Here's what I learned on the scales today

[mattinga]

Went to the CAT scale this morning and learned a few things:

- My travel trailer is lighter than I thought when loaded with everything but full water tank. I've never towed this one with water because I was afraid of the weight
- My truck is not as close to the max weight as I thought
- I may need to tweak my Equal-i-zer Hitch more

Now I need your help:

I did two separate weighs - one with trailer hooked up and weight distributed, and one without trailer hooked up, but on the third section of the CAT scale. After getting home and looking everything over, I realize I should have added a third weigh and taken of the W/D bars to find the full tongue weight. Darn!

Here's the results:

Per door stickers: 2013 Silverado: Front & Rear Axle GVWR 3,950 each for GVWR of 7,000. Owners manual says GCWR is 15,000, with a max trailer weight of 9,500 pounds with my configuration (side note: why is the GCWR not 16,500?)

2010 Jayco 25BHS side sticker: 6,050 dry weight, 8,180 GVWR.

1st weight - trailer hooked up, truck loaded with everything (including two 90# dogs) but the wife, weight distribution applied:
Front Axle - 3,320, Rear Axle - 3,560, Trailer Axles - 5,640

2nd weight - trailer unhooked, on it's own section: Front axle - 3,500, Rear axle - 2,560, Trailer weight - 6,460

My instruction manual says to distribute 50% of the tongue weight. When I installed it last summer when I bought this camper, I did so by measuring front fender, and then setting WDH to return to half way mark between that and fully loaded. It rode like a dump truck at first, so I removed a washer to make it "feel" right on the road. I think I'm in-between washers - first it's too heavy on the front I thought, now I feel a little light on the front. I'd like to get as close to perfect as I can. Based on the weights above, I wonder if I should:

1) Move the L brackets up and try different washers to work the difference out
2) Add the washer back and add water to the fresh water tank, which sits forward the trailer axles and see how that does.
3rd option and better option?

Your thoughts? I felt like I would be just inside the limits of the truck when I traded our 184BH trailer for this one, particularly payload. It looks like I'm okay there based on the scale readings above. We're going on our first long trip in this camper in a few weeks, so I want to work the kinks out. We've only been on short trips so far, and it's been fine towing.

Thanks for your help.

Matt

[Goo]

What stands out to me is that when you're hooked up, you're 180# lighter on the front. This could account for the steering issue, especially if your tires (assuming "P" tires) are not aired up to max.

Good luck!
Pete

[gijoecam]

Once you have the three weight tickets, shoot me a PM with your email and I'll forward you a copy of the spreadsheet I made up a while back. Fill in your numbers and it'll do the heavy lifting for you. I keep it on my phone via Google Drive so I can play with it any time I change the setup significantly.

[RCMAN46]

austex wrote:

RCMAN46 wrote:
...
3rd drive over to a level safe place and disconnect the trailer. Now weigh only the truck so you have each axle.
...

On the "third" weighing, should one remove the hitch head from the receiver, as well, and weigh without it?

Thx.

I would say leave the hitch head in the receiver. The hitch head is part of the trailer hitch.

Anything rearward of the trailer hitch ball is part of the trailer. Anything forward of the hitch ball is part of the TV. As for the bars their weight is almost insignificant so they could be left with the trailer.

The whole purpose of this exercise is to determine the weight distribution of the trailer and determine if the trailer weights are within the capacities of the TV and trailer axles.

[austex]

RCMAN46 wrote:
...
3rd drive over to a level safe place and disconnect the trailer. Now weigh only the truck so you have each axle.
...

On the "third" weighing, should one remove the hitch head from the receiver, as well, and weigh without it?

Thx.

[gmw_photos]

The original poster is saying the truck feels light in the front, and that he feels it needs to be in 4WD on wet roads to feel better.
Those two things indicate to me there is some tweaking yet to be done.
Yes, first thing I would do is readjust the WD hitch to try to get the front ( steer ) axle back to it's normal weight ( so called 100% FALR ), and drive it again.
You really don't want to have to drive around in 4WD just because it's raining.

[mdamerell]

mattinga wrote:
Went to the CAT scale this morning and learned a few things:

one without trailer hooked up, but on the third section of the CAT scale.

On a side note; you said you dropped your trailer on the 3rd segment of the scale. This is normally considered a no-no to drop a trailer on the scale. I understand you are much lighter than a semi doing it but beware the scale master may take exception.

[mattinga]

Uh oh, you're right Frank. I was so focused on individual axles I forgot about GVWR. Luckily I have a little "fat" I can trim to at least keep me in the limits. I can lose the toolbox and ranch hand for the trip and those will probably knock off 200 pounds between them. I'll move the essentials from the toolbox to the camper tonight and re-weigh next week to see what it did.

Thanks again for pointing that out. I want to be safe!

[Slownsy]

You got 120lbs left on GWVR without your wife, I call that close.
Frank.

[RCMAN46]

When setting up a trailer the most important thing to know is tongue/pin weight. That is my opinion.

A travel trailer can be weighted three times and give you all the information needed.

1st weight the truck and trailer with WD engaged as that is how it should have been configured to get to the scales. Truck front axle,truck rear axle and the trailer axles.

2nd remove the WD and do the same thing.

3rd drive over to a level safe place and disconnect the trailer. Now weigh only the truck so you have each axle.

In my mind there is never a reason to disconnect a trailer on the scales. Not recommended as it ties up the scales for much more time than needed and you may get into a conflict with a trucker waiting to use the scales or even another RV'er.

[lbrjet]

First off the 9500 lb tow rating is based on an empty truck and a 150 lb driver. That's it. Also based on a 10% tongue weight with a flat bed trailer loaded with bricks.

Your weights don't look bad at all, but what is weird the numbers say you added 820 lbs to your truck with the trailer attached and the difference between the trailer axles and the whole trailer is also 820lbs saying you are transferring 0 tongue weight to the trailer axles. Doesn't sound right to me. Something seems a little off with the weighings.

If it drives fine you can leave it alone, but I would add another washer to push a little more weight to the front, some to the trailer and tighten up the friction on your hitch. One hole on the L bracket is supposed to equal one washer BTW.

[mattinga]

It pulls pretty well, but sometimes I feel like it's a little light up front. No sway issues or anything (love that Equalizer hitch). Based soley on feel, I'd like to shift an little bit more weight to the front, but not all that the extra washer added.

Not sure if this is useful or normal, but wet roads are not fun to drive on. It helps if I put the truck in 4wd high. My last camper was only 3,500 pounds GVWR, and it always towed great even in the rain. I certainly don't expect the same towing experience going from something that small to this bigger one, I'm just sure what's normal.

[RCMAN46]

Misread the weights.

[ScottG]

How does it pull?
If it tows real solid then it's probably OK.