New Trailer at the CAT scales

[CommTech]

Hello everyone, a very new newbie here. I have learned so much from all of you, especially those of you who are adamant about watching the weights of the TV and TT.

Today, we picked up our first TT ever. It is a 2018 Flagstaff 25BDS. I am towing with a 2016 F-150 3.5 EB short bed Crew cab with the 3.31 axle, and 4X4, the door tag says 7000 GVW. The dealer installed the Equal-i-zer 1000/10,000 lb. WD hitch.

Since the CAT scales were on the way home, I thought I would get some starting weights for the trailer exactly as I picked it up from the dealer. I performed the three passes across the scales as described many places on this forum and the results actually look good to me, with everything well within the limits. The weights were all taken with a nearly full 36 gallon gas tank and myself and DW in the vehicle.

There is of course none of our stuff in the camper yet, but my thought was to be sure I knew how much weight we would be able to put in the TV and the TT and be safe.

The only thing that seems a little off about the setup is the bars on the equalizer are not parallel with the trailer frame, they point upwards toward the trailer when they are hooked up. The L brackets they sit on are at their highest position, so high in fact that I can't use the Equal-i-zer bracket jackets because there is no room to clip them to the back of the L brackets.

This forces me to really jack the back end of the truck up with the tongue jack to get the bars on and I am concerned the tongue jack is not going to handle it.

How much am I going to mess things up if I drop the L brackets down towards the ground a hole or two? I would really like to at least try the bracket jackets as well as not feel like I am trying to pull the back end of the truck off the ground each time I put the weight bars on.

The dealer did what I think is a fairly good job with the hitch install, the numbers below are the result of running the three scale sheets through the calculator at towingplanner.com.

Results
Gross Combined Weight
11,060
This weight should not exceed your truck's GCWR.
GCWR for my truck is listed at something over 16,000

Truck Weight (hitched + WDH engaged)
6,060
This weight should not exceed your truck's GVWR.
GVWR for my truck is 7000

Truck Weight (hitched; no WDH)
6,440

Truck Weight (truck only)
5,620

Camper Weight
5,540

Tongue Weight
820

Tongue Weight Percentage
14.8 %

Thanks in advance for your thoughts or input on this .

[18CrewDually]

Did you get individual axle weights? Here's a pretty good youtube video of how the hitch can effect axle weights. (Nevermind the airbag talk.)
So once you're loaded up, and if you're running over on an axle you may be able to shift that weight around by adjusting the hitch.
https://youtu.be/XBZu39pQ8Gg

[rockfordroo]

Let this be a lesson to anyone quoting "dry weights." Per the Flagstaff website:

Your "dry weight" (UVW) is 5234 lbs, your actual weight is 5540 lbs, for a difference of 206 lbs.

Your "dry hitch weight" is 555 lbs, your actual hitch weight is 820 lbs, for a difference of 275 lbs.

Assuming the GVWR sticker on the side of your trailer matches the website (UVW + CCC) then 5234 + 1481 = 6715 lbs, and your actual margin for cargo loading is 6715 - 5540 = 1175 lbs, NOT the 1481 lbs they advertise.

Assume you've got full LP tanks and a battery already, so at least you're a bit ahead of the game.

Flagstaff Micro Lite 25BDS Travel Trailers by Forest River RV

[elchilero53]

Originally Posted by rockfordroo

Let this be a lesson to anyone quoting "dry weights." Per the Flagstaff website:

Your "dry weight" (UVW) is 5234 lbs, your actual weight is 5540 lbs, for a difference of 206 lbs.

Your "dry hitch weight" is 555 lbs, your actual hitch weight is 820 lbs, for a difference of 275 lbs.

Assuming the GVWR sticker on the side of your trailer matches the website (UVW + CCC) then 5234 + 1481 = 6715 lbs, and your actual margin for cargo loading is 6715 - 5540 = 1175 lbs, NOT the 1481 lbs they advertise.

Assume you've got full LP tanks and a battery already, so at least you're a bit ahead of the game.

Flagstaff Micro Lite 25BDS Travel Trailers by Forest River RV

This was my experience as well. I have a yellow sticker on the side of the trailer that shows the "unloaded weight" of the trailer (4410 lbs). The unloaded scale weight was within 10 pounds of the sticker number (4418 lbs). This was with a battery and two full LP gas tanks but no water in any of the tanks. Adding the water (37 gallons) ran my tongue weight up to 960 lbs. Ok, dump 2/3 of the water to get the tongue weight down below 800 lbs.

Got all the weights properly distributed and measured the wheel well heights to make sure the truck was level and the trailer ends to make sure it was level. Added our stuff and re-weighed. Weights came out perfectly. Everything was properly distributed with a tongue weight of about 800 lbs and a trailer weight of about 6000 lbs.

[andymil]

I would drop the “L” brackets to get the bars close to parallel with the frame. Follow Equal-I-zer instructions to see if you have enough tension on the bars after you move the brackets. Don’t be afraid of screwing it up. It doesn’t sound like it was right in the first place.

[andymil]

What is the cargo carrying capacity listed on the door post?

[jrk341]

CommTech, I see you are from south central PA. Can you tell me which Cat scale you used? We live just south of Harrisburg.


Jeff

[CommTech]

Jeff (jrk341). The scale I used is at the state route 234 exit of U.S. route 15. Easy on and off, and plenty of room around the scale area. It is at the Rutter's convenience store. Officially it is 3050 Heidelersburg Road, York Springs, PA. It is a fairly new store, it maybe a couple years old now.

andymil, the cargo carrying sticker on the door post says 1266. Right beside it the dry weight label says 5390, also duplicated on the tongue label with the VIN number. The large label on the driver's side front of the trailer shows GVWR of 6715 and the cargo carrying capacity number there matches the other two using the 14" ST load range D tires.

Interestingly, the factory left the "build sheet" in the trailer that lists model numbers and serial numbers of all the items used in the construction of the trailer. That shows two 3500# Dexter axles were used in the construction of the trailer. I didn't crawl around underneath to verify that yesterday. Think I will wait for warmer weather to do that.

Yes, the dealer installed battery (group 24 RV / marine deep cycle flooded cell) and the two 30# propane tanks were on the trailer when weighed.

I will go ahead and drop the brackets and see what that does to my weight distribution. I did a double take when I saw the front axle weight on the truck itself weigh slip and the weigh slip with the trailer and WD active were exactly the same, didn't expect that from a dealer set up. That is why I asked the question about screwing up the setup.

05CrewDually- I did not get individual axle weights for the trailer. I will have a look at the you tube video. The wheels are kind of close together on this trailer, getting them on different scale pads might be a chore. After seeing the weights I had, and considering it was all of about 20 degrees F, and I hadn't had any trouble towing to that point, I was more interested in getting the trailer to the storage area before dark.

The trailer pulled fine, semi-trucks passing on the interstate were not an issue, no sway. Maybe a little porpoising on some of the secondary roads that weren't in great shape, but nothing objectionable and it was the very first trailer I ever pulled, so it might just be normal.

The noise from the hitch sounded like somebody was beating on it with a sledgehammer during turns, but once it is broken in and lubricated properly and I have the pads on the L brackets, I am hoping to get that quieted down a bit.

Again, this forum is a great resource for all of us that are just starting out, I can't thank all of you enough for sharing your knowledge and experiences for the common good.

[CedarCreekWoody]

You do need to lower those brackets to make the bars pararell, and then possibly add a washer if needed to get the desired weight transfer. With the brackets too high you will get very loud noise as well as reduced sway control because of the reduced friction from the surface contact area. Assuming you have 4 point sway control be sure to adjust the tension at the sway bad pivot area.

[MillMitch]

Welcome. As another newbie, the only other suggestion I would throw into the mix is load the trailer with your stuff before adjusting the WDH. The dealer setup on mine was fine leaving the dealership with an empty trailer and 1/2 tank of water. But TV felt nose high after loading all our gear into the trailer. I'll be getting the rig weighed and redo the Equalizer hitch in the spring when I pull the trailer out of storage.
Have fun.
Mitch

[andymil]

Sorry, I meant to ask “What is the ccc of the truck?”.

[CommTech]

The CCC of the truck according to the sticker on the driver's side door jamb is 1818.

It would appear I have used a good portion of that up between the options on the truck, the hitch weight of the trailer and the two of us sitting in the truck. I'm sure the 36 gallons of gas doesn't help the weight, but it was a pre-owned truck when I bought it and given the gas mileage others are reporting while towing, I think the additional fuel capacity will come in handy.

7000 GVWR is the number not to be exceeded for the truck, therefore I won't exceed it. Same rule applies for the trailer. The CAT scale has the final say.

[RB19RR]

the cargo carrying sticker on the door post says 1266

Once again, these half ton truck with any amount of options, especially 4-wheel drive and crew cabs totally eat the load carrying capacity.

It's never about "towing Capacity"...It always comes down to rear axle weight capacity.

Are you sure it is only 1266 pounds?

Once trailer is loaded and tongue weight approaches 1000 pounds....not going to leave much for passengers, fuel and stuff in the bed of the truck....

[bikendan]

Originally Posted by RB19RR

Once again, these half ton truck with any amount of options, especially 4-wheel drive and crew cabs totally eat the load carrying capacity.

It's never about "towing Capacity"...It always comes down to rear axle weight capacity.

Are you sure it is only 1266 pounds?

Once trailer is loaded and tongue weight approaches 1000 pounds....not going to leave much for passengers, fuel and stuff in the bed of the truck....

I think the OP said this was the trailer's CCC, not the truck's.

That's the trouble using CCC, instead of payload capacity, for a tow vehicle.

CCC should be for trailer
Payload capacity for tow vehicle.

[andymil]

I think the payload number on the truck door jamb accounts for factory options and a full tank of fuel. Someone can correct me if I’m wrong.

1818 pounds isn’t bad for an F-150. Mine was just 1217.

[RadRik]

Originally Posted by CommTech

Jeff (jrk341). The scale I used is at the state route 234 exit of U.S. route 15. Easy on and off, and plenty of room around the scale area. It is at the Rutter's convenience store. Officially it is 3050 Heidelersburg Road, York Springs, PA. It is a fairly new store, it maybe a couple years old now.

I have used the same scale. It is a very nice Cat scale with plenty of room for unhitching to get separate weights. The weigh master asks for a truck number to put on the printout. I just used "5th wheel" as a reference.

[Tom48]

Not totally familiar with that hitch, but when the chain bars on my hitch are too high seems like changing the angle of the bar rearward would bring the bars back toward level.