Forum Discussion

billyray50's avatar
billyray50
Explorer
May 10, 2013

***update on truck and camper weight***

Well some of you fellow TCers may have remembered my previous posts regarding my 2012 Adventurer 86 FB dry weight and truck issues. Had the front end i.e. ball joints, tie rods, track bar bushings all replaced. Much improved. I recently went to a new Flying J truck stop and reweighed my 2006 Dodge 2500 CTD 4x4 long bed with tailgate off,full tank of diesel, myself at 185 pounds, my 4 year old granddaughter:) who weighs 36 pounds, booster seat 3 pounds, happijac tiedowns, emergency road kit in back seat and truck weighed at CAT scale at 7340 lbs. Last august I weighed it at Loves truck stop CAT scale and it came in 7080 lbs. I must not have been on scale right. Which is why I thought my camper weighed more.. This time I asked the manager if my truck was located on scale properly and confirmed that it was. Today I went and got the camper from storage and loaded it up and went to weigh the combo again. Truck, myself, and camper, no grandaughter:( weighed 10,400 with camper dry. Fridge empty, Fresh water tank empty, 1 gallon in gray and black of water/antifreeze, 2 full propane tanks, 2 12 volt Batteries. No TV

Here is the breakdown: Truck: Steer axle 4500 lbs. Drive axle : 2840 lbs.

Truck/camper : Steer axle :4680 Drive axle :5720 lbs.

So if my figures are right the campers dry weight is 10,400 - 7340 = 3060...Minus granddaughter weight of 36 equals 3024 lbs. 2880 riding on rear axle?? Look right??
Truck Campers
  • billyray50's avatar
    billyray50
    Explorer
    May 12, 2013
    Well I needed new tires so just ordered new Nitto Durra grapplers 285/75r/17 10 ply rated at 128 load index 3970 lbs. at 80 psi. Had the Nitto terra grapplers for 3 years and 44,000 miles hauling 2 TCs. They were rated at 3750 lbs. at 80 psi and were great tires. Handled my heavy 8' 6" 4 season camper very well. Previous camper was a 1996 11' Shadow cruiser that was heavier that the 2400 lb. dry weight sticker for sure. Read good reviews on the Nitto Durra grapplers and wanted more load capacity. My wheels are the dodge upgraded 17 x 8 Forged Aluminum that came with the Thunder road package upgrade and read on many Cummins diesel forums they have a rating between 3400 to 3600 lbs. Talked with three custom wheel shops here in Dallas and all told me to that my rims are stronger than most aftermarket wheels except of course 19.5s and should hang on to them.
  • wintersun's avatar
    wintersun
    Explorer II
    May 12, 2013
    Weight in the cab is going to have a greater percentage applied to the front wheels and the camper as you have already learned has most of its weight carried by the rear wheels.

    All I would be concerned with is the load rating of the tires (and keeping them fully inflated) to support the camper when it has fluids in the tanks and all your food and gear. Many of the E rated tires support 2800 lbs. each and so the two rear ones max out at as little as 5600 lbs. and you are very close to that figure with the camper fully loaded. Just worth checking the ratings of your tires and investing in a couple of tire gauges (so you can check them against each other).
  • billyray50's avatar
    billyray50
    Explorer
    May 12, 2013
    That is the plan. She loves the truck camper!! Not sure how she became the the huge subject here. I was watching her that day when I took the truck to get weighed. She luvs Pappa's truck!! Happy camping everyone.
  • sue_t's avatar
    sue_t
    Explorer
    May 12, 2013
    Oh jeez ... just take the grandaughter camping with you.
    Issue solved.
  • jimh406's avatar
    jimh406
    Explorer III
    May 11, 2013
    Again, there's no way to determine how much of your granddaughter's weight is on the front vs rear. Then again, it doesn't matter! Just like it doesn't matter how much the camper weighs.
  • wnjj's avatar
    wnjj
    Explorer II
    May 11, 2013
    dubob wrote:
    billyray50 wrote:
    I recently went to a new Flying J truck stop and reweighed my 2006 Dodge 2500 CTD 4x4 long bed with tailgate off,full tank of diesel, myself at 185 pounds, my 4 year old granddaughter:) who weighs 36 pounds, booster seat 3 pounds, happijac tiedowns, emergency road kit in back seat and truck weighed at CAT scale at 7340 lbs.
    Today I went and got the camper from storage and loaded it up and went to weigh the combo again. Truck, myself, and camper, no grandaughter:( weighed 10,400 with camper dry. Fridge empty, Fresh water tank empty, 1 gallon in gray and black of water/antifreeze, 2 full propane tanks, 2 12 volt Batteries. No TV
    Here is the breakdown: Truck: Steer axle: 4500 lbs. Drive axle: 2840 lbs.
    Truck/camper: Steer axle: 4680 lbs. Drive axle: 5720 lbs.
    So if my figures are right the campers dry weight is 10,400 - 7340 = 3060...Minus granddaughter weight of 36 equals 3024 lbs. Look right??

    Billyray,

    With all due respect, I’d like to point out an error in your calculations; and that would be the weight of your lovely granddaughter. The goal is to keep (or remove) her weight from both sides of the calculation. And to do that, you must add her weight to the CAT scale figure you got WITH the camper on the truck. You could also remove her weight from the truck alone weighing and come up with the same camper weight figure.

    Leaving her weight on the truck alone requires adding her weight to the truck w/camper to get the TRUE weight of the camper.
    • 1. Truck alone (w/ granddaughter): GAWF = 4500; GAWR = 2840; GVW = 7340
    • 2. Trk & Cmpr (w/o granddaughter): GAWF = 4680; GAWR = 5720; GVW = 10400
    • 3. Trk & Cmpr (w/ granddaughter): GAWF = UNK; GAWR = UNK; GVW = 10436


    You can’t subtract the GVW in #1 from #2 because they are apples & oranges because the granddaughter is in one figure and not in the other. You can subtract the GVW in #1 from #3 because they are both apples or both oranges (your choice :)). Your true camper weight is 3096, NOT 3024. The point is this; the trucks weight MUST remain the same for both scale sessions (with and without the camper). So your granddaughters weight must be in both or out of both.

    I hope I haven’t further confused you.



    For a little less confusion, it's simply changing from this:

    10,400 - 7340 = 3060
    3060 - 36 = 3024

    to this:

    10,400 - (7340 - 36) = 3096
  • billyray50's avatar
    billyray50
    Explorer
    May 11, 2013
    Oh and by the way, nice truck and camper you have. Would love the truck!!

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