1st Time Out With Reese Dual Cam

[boubou]

Out for the first time today
I weighted the truck by itself (including us) : steer axle: 3200 lbs
Drive axle : 2600 lbs
Gross weight: 5800 lbs

With trailer attached:
Steer axle : 3380 lbs
Drive axle: 3420 lbs
Trailer axle: 5040
Gross weight: 11840 lbs
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My truck gvwr 6700 lbs
Total vehicle GCWR 14000 lbs
Total vehicle max loaded trailer weight rating 8450 lbs
Total vehicle max tongue weight rating 1045
Total vehicle RGWR 3900
Dry tongue weight on trailer 750 lbs

So what does this all mean??

[jtstromsburg]

It looks like you may need to adjust your wdh....assuming you have one.

[boubou]

Reese hp dual cam wd/sway control hitch 800 lbs trunion bars
How do you mean adjust the hitch?

[caper]

With a dry tongue weight of 750lbs. your bars to the WDH might be too weak.

[boubou]

Originally Posted by caper

With a dry tongue weight of 750lbs. your bars to the WDH might be too weak.

It drives well but are you saying the the numbers on the scales are not distributed properly? I really don't understand what numbers i should be looking for.

The shop had both the 1200 and 800 and i told the ownerthe tongue weight and he tought 800 would be enough, he was concerned the 1200 would give me too stif a ride

[mtnguy]

If boubou has added 180 lbs. to the front of the truck, then the bars are not too weak.....he is getting plenty of weight distributing. But the truck with trailer is adding 1000 lbs. to the truck.....and that is with a WDH. That indicates that the "real" tongue weight is probably in the 1200 lb. range, and 800 lb. bars would not distribute that kinda weight. If I remember correctly from a previous post, the bars looked good with a slight bend. Something just ain't adding up here.

Some other concerns. The total weight of the truck with the trailer is 100 lbs. over the GVWR.

boubou, were the 2 weigh-ins done with the same truck loads with and without the camper ?? If you loaded cargo to the bed of the truck with 1 reading and not the other, then that is going to skew the readings. My gut feeling is that the truck was empty when you did the solo weigh-in, and the truck was loaded with cargo when the trailer was added.

What is the FAWR (found on the drivers door) ??

[mtnguy]

Originally Posted by jtstromsburg

It looks like you may need to adjust your wdh....assuming you have one.

Since the weight on the front axle increases when adding the trailer, that is an indication that a WDH is being used. If no WDH was used, then the front axle would be much lighter when the trailer was added.

[boubou]

I don't understand.
I should have weighted the tongue weight too :/
Yes i weighted the truck with just me in it and then added the weight of extra person and dogs to m y numbers. I only added 2 small bags with us in truck, maybe 30 lbs worth, and i had a full thank of gas on first weigh in and maybe 3/4 full the second. I can't imagine that would make that big of a difference?
Number in driver door yellow sticker is 1266
Brigitte

[herk7769]

BouBou asked what the numbers mean to him.

I will try to answer the OP's initial question.

To do so I will use his numbers as weighed.

Truck loaded for camping w/o camper connected: 5800 pounds
Truck Max gross weight allowed: 6700 pounds

Combined weight as weighed: 11,840 pounds
So, subtract 5800 from 11,840 to find total camper weight ALONE:
6,040 pounds loaded for camping

Optimum weight on tongue 15% of camper's weight: 900 pounds

Actual weight on tongue = Truck axles after minus truck axles before

6800-5800= 1000 pounds.

Adjusting the axle load using tension on the bars will shift that load from the front axle to the back axle using lever moment arm physics to share that adjusted load between the tow truck and the camper.

For simplicity, we will use the truck's load as if it was centered between the front and rear axles. and the camper's load as if it was centered between the camper's axles. Neither is actually "true" but it will give you the idea anyway.

For example, an overly "tight" WD bar will put more of the transferred weight on the front axle of the truck and the REAR axle of the camper. The reverse will make the back axle of the truck "heavier" and the front axle "lighter". The same effect will occur on the camper's axles.

The total load transferred however will be the same. 1000 pounds.

So, as stated initially, what does it mean,

1) The truck as loaded with camper attached is overloaded by 100 pounds (not too bad)

2) The camper weighs 6,040 pounds but no GVW was listed.

3) No posted max axle loads listed, but should be in the truck's documentation somewhere and I am camping without access to my library. No idea if the axles are overloaded or if moving that load around would be helpful or not.

4) He needed the 1200 pound WD hitch; not the 800.

[boubou]

Why would you think the real tongue weight to be in the 1200 lbs? The dry tong weight is 750 so i figured that was from empty trailer which makes it 14% of 5400 lbs. So if I take 6000 lbs loaded trailer and multiply 14% that makes 840