Weighing Motorhome

[sew0177]

I went to a CAT scale in Grain Vally, MO to have my motorhome weighed and unfortunatly they could only weigh the front and rear axle, could not weigh individual corners. Does anyone know of a scale that will allow me to have all 4 corners weighed in the Kansas City area?

[tderonne]

Ivylog wrote:

On a good certified truck scale the four leg analogy above is not correct. The error will be less than 50 lbs.

If you mean the error on a flat scale will be small that's true. But driving off the side negates that.

Put a piece of plywood (or other thin item) under one corner and weigh your motorhome again. You'll see how much the weights change. If it didn't work, we wouldn't hear about "wedge" in every NASCAR broadcast.

[bluwtr49]

In some states closed weigh stations leave the scales on with the readout visible. I've used them in OR.

[Ivylog]

I recently helped a friend weigh his DP at a local scale where there is room to get off to one side. We first weighed each axle and then by moving over, the RF and RR. Next we turned the MH around and weighed the LR and LR the same distance off the scale... which is 2-3" inches lower than the scale. The sum of these individual tire weights were close to 1000 lbs less than the original axle weight, but they do give a close approximation of how well the MH is balanced side to side. It was a 05 Monaco Diplomat and the front was within 50 lbs and the rear within 100 lbs ofbeing balanced with full fuel, water and load ready to leave on vacation.

On a good certified truck scale the four leg analogy above is not correct. The error will be less than 50 lbs.

[tderonne]

rgatijnet1 wrote:
The most important thing about weighing all four corners is that the coach must be level and not leaning in any direction. Most scales that you drive up on, even if there is room to the side, do not allow you to be level so the weight is of little use. If the coach leans towards the scales, the weight reading will be too high. If the coach leans away from the scales, which happens the most, the weight reading is too low.

It's not the tipping of the motorhome that's the issue. It's the weight jacking effect of uneven scales. It's the same physics as why four legged stools often rock on three legs (there being the 0 weight on the fourth leg). With springs rates around 1000 pounds per inch (give or take) it doesn't take much height difference to add or remove hundreds of pounds from a tire, skewing the scales readings.

[Mr_Mark1]

Steven,

I had our previous motorhome weighed at a moving company in Cathedral City, CA. They allowed me to move it around so that I could get each corner weighed separately. And, they only charged me $10.

Good luck,
Mark

[rgatijnet1]

The most important thing about weighing all four corners is that the coach must be level and not leaning in any direction. Most scales that you drive up on, even if there is room to the side, do not allow you to be level so the weight is of little use. If the coach leans towards the scales, the weight reading will be too high. If the coach leans away from the scales, which happens the most, the weight reading is too low.

[yrusoslo]

Make a donation to your local state troopers, and ask if they can weight your MH. They have scales, for all 4 corners,

[imgoin4it]

Check with moving companies. They all have scales. Most are willing to weigh you. You will need to check and see if you can jockey the coach around on the scales to get the 4 corner weights.