Real Weights

[Downwindtracke1]

When guys and gals are looking at purchasing a TT,they look at the brochure . But to get an idea of reality, our brochure weight dry was 4100#, the factory out the door sticker was 4600# dry ,when I ran it over the scale,fully loaded for an across Canada trip,the two axles were 2830 kg.(2.2lb=1kg).

This is all a so what to me, I switched out the axles to 5200# and the tires to either 2700# or 2900# truck, 16" 10plys .And I pull with a diesel 1ton. But someone with a 1/2 ton, might not have a so what attitude driving down the road.

[rbpru]

The Metric system will not come into wide spread use as long a my DW is living. She does not want it and certainly the government does not want to challenge her. 🙂 🙂

Real weight numbers for my 25 ft. TT are; dry 5004 lbs. as listed by the TT maker, across the scales loaded for trip #1, 6200 lbs. across the scales loaded for trip #2 6400 lbs. (2900 Kg) with 700 to 800 lbs. (362 Kg)on the tongue.

So yes you can pick up 1200 to 1400 lbs.(635 Kg) over dry weight with food, clothes, bedding, toweling and other things you cannot live without.

My Max TT weight is listed as 7500 lbs. Since the axels are rated 3500 lbs. each they expect at least 500 lbs. on the tongue.

In the real world, subtracting my measured tongue weight, from my loaded for the road TT scale weight, leaves 5500 lbs on my TT axels. After that I quit worrying about it. I will exceed the max cargo and max axle capacity of my tow vehicle before I overload the TT axels and tires.

As far as I can tell the only purpose for the dry weight is so the commercial haulers know the weight when they haul multiple units across the country.

As far a the RV makers are concerned, they have no idea of what kind of junk you need when you camp; so they just post the max TT weight, the rest is up to you.

[myredracer]

dup 😞

[Old-Biscuit]

Hannibal wrote:
I didn't realize how much stuff we carried until we unloaded our previous 5th wheel onto the carport so we could deliver it to the dealership to trade for our current TT. Easily several hundred pounds.
Our currency here in the US is metric. I don't know why we still use thumbs and feet for everything else.

Sorry but NO........
Since 1786 US Currency uses decimal monetary systems (1 dollar =100 cents)
Most ALL nations use it NOW

British System of pounds, shillings, and pence is not used by many any more....

[myredracer]

Downwindtracker2 wrote:
When guys and gals are looking at purchasing a TT,they look at the brochure . But to get an idea of reality, our brochure weight dry was 4100#, the factory out the door sticker was 4600# dry ,when I ran it over the scale,fully loaded for an across Canada trip,the two axles were 2830 kg.(2.2lb=1kg).

This is all a so what to me, I switched out the axles to 5200# and the tires to either 2700# or 2900# truck, 16" 10plys .And I pull with a diesel 1ton. But someone with a 1/2 ton, might not have a so what attitude driving down the road.

Dry weights are useless but that's the TT industry for you... What brand/model of TT and what GVWR? That's a cargo wt. of 1639 lbs which seems rather high to me for a TT that is probably around 20-25'. Was it weighed correctly at a scale with a min. of 2 passes, one with truck only and one with spring bars removed (and in back of truck)?

I did a detailed weighing at a scale after picking up our TT new at the dealer. It is 29' long with a 6800 lb GVWR. The weight of all cargo for the two of us plus the weight of all mods & upgrades came to only 674 lbs on top of the factory out-the-door UVW (on the white sticker inside a cabinet). It sounds like you ordered the TT with some factory options that added 500 lbs? Are you towing over the GVWR sticker figure (like us - see below)?

Upgrading axles, suspension and tires is a good thing to do, esp. if doing a lot of long distance mileage ("kilometerage"?) But the frame is also a consideration since some are weak and flex a lot and some are very strong in comparison. Many TTs out there are manufactured and sold with axles and tires that are running near their max. ratings which can lead to problems like blowouts and bent axles.

Our TT has a custom one-off HD frame from the factory with 2 @ 5200 lb axles that added about 500 lbs of wt. All the factory did is reduce the CCC to a pitiful 930 lbs instead of assigning it a new GVWR. As a result, we could at times be towing over the "official" sticker GVWR figure. Our real GVWR is unknown but is probably more like 10,000 based on the axle rating and stronger frame making the CC more like 3000 lbs. Way to go KZ.

[myredracer]

On metric vs US weights and measures - oh, the insanity of it all...

Things in Canada are sold in both metric and/or in US weights & measures plus we also have "soft" conversions and "hard" conversions. On a 2x4 for ex., our building code is metric and designates a 2x4 as 38x89mm but if you asked for a few 38x89 at a lumber yard they would think you're from another planet. A 2x4 is sold by lengths in feet. A sheet of plywood is exactly 4'x8' and sold as 4'x8' but the thicknesses are labelled metric. A 1/2" sheet for ex. is 12 mm (soft) but some offshore plywood is sometimes a bit off from 12mm. Can make cabinetmaking a hassle here. In the US, a sheet of 3/4" plywood is actually 23/32". Our US-made F250 is all metric and the volume of a bottle of hard liquor from the US is in liters. The decision to go metric was simply a political one by the prime minister at the time, Justin Trudeau's father.

Perhaps the most well-known example of a potential catastrophe on gallons/liters conversion is back in 1983, when a Boeing 737 ran out of fuel at 41,000 ft. over Ontario. The pilots were fortunately able to glide it to a safe landing in Gimli, Man. The cause was later found to be due to a math error in conversion between liters and gallons by the ground crew. The pilots initially took some of the blame. In '85 they received an international award for their achievement. Landing the plane was quite a feat - when they tried to duplicate it in a simulator, all attempts ended in crashes. It has become to be known as the "Gimli glider".


A mile is a lot longer at app. 1.6 km/mile and when in the US, the miles click by a lot slower and it takes us waaay longer to get anywhere... So annoying!

[Dennis12]

Load it up and hit the scales.

[Hannibal]

I didn't realize how much stuff we carried until we unloaded our previous 5th wheel onto the carport so we could deliver it to the dealership to trade for our current TT. Easily several hundred pounds.
Our currency here in the US is metric. I don't know why we still use thumbs and feet for everything else.

[dodge_guy]

1600lbs isn't a lot of stuff. sounds typical to me. things add up fast. anyone that figures 3-500lbs for "stuff" doesn't really know what things add up to. My trailer is 7100lbs empty, loaded for a trip it weighs 9200lbs. this is why I say to add at least 1500lbs to the dry weight. this will get you close to your ready to travel weight. its also why you need to look at CCC. some trailers only have 1200lbs, some (like mine) have a 4100lb CCC. 7100lbs dry and 11,200 GVWR.
And they shipped mine with "D" rated china bombs. they lasted about 500 miles before a tire shifted a belt. I installed "E" rated Carlisle`s that carry much more weight. haven't had an issue since.

[DinTulsa]

I assume the point of his post was to not trust the states dry weight. I don't know why everyone is so concerned with the added gear the OP loaded into his trailer. Maybe his wife is like mine, we have a 5 yo and a 3 month old and we basically take our entire house when we camp for 9-12 days. By the time I load up firewood, bikes, ice chests, pack and plays and whatever else I need I'm sure I add considerable weight.....maybe not 1600.

I agree on the tire swapping though, my trailer weights 10,350 fully loaded ready to camp with roughly 9100 on the axles. It came with d rated tires that support 10,240 on the axles. When I replace them I'm going with E rated tires for a little extra weigh carrying capacity.

[SoundGuy]

Downwindtracker2 wrote:
Canadians use both , and can convert.

Not me, I never refer to anything in kg, nor would I ever refer to fuel mileage rated in Imperial gallons or even litres per 100 km, the stupidest form of metric measure. rv.net is a US based forum with the vast majority of members being Americans, it only makes sense to use US measure, whether volume, weight, whatever. :R

That said, what's the point of your original post? - I've yet to see any trailer where it's actual stickered dry weight won't be noticeably higher than it's listed brochure weight - big surprise. What is surprising is how just 2 adults could find it necessary to load so much additional weight into the trailer, making the end result far heavier than it really needs to be. :E

[Old-Biscuit]

That is why DRY weights have no meaning and are useless.

One should look at the GVWR of trailer and then run the numbers to see of their two vehicle of choice is enough

[coolmom42]

Downwindtracker2 wrote:
When guys and gals are looking at purchasing a TT,they look at the brochure . But to get an idea of reality, our brochure weight dry was 4100#, the factory out the door sticker was 4600# dry ,when I ran it over the scale,fully loaded for an across Canada trip,the two axles were 2830 kg.(2.2lb=1kg).

This is all a so what to me, I switched out the axles to 5200# and the tires to either 2700# or 2900# truck, 16" 10plys .And I pull with a diesel 1ton. But someone with a 1/2 ton, might not have a so what attitude driving down the road.

This is 6226 lb loaded. Which means you are carrying a LOT of stuff---1626 lb. Unless that is batteries and water... I can't imagine where in a TT you would put that much weight.

[MitchF150]

Is your wifes name Lucy by chance.. ha, ha.. 🙂

[Downwindtracke1]

Full fresh water, propane ,batteries, the wife's packing,and tools.

We 're on a bluff over looking the sea in PEI, tonight.The TT has a big picture window across the back,so I parked that way.I don't know the next WiFi.

Canadians use both , and can convert.

The wife is a rockhound,so there can be a few 5gal buckets of semi-precious rock in the back of truck as well.

[Fireballsocal]

6,226 pounds by the way. Yeah, that was annoying.

Where did you pick up 1500 odd pounds of stuff?