How Do I Weigh My Trailer?
Now, Sean asked the following question. “Can you pull a travel trailer across a set of weight station scales to get your weight, or what do you have to do at a truck stop to get your trailer weight? ”
Well I would want four weights; the towing weight, dead weight, tongue weight, and the side to side weight. This can be done in three steps. The first weight is the full weight of the trailer, that is disconnected from the tow vehicle and sitting alone on the scales. Then hook up and move the trailer forward until just the wheels of the trailer are sitting on the scales. Subtract that weight from the total weight and you will have the tongue weight. One note here, do not engage the load distributing bars when weighing.
Next get the trailer positioned so that just the wheels on one side of the trailer are on the scales. This will give you the side to side weight. Subtract the weight recorded from the weight of just the trailer itself to give you the weight of just one side. Hopefully the side to side weight will be about equal.
Ideally the area around the scale is level as if it is not it will effect the weights when only part of the rig is on the platform. I do not know if the DOT scales will weight you and take the time, but a commercial scale will do what you want as long as you foot the bill. I use a commercial railroad yard off loading facility as their scale and the surrounding area is flat. The local scale that I could use is not flat and when I have compared weights between the two I got some real weird numbers.
Now with the numbers in hand sit down and do the numbers. Do you have your stuff evenly distributed in the rig? Have you exceeded the tongue weight? Have exceeded the GVW? And are tire pressures where they should be?
What Is a Class C?
A class C motor home is built on what the factories call a cut-away chassis. It is an incomplete van. The front of the Class C is very familiar to the person that has ever driven a van but the coach body is then added on. Most class C’s the body is wider than the nose or original van dimensions. In the longer units the chassis is extended and modified.
The main sleeping bed can be then located over the drivers cab and leave the rest of the floor space for living and traveling. For the most part the class C’s are lighter than class A’s and use a smaller power plant and more automotive like. They are lower and usually offer less basement storage than a class A. If you use the overhead bunk as your main bedroom the floor space is very close to and older style class A that had the swooped back nose and a center entrance door. The newer bus slab front rigs do gain a little extra floor space because the front entrance is mainly carved out of the passengers floor space and with the straight up and down of the windshield head room is gained right to the front.
Well that is about it for this week, catchya.
Brad
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Ray Palandri
I would like to inquire if anybody has had experience with the Safety Plus steering system on their rig. I have a 2007 Tiffin Phaeton 40 QDH on a Freightliner chassis with a 350 Cat diesel. I have read Lug_Nut’s blog on the Comfort Drive System, but at least for now that is not being offered as an after market add on. I have also inquired about the Howard Power Center Steering system by River City Products, but that company is currently out of business and is looking for a buyer. I am told that the Safety Plus System is pretty good for the money (about $700.00 installed), but I would like to hear from someone who has tried it.
If you have experience with this system, please contact me at my email address [email protected]
Thank you,
Ray Palandri
barry bogart
I have been able to weigh all of my trailers at the local TA truck stop. As one of the other writers mentioned there is two rates, ours is $8 for the first weigh and $1 for the second. One thing I wanted to mention is that most scales I have seen at truck stops, have a lane that is curbed on both sides of the scale. You cannot get your RV far enough off to one side to weigh the RV on each side. I have been able to drop my rig and pull ahead to weigh the RV seperately, and the truck seperately at the same time. I then hook up and get the total weight as the second weigh. You have to be quick and it helps to have a friend along to get it done. It is also a good idea to have a step ladder because the trucks are higher than my pickup and you need to speak into the speaker to talk to the weighmaster.
Phil King
I’ve found that a side-to-side weight is usually not necessary and often difficult to get. As mentioned, the ground around the scales must be level to accomplish this. In the case of most commercial scales found at the truck stops, they are usually elevated slightly making a side-to-side wieghing problematic. In addition, most commercial scales don’t want you to disconnect on the scales as this ties up the scales for others.
I do this a bit differently and accomplish it in 2 weighings. First, I weigh the entire vehicle as being towed. Just make sure both your TV (Tow Vehicle) axles and the TT (Travel Trailer) axle(s) are on 3 separate weighing pads. That will give you weights for your steer axle, your drive axle and your TT axle(s). Next, I take the TT and “drop” it in the parking area so I can come back and weigh just the TV; again making sure the steer axle and drive axle are on different pads to get 2 separate weights. From these 2 weighings you can calculate all the weights you need.
GCVW (Gross Combined Vehicle Weight) is the total weight of the first weighing. It is important that you do not exceed your TV’s rating on this. If you do, you could be find yourself facing a law suit for negligence in the case of an accident.
TV-GVW (Tow Vehicle’s Gross Vehicle Weight). This is the total of the second weighing. Like the GCVW, it is important to not exceed your TV’s max rating.
Axle weights. Each of your TV’s axles have a max rating, as does your TT. From the individual weights of the axles in both weighings you can tell if you’re exceeding any of the max ratings for your axles. Pay particular attention to your TV’s drive axle from the first weighing. It will be heavier than it is in the second weighing because of the tongue weight of the TT.
TT-GVW (Trailer’s Gross Vehicle Weight). For this one you need to do a bit of math, but it’s not difficult.
TT-GVW = GCVW – TV-GVW
Both your TT and your hitch have a max rating for this. Make sure both are within that rating. Hitches have 2 max ratings, one for the max towing weight (this weight) and one for the weight of the trailer tongue.
Tongue Weight. For this one you need to do a bit of math as well:
Tongue Weight = GCVW – TV-GVW – TT Axle Weight
This needs to be within the max rating of your particular hitch.
One last thing … your tires on both your TV and TT. Many people overlook their tire load rating. The load rating is written on the side of your tires and should not be exceeded. Personally, I want plenty of safety margin here. If I am running my TT tires very close to their load rating it will wear the tires prematurely. More importantly, if you experience a blowout of 1 tire on a tandem axle TT, the other three are now carrying considerably more weight than they are rated to carry; especially the one on the same side as the blow out. It is possible to damage multiple tires in a situation like this before you can even get the rig stopped.
It’s easy to weigh at commercial truck stops and the cost is usually reasonable. Most truck stops will only charge you full price for the first weighing, then a small additional price for the second weighing. The last time I weighed at a CAT scale at a Love’s truck stop, they charges me $7.00 for the initial weighing and only $1.00 for the second one. A small price to pay for peace of mind.
Casey Donovan
“The first weight is the full weight of the trailer, that is disconnected from the tow vehicle and sitting alone on the scales.”
I submit that this isn’t a very practical method. Few commercial scale operators are likely to want to let you pull onto their scales, disconnect your trailer, pull away, get weighed, then pull back and reconnect, while other customers wait for you to get clear.
Tongue weight can often be obtained with household or portable scales, in the comfort of your own back yard. If not, then first park the trailer out of the way, and weigh the tow vehicle by itself. Then reconnect, pull onto the scales and weigh the tow vehicle again, and finally weigh the trailer. Note that many scales, especially those at truck stops, are segmented, so they weigh each axle or set of axles separately but all at one stop.