and misc. gear = 7,500lbs. TV GVWR is 10,200lbs
5ver – KZ New Vision TH 38ft 14,500lbs loaded GVW. GVWR is 18,000lbs
Normal running TV & TH GCW weight= 22,500lbs, TV GCWR is 23,000lbs
Real Wet Pin Weight=2,950lbs

[AntiqFreq]

Just found our CAT scale slip - Fiver was hooked up to truck:

Truck: F250, 7.3L, 4x4, CC, SB, year: 2003
Fiver: Keystone Cougar 291RLS

Steer Axle 4680 lbs.
Drive Axle 5400 lbs.

Trailer Axle 8040 lbs.

Gross Weight 18120 lbs.

We still gotta take the truck to be weighed separately, but we were on
vacation and he wasn't gonna unhook the trailer. The trailer weighs 8270 lbs
dry so we figure about 9500 lbs loaded up - we travel average I'd say as it is
just the two of us and no kids.

Our manufacturer totals show Front GAWR of 5200 lbs (we're okay)
and Rear GAWR of 6084 lbs (we're okay)
Total GVWR is 8800 lbs. (we're okay)
Total GCWR is 20,000 lbs (so we're okay there)

Our problem is we are over our payload capacity -I'm sure of that before
even going to the scales - dang it! next truck is a F350 !

Jo

[marspec]

Glenn Schumann wrote:
Thus Pin weight is 1,820, FW total weight is 9,820 and pin weight is 18.5% of FW total weight.

I'd be leary of reducing pin weight. You're well within your TV axle limits. My experience has been a pin weight in the 19-20% range provides a decent tow. Much lighter than that tends to make the trailer act a little squirly. That's with a F250, both my 95 and 05.

[Glen_Schumann]

CAT Scale Weights: (scale weight, rating)

with FW hitched
TV Steer Axle 4,400, 4,670 (under by 270)
TV Drive Axle 5,280, 6084 (under by 804)
TV total 9,680, 9,200 (over by 480)
Trailer Axles 8,000, 10,050 (under by 2,050)
Gross Combination weight 17,680, 22,000 (under by 4,320)

TV only
steer axle 4,400
drive axle 3,460
total 7,940

Thus Pin weight is 1,820, FW total weight is 9,820 and pin weight is 18.5% of FW total weight.

All water tanks empty (fresh, both gray and black)
LP tanks about 2/3 full
FW loaded for travel
Fuel tank full
TV loaded for hauling
Myself, DW, 5 yr old grandson

There was 50-75 lbs of firewood in the TV box which will not be there on most trips and I am beginning to think I have more leveling material than I need. This can probable be reduced by another 50 lbs.

There is plenty of room in FW GWR and CGWR to fill the fresh water tank (about 320 lbs) which will take weight off the pin as it is at the very back (is 200 lbs reasonable?)

I do plan to have a pin box bike rack which when fully installed and with max load should be about 150 lbs. There was also some cargo in the FW which could be shifted to the back end. I am figuring we can get to within about 200 lbs. of TV GVWR with the adjustments.

I think I am comfortable with that. Your comments are welcome.

[juzplanekrazy]

Since I was the one that started this thread I guess I should get to updating it too.
But before I do that, here's the new rig. I think I'm well within the truck spec's...........this time :B

The trailer is the same as before, but here's what my take is on the new TV.
GCWR 29,000
Max 5th wheel towing 17,800

I'm no where near max on pin weight and I'm no where near max tow cap.........this time:B:B
I'm real happy with the new truck. I'm still going to miss the Dodge.

[AntiqFreq]

PatricioFamily,

You can't mean 10,200 lbs DRY? Do you?

Did you do any research on your trailer before you purchased it?
What kind of a trailer is it that weighs that much?

Must be a BIG one....

Jody

[DelawareCamper]

PatricioFamily wrote:
This is interesting. There is so much mis-information out there. For 6 months we were pulling a TT that we were told was 7800 lbs dry. Come to find out it was really 10,200 lbs. We have been wanting to find a truck weight station and test for ourselves what are weight really is just to be sure. But dont know if we are permitted to do this. We just thought it would be a good way to know for sure. What do you think? Anyone every tried this before?

You can pull into just about any truck stop with a scale and get your weights... I think the flying j scale costs about $7.50.

[PatricioFamily]

This is interesting. There is so much mis-information out there. For 6 months we were pulling a TT that we were told was 7800 lbs dry. Come to find out it was really 10,200 lbs. We have been wanting to find a truck weight station and test for ourselves what are weight really is just to be sure. But dont know if we are permitted to do this. We just thought it would be a good way to know for sure. What do you think? Anyone every tried this before?

[Flyin_Finn]

Stopped at a CAT scale on the way home from 5 day spring break camping.
Some black and fresh water in the trailer. Wife, kids, dog and cat in the truck.
Truck bed loaded with bikes, etc.. Tank almost full.

1997 Silverado 2500 454 3.73 2WD long bed

Front 3700
Rear 4850
Truck total 8550 (GWVR 8600)

Trailer axles 6450

Combo Total 15000 (GCWVR 15000. I think it would be 17000 if I had 4.10 gears)

Pulled up the coast range mountains at 50-55mph at max 3200rpm
Gas mileage 8 mpg (as always when I am towing)

I wish I got the pin weight, but didn't feel like unhooking the trailer. But it is for sure below 2000 pounds, well within specs. The brochure pin weight is just over 1000 pounds

Lesson learned? Don't bring 10 camping chairs when you only need 4.

Finn

[RKDeadeye]

Here's mine,

Truck 2004 Dodge 3500 4x4 Quad cab 16,000 lb reese hitch and a 56 gallon Transfer Flow replacement tank.

Front axle rated 5200 actual 4900
Rear axle rated 9350 actual 3700
Total GVWR 12,200 actual 8600

With trailer
Front Axle 4900
Rear axle 5800
Total 10,700
Pin weight 2100

Trailer axles 9200
Pin weight 2100
Total 11,300
GVWR 11,950

Total all axles 19,900
GCWR 23,000

[rsh_757]

2005 Dodge Ram CTD 4x4, Ride-rite airbags GVWR 9000#
2008 Cougar 310SRX

Fully loaded ready to camp, toys in back, full of water, diesel and passengers. Propane full.

Front Axle:4320
Rear Axle:4650
Trailer Axles:7720
Truck with passengers, full tank of fuel but no trailer 7310#

Gross 16690
Pin weight 1660# or 17.7%

[JJ175]

I have a 2000 GMC 3/4 Ton Sierra Extended cab (3 door) with short box and a 6.0 L engine, and I'm looking at purchasing a 29.5 Jayco Super Lite 5th Wheel - GTW = 10,500 lbs... The dealer said I would have no problem towing this type of trailer, but I need some reassurance. I have towed a 1996 26 foot Golden Falcon with it the past - with no problems....except for not very good gas mileage! 🙂

Any advice you can give would be greatly appreciated!

[CJW8]

This is loaded and ready to go to the dunes:
GCW-22820
Trailer axle weight-12040
Truck weight, full fuel, 2 peeps-8000
Trailer Weight-14820 Tanks full, Polaris RZR in garage
Pin weight-2780
TV 2004 F-350 4X4 CC SB Lariet SRW with Firestone airbags
GVWR-9900
Front GAWR-5200
Rear GAWR-6820
Truck w/pin-10780
Trailer 2003 Forest River Sierra 38SP, 2 axle toyhauler
GVWR-13930
UVW-9300
Water-382 46 gal@8.3/gal
Propane-59 13 gal@4.5
CCC Combined Cargo Capacity 4180

[sirdrakejr]

That is a great summary of a combo. It should help others with similar questions.
Frank

[Ruth___Edward]

Okay, fellow RV’ers, I’ve gone through this whole discussion thread, made note of the additional stuff that some respondents said they’d like to see included, and I’ve compiled the following very lengthy report about our set-up. For those interested enough to read the whole report, you’ll notice I’ve also thrown in some extra data and commentary.

Truck (bought new in Jan ‘07): 2006 Ford F-350, Super Cab, short bed, 4X2, SRW, 6.8 liter gas V-10
Fiver (bought used in July ‘07): 2005 Sunnybrook Titan 30RKFS, with optional bedroom slide

CAT scale weights (loaded, while on three-week trip):
Steer axle = 3780 (620 under front 4400 GAWR)
Drive axle = 6120 (710 under rear 6830 GAWR)
Combined = 9900 (500 under truck’s 10,400 GVWR)
Trailer axles = 9840
Gross weight = 19,740 (1260 under truck’s 21,000 GCWR)

Truck without fiver attached = 7140 (includes two people totaling about 340 lbs, cargo of about 340 lbs, and about 25 gallons of gas in the tank)
Trailer weight = 12,600 (2400 under 15,000 GVWR)
Pin weight = 2760 (21.9% of trailer’s total weight)

Dry weights, after-market items, miles per gallon, and other details:
Truck has Lariat trim, plus several factory-installed options. Before adding any after-market items, it weighed 3.21 tons (6420 pounds), at a local (non-CAT) scale. Subtracting the minimal cargo, my weight, and an estimate for the gas in the tank, I figure the dry weight, as built and with an empty gas tank, would be about 5970 to 6010 pounds. As an aside, the Ford invoice and Certificate of Origin claim this truck’s shipping weight is 5799 pounds – and that figure is supposed to include 13 gallons of gas!!! For more detail on this issue, see my topic “Shipping Weight Understated”, which I’ll post in the “Tow Vehicle” forum as soon as I finish this response to the “weight” thread.

Three after-market items are a Line-X spray-on bed-liner (maybe 30-40 lbs?), a Fold-A-Cover bed cover (40-50 lbs?), and a Reese 16K Kwik Slide hitch (175 lbs?). Adding these items, plus 29 gallons of gas (about 215 lbs?), I estimate that the truck, with a full tank - no people or cargo, weighs about 6430 to 6490 pounds.

Truck has 4.10 rear axle ratio. Manually calculated miles per gallon figures are:
For highway driving without trailer: 13.8 to 14.9 MPG
For city driving without trailer: 10.5 to 11.8 MPG
For mix of city & highway, no trailer: 13.2 MPG
Loaded truck/trailer combo on Indiana and Michigan trips (minimal hills): low of 7.92; high of 8.95 MPG (These two MPG calculations were for the worst and best of five single tank fill-ups following distances where all miles were with loaded truck and trailer in tow.)
I’ve not yet taken this combo on a long trip with significant hills/mountains.
Truck is not a “daily driver”. Still has less than 7300 miles on it (just 1400 miles pulling). Don’t know whether mileage will improve as more miles are accumulated, or if the above MPGs are as good as it gets. To date, I’ve used 87 octane gas exclusively.

As for the fiver, the brochure lists a no-options dry gross weight of 9947 lbs. The optional bedroom slide-out adds about 400 lbs (per a Sunnybrook factory customer service rep). The unloaded vehicle weight (UVW), listed on the label in a kitchen cabinet (for this unit as factory optioned), is 10,781 lbs. The original owner added living/dining slide and bedroom slide awnings, a 2X2 hitch receiver and cross bracing, a main awning support platform, one Max Air vent cover, and a few interior and storage area items. I’m guessing the combined weight of these add-ons is probably 220 to 250 lbs. So, the dry weight may be as much as 11,030 lbs. Add about 40 lbs for a battery and 60 lbs for LP gas, and we’re up to 11,130 before loading it up. Of the 12,600 pound loaded weight mentioned above, about 300 lbs was for fresh water, about 30 lbs for LP gas, and about 115 lbs for two bikes, two heavy-duty cable locks, and the bike rack and its cover. All other contents loaded into the fiver total about 1080 lbs. That doesn’t include most of my tools, all the leveling blocks and boards, the king pin tripod, and my 30 gallon “Tote-Along”. These items travel in the bed of the truck.

The brochure shows a no-options dry king pin weight of 2090 lbs. The factory CS rep says that about 300 lbs of the weight of the bedroom slide is on the king pin – so that takes pin weight up to 2390 before any other options or contents are added. As stated above, my loaded king pin weight was 2760 lbs – and that’s with about 200 lbs mounted at the back of the fiver (bikes, rack, and receiver hitch). My fresh water tank is located just ahead of the front axle, so some of the water weight is on the pin.

The brochure shows a length of 31 ft 8 in. Our unit, with the optional extended pin box, and ladder at the rear, is about 33 ft 4 in. – with the bikes mounted at the back, about 35 ft. Total length of truck, trailer with mounted bikes, and with the sliding hitch in the “travel” position, is just a few inches under 50 feet.

The trailer tows level and there are about 6.5 inches between the fiver’s underside and the top of the “wind seals” (as they are called by Fold-A-Cover) – the strips mounted atop the truck’s bed rails, that support and contain the folding cover.

Trailer axles are rated at 6000 each. The 9840 loaded axle weight works out to an average weight per tire of 2460. I’ve not gotten individual weights on each trailer tire, but hopefully, no single tire is carrying more than 3000 pounds. The made-in-USA Goodyear Marathon tires are size ST235/80R16, Load Range D, rated for somewhere between 3000 and 3100 pounds at 65 PSI. No tire problems to date in my very limited use of this trailer.

With MOR/ryde IRE suspension, shock absorbers, the soft riding ST tires, and the way we load it up, this trailer seems to pull quite smoothly. In our limited experience, there has been minimal up/down or front/back jerky sensation – certainly, nothing annoying.

There. Enough said about our combo (probably, much more than enough said for many of you). I wanted to give as full a disclosure as possible – for the benefit of those contemplating a fiver. Hopefully, it’s been helpful.

[onenav]

Just purchased new truck and fifth wheel, weighed them today:

08 Ford F-350 6.4 PSD Super Duty 4x2, 4.30 axle ratio DRW, Boss tow pakgage...GVWR-13'000, GCVWR-26,000, GAWR-9,000 and fifth wheel tow rating 18,300

08 Seville (4 slides) VF35CK actual length 37'2". Book weight..11,269, hitch pin weight 2290, cargo capacity 4,329

CAT Scale: truck with Me (208lbs) the wife (130), full tank of fuel, fifth wheel hitch and 100 lbs of stuff: steer axle: 4,820, Drive axle: 3,920, total: 8,740

Truck, same loading with fifth wheel (dry with a couple hundred pounds of stuff) hooked up: steer axle; 4,900, drive axle; 6700, trailer axle; 9860...total combined 21460.

I figure my king pin weight at around 2,780 and trailer wieght (dry) 12,600, king pin weight about 21%.

Just a note for information, the book says camper dry weight 11,269 and hitch weight 2,290....big difference then actual.

Photo of truck and camper in profile. Should be fulltimers early next year