Suggestions to Use Sherline Scale

Thanks for the tips. It will be a few days before I can weigh it, but I'm guessing about 1400#. 1155 is the factory number, but the full width closet in the bedroom is full, since we lived in it winters, plus all the underneath storage is from the front continuing back a few feet. If I really used that storage I'd be over my Equalizer 1400# bars quite a bit. As it is we move as much weight as we can in the back of the trailer when traveling.

If you're worried about stiction from the scale going up into the coupler, why not put a hardwood board between the scale and the coupler? That won't affect the reading by a couple of pounds, which is less than the resolution of the scale.

Barney is absolutely correct. the sherline is a nice tool, but to make it affordable, it is basically just a hydraulic pressure gauge and a piston 1 sq in area. So it translates into 1lb force = 1psi on the gauge. and the gauge face is redone for lbs rather than psi.

try to get as vertical a load as possible and average a few. In any case with reasonable attention the results you get will be more than sufficient for determining tongue weight. Also best accuracy is if the weight is near the middle of the scale range.

Good tip Barney, thank you. I'll try that out myself

BarneyS wrote:
Once you get a scale reading I suggest you get about two more and average them. The Sherline scale is very susceptible to "stiction" when placed under a trailer tongue. That means that even the slightest sideways pressure will give an erroneous reading. It is kind of difficult to get the pressure straight down on the scale. Try to get a few readings and if they all agree - great. If not - average them.
Barney

I also experienced what Barney says about different readings with my scale.

I used the Floor Jack method. Took 3 readings and then averaged them.

Once you get a scale reading I suggest you get about two more and average them. The Sherline scale is very susceptible to "stiction" when placed under a trailer tongue. That means that even the slightest sideways pressure will give an erroneous reading. It is kind of difficult to get the pressure straight down on the scale. Try to get a few readings and if they all agree - great. If not - average them.
Barney

I've used mine on top of a floor jack, just jack the scale up into the coupler until the tongue jack is off the ground.

My apologies, I wasn't very clear. But the light bulb just lit. I have some great 14" or so long blocks of oversized railway ties used by the RRs. If I stack two of them and place the scale on them, it will be about the height of the coupler when on the ball. Retracting the jack a tad then will give me the weight.

The fog gets thicker every year.

Backing up a bit, are we talking 5th wheel, or bumper pull?

I have a bumper pull, and the tongue coupler (post?) just finds a home inside the ball mount, I'm not sure what's in there, but it finds something flat enough to rest on.

for safety's sake, you don't want to fully retract your jack, just enough to lift the jack foot off the ground a slight bit to transfer the tongue weight to the scale.

I have a unit, and if you want to borrow it, just pay for shipping