Haul Gauge??

Update: I bought a a new TV, 2019 Ford F-150 5.0 3.55 gears 10 speed automatic supecrew 5.5' bed.
Moved the Hitchhaul to the new truck. It recognized the vehicle, asked is this your VIN, yes, and it loaded the library calibrations. I did recalibrate the load to be zeroed to my standard carry.
I finally took the time to connect the new TV to my TT to change its storage location (blocked the view and SWMBO's plants by the garage ;). I drove it over to the high school parking lot Saturday to measure changes unhitched, hitched, and with WDH. also to check weights with the Hitchhaul. After getting all my height measurements, I realized I failed to check tongue & WDH values. It was hot out so I went home to get the tongue weight and WDH values.
Results: tongue weight 460# for 12.5% using previous CAT scale TT weight.
The WDH charts were harder for me to understand. It appears if the little yellow mark is in the green zone in each of the three vertical scales, it's good. I had to watch a Utube video on it to understand.
Why did I use my previous CAT scale reading for tongue weight percentage? Well, the GCW read 8200# which after subtracting the GVW of 5600# was only a 2600# difference! TT dry weight is 3166#. I didn't note this till I went inside to review values and cool down. I'm not hooking the TT back up now for a reweigh trip. IF I misremembered the GCW by the time I wrote it down, say 9200 vice 8200, that would make sense.
I thought maybe there might have been a difference because my original TV weight was taken in standard drive mode and the GCW was taken in tow/haul mode. I did take a quick drive to check that but I got the same TV weight in both driving modes.

I've found that you can weigh the payload, to see what sort of gear you are carrying in the bed.

Then go to the "tongue weight" screen. To do this, the app will set a "zero" weight for your truck, including the weight in the bed. This will give you a tongue weight reading.

You can follow the same procedure to get a tongue weight and WD setup weight.

Jerry

Planning wrote:

Boomerweps wrote:

Again, you need your TV occupants and initial cargo weights to be entered into the Haulgauge during calibration.

Weps, you mention travel trailer; I am assuming that a 5th wheel would work in the same fashion?

Also, your reference to initial cargo weights is for everything in the tow vehicle?

Does it also account for fuel weight?

1. Yes.
2. Yes.
3. Not discussed or referenced. Since most weight listings most places, including vehicle makers, include a full tank of gas in the base specs, so did I by not including it the the initial cargo weight entered by me.

mhall wrote:
The calibration process is only required if your vehicle isn't in the HaulGauge database yet.

The setup for our 2016 F150 was under a minute. It asked me to put the vehicle on level ground, and hit a button so it could learn level. That was all.

mhall,

How does it account (from the database) the current cargo loading and fuel load?

Boomerweps wrote:

Again, you need your TV occupants and initial cargo weights to be entered into the Haulgauge during calibration.

Weps, you mention travel trailer; I am assuming that a 5th wheel would work in the same fashion?

Also, your reference to initial cargo weights is for everything in the tow vehicle?

Does it also account for fuel weight?

The calibration process is only required if your vehicle isn't in the HaulGauge database yet.

The setup for our 2016 F150 was under a minute. It asked me to put the vehicle on level ground, and hit a button so it could learn level. That was all.

Planning wrote:
Js415 & weps,

Great information that you guys are providing; thank you for taking the time.

Do I understand correctly that the calibration process is accomplished without the rv attached?

Yes. You are calibrating the Haulgauge to your TV, in particularly the automatic transmission torque converter slippage in first gear and what it takes to get the weight of your TV moving. This becomes the baseline for future calculations to determine the combined weight with the TT, with simple subtraction (that the Haulgauge performs) you get the TT weight.
Again, you need your TV occupants and initial cargo weights to be entered into the Haulgauge during calibration.

Js415 & weps,

Great information that you guys are providing; thank you for taking the time.

Do I understand correctly that the calibration process is accomplished without the rv attached?

One thing suggested to me in my quick email reply from the factory rep was to use the lowest scale possible to better read the analog scale. I went through the app and was able to use the lowest scale in each category.
I have to concur that factory product support is excellent.
I still have yet to do my recalibration.

My review of the Haulgauge:

I started reading about this device 2-3 months ago and had quite a few questions as to its reliability and proper function. On of the main questions I had was would it work with my 2006 Chevy truck, that has a slight tune in the ECM.

I have added the tune to correct for a larger tire size, and to help very slightly increase the horsepower while towing.

I went the the Haulgauge and posted the above questions to their "Contact Us" page.

In less that 24 hours I had a response bock from one of their engineers, answering my questions, and giving me more info about what to expect when I programmed the unit.

In my case, a 2006 Silverado was not yet in their database, and even if it was, it was suggested that I do a manual calibration, due to my tune and larger tires.

I decided to go ahead and order the unit and give it a test.

When it arrived I plugged it in to my OBD port, and as expected, it could not find my VIN. I simple manual entry of my VIN, GVWR, and Payload Rating, and I was done. Now I needed to calibrate the unit. Again, this would need to be done manually.

I headed out the my local high school parking lot on a Sunday morning where I knew there would be no traffic. The unit requires 8-12 starts, up to 15MPH, at low, medium, and full throttle. Each run for me was only about 50 yards or so, and I had the unit calibrated in about 10 minutes.

Very simple and straight forward. Nothing to be confused about, and no problems calibrating the unit.

Next step was to calibrate the suspension. This simply requires the truck to be sitting perfectly still with the tailgate down. Once the unit is ready, you take a known weight (yourself), and sit on the tailgate. Type in your weight and let the app do its work. 15 seconds later and your suspension is calibrated.

I then took a trip to my local CAT scales and did a scale test. Then compared to using the app to get a weight. On each weighing using the app, I was within about 50lbs of what the CAT scale said I weighed.

I then loaded up a bunch of diesel fuel, partial load of firewood, and various pieces of camping equipment. Using the Haugauge app I "weighed" my payload. Then off to the CAT scales again. This time I weighed almost exactly what the app told me I did. I believe the "payload" function of the app works very well.

I was then able to move to the tongue weight section.

I tow a 38 Heritage Glen, triple slides, with about 1300lbs tongue weight, based on my measurements using a Sherline scale.

I set my scale up and weighed my tongue again. This time it was around 1350lbs. sitting level in my driveway, almost ready to go camping. Using the app, your center your ball under the tongue and let the app "zero" your truck, with the engine off. After it is zeroed, then start lowering the tongue. Once it makes contact, you can actually watch the scale on the app start to increase until all the weight is on the ball.

Each time I have done this, I can get within about 200lbs of what my Sherline says my tongue weighs. This is not super accurate, but it is very close for a quick estimate without traveling to a CAT scale.

I have not been able to do any real world testing on the weight distribution portion of the app yet, so that will have to come.

The most important part of this review needs to be the fact that during all this testing, I was sending an e-mail and phone screenshots almost daily to the Haulgauge engineer that I started working with. Without fail, he would get back to me anywhere fro 1-12 hours, with answers and/or suggestions.

One day he even called me to walk through a couple of ideas he had for me to try. One thing to mention, is each time a measurement is taken, the truck must be turned off, and the engine not running. This is very important. I know this because I did not do it on a bunch of my initial testing, and the vibrations of the diesel engine running kept throwing off my measurements. it took me a while to figure this out. The engineer was very patient when I explained what I had done.

I thinks it is worth the money. It will not replace a trip to the scales 3-4 times a year, but if you want a good estimate of what you are towing and how your loading affects the weight on or around your truck, then this is a great unit to have.

Please ask questions if you have any.

Thanks,

Jerry