I was running heavy

[samhain7]

All this talk of tires lately had me curious. I am on my way on a 5 day trip and passing by CAT scales. I noticed the wife and kids packed pretty heavy (I only brought at shirt and beer) and I had a full tank of water.
So I thought better be safe.
Got weighed and low and behold. I am 240lbs over my trailer cargo.
So guess what. Drop a half a tank of water. Grrrrrrr. I love being able too travel with water.
Also got me curious about the way they weighed me.

Had me get on the scale with truck and trailer.

Numbers were:
Steer axle- 9000 lbs
Drive axle - 0
Trailer axle. - 7560
Gross - 16560

I asked how they could measure my trailer when hitched. And said that number can't be right. So the suggestion. Unhitch. Get on the scale with my truck only and subtract from the gross to get my trailer weight. Seems unorthodox.

The trailer can take a total of 8500 lbs.
The truck came in at 7820. Subtract that from the total and it's 8740. 240 lbs over.
Anyway...I guess I need the kids and wife to shed 240 lbs on the next trip because my beer is non negotiable.

On another note, I suspect a lot of these bad tire reviews are not actually bad tires, but people like me travelling overloaded without knowing it..

[Doug33]

Like they do at the airports, you may have to weigh your family's luggage and restrict what they can bring! 😉

I just make sure they don't bring real heavy stuff, and that we wait until we get to our destination before we get heavy food products and drinks.

Another thing to remember is that anything you buy on vacation has to count as weight on the way home. So don't buy anything like furniture or yard decorations (i.e. gnomes). We make sure we expend as much of the food/drinks before we leave, to keep weight down. Any remaining water in the storage and hot water tank is drained as well.

[Slowmover]

It's the wheel loads that matter. The rest is just a way of getting to that measurement. Being somewhat over a rating isn't a concern, per se. If TW mattered in the way some imply or state, we wouldnt use WD hitches. We do, as it is the only way to get down the road with the vast majority of vehicles towing travel trailers.

[Huntindog]

Huntindog wrote:

BarneyS wrote:

Lance72 wrote:
Does a WDH transfer weight back to the trailer? seems counter productive to keeping a certain percentage of tongue weight.

Lance,
Yes, it certainly does. However, the actual tongue weight of the trailer, which is part of the reason a trailer might have a tendency to sway or not, does not change. Only the force on the axles of the truck and trailer are changed. The only way to actually change the tongue weight of the trailer is to load it differently, move the axles, or extend the tounge. Using a WD hitch does NOT change the tongue weight of the trailer. It only changes the effects of that tongue weight on the tow vehicle.
Hope this helps. How a WD hitch works.

Barney

X2.
This logic comes up here from time to time. Most always from someone whose TV is falling shy of being able to handle the TW of a TT they have, or want to buy.... This thinking is grasping at straws. It simply is wrong. TW doesn't disappear. It needs to be figured with the WD disconnected.

[Huntindog]

BarneyS wrote:

Lance72 wrote:
Does a WDH transfer weight back to the trailer? seems counter productive to keeping a certain percentage of tongue weight.

Lance,
Yes, it certainly does. However, the actual tongue weight of the trailer, which is part of the reason a trailer might have a tendency to sway or not, does not change. Only the force on the axles of the truck and trailer are changed. The only way to actually change the tongue weight of the trailer is to load it differently, move the axles, or extend the tounge. Using a WD hitch does NOT change the tongue weight of the trailer. It only changes the effects of that tongue weight on the tow vehicle.
Hope this helps. How a WD hitch works.X2.


Barney

This logic comes up here from time to time. Most always from someone whose TV is falling shy of being able to handle the TW of a TT they have, or want to buy.... This thinking is grasping at straws. It simply is wrong. TW doesn't disappear. It needs to be figured with the WD disconnected.

[BarneyS]

Lance72 wrote:
Does a WDH transfer weight back to the trailer? seems counter productive to keeping a certain percentage of tongue weight.

Lance,
Yes, it certainly does. However, the actual tongue weight of the trailer, which is part of the reason a trailer might have a tendency to sway or not, does not change. Only the force on the axles of the truck and trailer are changed. The only way to actually change the tongue weight of the trailer is to load it differently, move the axles, or extend the tounge. Using a WD hitch does NOT change the tongue weight of the trailer. It only changes the effects of that tongue weight on the tow vehicle.
Hope this helps. How a WD hitch works.
Barney

[samhain7]

BubbaChris wrote:


So I looked up your TT's specs and even with a full tank of water, you should have 1,500 lbs of cargo capacity.

The sticker on my trailer says I can't exceed 1374 lbs of cargo.

Then it says a tank of water takes up 570 lbs of cargo....
So with water I can only take 800 lbs.

[BubbaChris]

I know some manufacturers use the same axle pair for multiple TT's in the same line (like my maker). So you end up with the same max TT weight, but different cargo capacities by model since they each start with a different dry weight. This frequently works against longer bunkhouse models.

So I looked up your TT's specs and even with a full tank of water, you should have 1,500 lbs of cargo capacity. Is your daughter an athlete and brought all her weight training gear? Did you pack enough dutch ovens to feed a boy scout troop?

Mostly kidding because I know we're roughly 1,000 lbs over dry with 37 gallons of water for just the 2 of us.

[Lance72]

Does a WDH transfer weight back to the trailer? seems counter productive to keeping a certain percentage of tongue weight.

[samhain7]

On this note. Does anyone see any concern in the numbers I posted?

[rbpru]

jasoncw

The reason you disconnect the WD hitch bars to get an accurate tongue weight, is because the bars transfer some of tongue weight to the front axle and back to the TT axle.

The weight of the TV only, subtracted from the weight of the TV with the TT on the ball without the bars installed, is the TT tongue weight.

I find the more useful information is the weight on the front, rear, and TT axle with the bars adjusted for a level TV and TT. This gives the total TV weight, axle loads, and cargo weight when compared to the weight of the empty TV.

However, some towing problems are related tongue weight so knowing how to determine it is handy also.

[rbpru]

All the upgraded equipment in the world does not reduce the kinetic energy of a vehicle moving 75 mph. It is not the traveling, it is the stopping.

I did not have to spend a nickel extra to drive 55 to 65 mph.

[DiskDoctr]

marcsbigfoot20b27 wrote:
I hate it when people b!tch about someone doing 75 mph.

Hey buddy, go easy on them. Not everyone tows with a FORD!!! HAHAHA!

[jaycocreek]

Well there are some of us that know what we are doing.
I have 11,300 lbs of capacity tires on my 7000 lb trailer.......ST load range E and 87 mph speed rating. Add to that upgraded from 3500 lb to 4400 lb axles, brakes and leaf springs. Towing that with an F350 dually crew cab long bed with air bags and WD hitch. Some of us are qualified (at least equitpmentwise) to do the speed limit. I hate it when people b!tch about someone doing 75 mph.

75 mph is 75 mph regardless of your tow vehicle.I had a special bolt on receiver for my Kenworth logging truck and never felt like towing my trailers at 75 mph.My opinion is :It is just to fast for a travel trailer or any trailer,regardless of the tow vehicle.I never ran my semi trucks over 65 mph.

Just my opinion!

[jasoncw]

RCMAN46 wrote:
I believe the OP has a travel trailer. If he has a WD system active when on the scales we do not have enough information to get an accurate tongue weight.

Total trailer weight should be accurate.

Tongue weight will probably be more as some of that weight should have been transfered to the trailer axles by the WD system.

I asked this a couple years back, and I can't remember the response. I'm confused as to why it is necessary to weigh with WD system disengaged. At no point during towing with a WDH is the tongue weight what it is without WD engaged. My understanding is that we are trying to determine the amount of tongue weight being carried by the TV. If that is the case, the amount transferred back to the trailer should not be factored into the TW calc. Can someone please clarify this for me?