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

[kc81c]

avvidclif1 wrote:
Everything looks great but do me a favor and look at the side of your tires. Specifically for max towing speed. Most show 65mph. YMMV

The second thing I did to our camper after figuring out a major electrical problem was replace the factory 15" ST load range D tires and wheels with load range E LT 16" tires and wheels. So no worry on the speed rating of the tires.

[avvidclif1]

Everything looks great but do me a favor and look at the side of your tires. Specifically for max towing speed. Most show 65mph. YMMV

[kc81c]

Finally got around to posting this. Combo is a 2011 F250 Crew Cab Short Box 4x4 6.7L with a B&W companion hitch. GVWR of 10k, front axle 5600 GAWR, rear 6100 GAWR. The fifth wheel is a 2011 Heartland Sundance XLT 285BH listed as 31ft with a empty weight of 7200 pounds and a GVWR of 10000#s. It was the wife 2 kids and I in the pickup 2 dogs in the camper all our clothes, food, full propane, few tools ect basically ready to camp. The only odd thing when weighing was we had been camping at the inlaws yard that had no place to dump and we were heading to the lake lot were we have no easy water but a place to dump. So we had the black, grey 1, and fresh tank full and the grey 2 tank half full roughly a total of 150 gallons so around 1200 pounds and I usually try to travel with the fresh half full and the waste tanks empty. My weights are as follows.

Front Axle 4800#
Rear Axle 5360#
Front Trailer 3640#
Rear Trailer 3560#

Tow Vehicle Total 10160
Trailer Total 7200

As you can see I'm over my GVWR on the pickup by 160# but could easily be fixed by not filling all the tanks full or moving some of the tools from the front of the trailer to the back. Otherwise I have a lot of room to spare on trailer GVWR, GAWR, and GCWR. Pulling the trailer at 70mph I get around 11.5mpg with 3:55 gear ratio.

[JohnD222]

Wilderness,

If you have certain Reese hitches, you can rotate the head and turn around the hitch on the street rails, and this will move the center of the pin 2 inches forward of its original position.

If you don't have that Reese, and your 5er storage areas are behind the 5er axles, I would load up and go back to the weight station before the effort of redoing rails to frame mounts. If you can simply move rails without messing with the frame mount, 1 step forward should do it.

[rhagfo]

DW-gray wrote:

wildernesshd wrote:
seems strange that the front axle lost 80lbs. when loaded.

You may want to take a look at where the center line of 5th wheel is over the axle. It should at least be over the axle. And if it is, you may want to move it forward a notch toward the front axle so that weight is transferred. You don't want less on the front axle. When you load it, that will most likely be a bigger problem for the front axle.

^^^^^ I agree ^^^^^^

It would seem that your pin is sitting slightly behind the rear axle, I gain 50 to 60 lbs. to the front axle when hitched, I would be a bit concerned as to the placement of the hitch.

I know for the same hitch, the distance forward of the axle varies from 0" to about 4" depending on the make of the truck.

[wildernesshd]

headlights are not in the trees. and the rear overload springs are barely tuching the stops. the truck still sits somewhat level. it is a 4x4 so the front is higher than a 2wd. I thought about backing off the torsion bars some. but its not like the front end is lite,it still has well over 4000lbs. on it. the hitch is almost exactly centered,maybe 1/2 inch forward over the axle. and as for weight in the 5ver. it was basically empty ,maybe 1/3 tank of fresh water. so loading it up will make this worst. I may move the hitch forward, but this will intel drilling holes and moving brackets.

[Camps_with_Crit]

wildernesshd wrote:
went across scales on the way to pick up new unit.
03 Chevy3500 crew cab 4x4 dually duramax/allison.
had 1/2 tank of fuel,tool box, Daughter, and wife.
frt.axle=4740lbs.
rr. axle=3700lbs.
gross=8440lbs.

on the return trip with Our new rig =Keystone Avalanche 330RE
frt.axle=4660lbs.
rr.axle=6220lbs.
trailer axles=9780lbs.
gross=20660lbs.

pin wt.=2440lbs.
trailer wt.=12220lbs.


trailer was as shipped + propane and 1/2 tank fresh water, and will probably gain another 1000-1500lbs. camp ready.

seems strange that the front axle lost 80lbs. when loaded.


thats My story and I`m sticking to it.

80 lbs lost from the front axle is no big deal, if you lost 200 or 300 lbs it would be time to consider moving the hitch forward. Go camping & see how it feels, I'm betting no issue.

[JohnD222]

I think that the front axle that lost weight was on wildernesshd's tow vehicle. If so, the pin weight is too much for the rear springs on the truck. Headlights are probably in the trees at night. Some possible solutions:

Add airbags. Already have them, add more air to them.

Move stuff in 5er from front of 5er to the rear behind rear axle.

Load all new stuff as far to the rear as possible; if it isn't going behind the rear axle of 5er, it will add to your problem.

Most 5ers have fresh water pretty far forward, reduce the amount of fresh water until you get closer to where you will need it.

Make sure that your hitch has the pin centered over or up to 2 inches forward of the rear axle. If it is behind the rear axle, something was installed wrong.

Leave your heavy tailgate behind.

wildernesshd wrote:
went across scales on the way to pick up new unit.
03 Chevy3500 crew cab 4x4 dually duramax/allison.
had 1/2 tank of fuel,tool box, Daughter, and wife.
frt.axle=4740lbs.
rr. axle=3700lbs.
gross=8440lbs.

on the return trip with Our new rig =Keystone Avalanche 330RE
frt.axle=4660lbs.
rr.axle=6220lbs.
trailer axles=9780lbs.
gross=20660lbs.

pin wt.=2440lbs.
trailer wt.=12220lbs.
trailer was as shipped + propane and 1/2 tank fresh water, and will probably gain another 1000-1500lbs. camp ready.

seems strange that the front axle lost 80lbs. when loaded.


thats My story and I`m sticking to it.

[DW-gray]

wildernesshd wrote:
seems strange that the front axle lost 80lbs. when loaded.

You may want to take a look at where the center line of 5th wheel is over the axle. It should at least be over the axle. And if it is, you may want to move it forward a notch toward the front axle so that weight is transferred. You don't want less on the front axle. When you load it, that will most likely be a bigger problem for the front axle.

[wildernesshd]

went across scales on the way to pick up new unit.
03 Chevy3500 crew cab 4x4 dually duramax/allison.
had 1/2 tank of fuel,tool box, Daughter, and wife.
frt.axle=4740lbs.
rr. axle=3700lbs.
gross=8440lbs.

on the return trip with Our new rig =Keystone Avalanche 330RE
frt.axle=4660lbs.
rr.axle=6220lbs.
trailer axles=9780lbs.
gross=20660lbs.

pin wt.=2440lbs.
trailer wt.=12220lbs.
trailer was as shipped + propane and 1/2 tank fresh water, and will probably gain another 1000-1500lbs. camp ready.

seems strange that the front axle lost 80lbs. when loaded.


thats My story and I`m sticking to it.

[wotter01]

21,800# loaded w/fuel and water- 2150# on pin

[Franzen0001]

2012 3500 Ram Mega-Cab plus 2009 Cardinal 37.5 ft. Model 3150 total loaded weight 24,220 lbs.

[Ezbagr]

2007 Dodge 3500 Quad Cab 2wd dually-2009 3050 Cardinal
Truck and 5th Wheel Weights-August 12,2012
Without Trailer
Front Axle GAWR-4750 Actual-4400
Rear Axle GAWR-9350 Actual-3280
GVWR-11500 Total-7680

With Trailer
Front Axle GAWR-4750 Actual-4500
Rear Axle GAWR-9350 Actual-6040
GVWR-11500 Actual-10540
Truck and Trailer`s Front Axle Actual-15400
Truck and Both of trailers Axles Actual-20,880
Truck GCVW-21,0000
Trailer GVW-15,500 Actual-13,200
Trailer Axles are 6,000 Axles
Front Trailer Axle Actual-4860
Rear Trailer Axle Actual-5480
Pin Weight Actual-2860-21.6 percent


This is with empty trailer tanks, 5/8 fuel tank, 2 dogs and a little firewood in bed
Camper has a battery bank of 4 six volt batteries where onboard generator would be located
Also has 4 220 watt solar panels on roof
I think that I will drop my hitch in thr truck by one hole to try to transfer weight to trailer`s front axle.

[lakefinder]

These weights are from a CAT scale, loaded for 2 weeks worth of food and gear + bikes for a young family of four to camp in the Canadian Rockies.

Steer Axle 5180 lb
Drive Axle 6600 lb
Trailer Axle 12200 lb
total 23980 lb

67 gallons of Diesel
375 lbs of passenger weight
~350 lbs water

2008 F350 CC SRW 156" 6.4L 4x4 3.73, mods: minimaxx, CB, DVD, ride-rite air bags, 37 gal aux tank
11,400 GVWR

2012 Heartland Elkridge 37 Ultimate
15,500 GVWR
42'


Same truck, previous trailer loaded for 10 days at Disney:

2009 Forest River Wildcat 30Loft

Steer Axle 5140
Drive Axle 5440
Trailer Axle 9020
Total 19600

[dlturner00]

Ok here are my real weights. Combo was weighed on a CAT scale. Truck empty on a certifed shipping scale, single weight only.

Gross wt. truck, trailer, and cargo loaded for camping: 22480 lbs.
Truck Fr. Axle:4980 lbs.
Truck Rr. Axle: 5760 lbs.
Trailer Axles: 11740 lbs.

Truck: 2004 Ford 4WD CC DRW 6.0 Powerstroke
Fr. GAWR: 5200 lbs.
Rr. GAWR: 8250 lbs.
GVWR: 11500 lbs.
GCWR: 20000 lbs.
Weight Empty w/driver and 1/2 tank fuel, and hitch: 7920 lbs.

Trailer: 2013 Cedar Creek Silverbak 35QB4
GVWR: 15500
Weight fully loaded for camping (calculated, Gross 22480 lbs. - (truck wt.+ 500 lbs. cargo) ):14060 lbs.

I'm 2480 lbs. over on GCWR but not over on either axle or GVWR on the truck or trailer. What I don't get is why truck GVWR doesn't equal combined axle ratings. Truck pulls fine, rides level as does the trailer. Made a few quick stops in traffic and no problem. Pulled some pretty good hills in the Smokies. I'm ok with the handling and feel of everything. Feel free to correct my math. Never been a math whiz. Ok weight police, have at it.

Edit: I forgot pin weight. My calculation: (Fr. + & Rr. Axle weights) - (Truck weight + 500 lbs. cargo)
10740 - 8420 = 2320 lbs.
2320/14060 = 16.5 % of trailer weight