What I learned when I weighed my TT

[red.jimbo]

It took me a while, but I finally got the opportunity to weigh my TT. Pioneer Sand (www.pioneersand.com) has a facility nearby, and offers free use of their scale for non-certified measurements. I took advantage of their offer.

Unfortunately, this facility’s scale is only about 25 feet long. That makes it too short to perform a GCVW measurement. But I got some good information none the less.

First I weighed my tow vehicle without anything hitched to it. It weighed in at 6060 lbs. The manufacturer’s specifications put the empty weight of the vehicle at 5,686 lbs. I am able to account for the 375 increase by adjusting for the weight of myself, the fuel, and other cargo. So this weight matched my expectations.

I went home and returned with my travel trailer. I pulled it across the scale and stopped with only the travel trailer on the scale. I then unhitched it from my tow vehicle and jacked it up so all the weight was fully on the scale. Here is where I started scratching my head. The weight measured 5,450 lbs.—about 500 lbs. more than I expected.

I went home and tried to account for the difference. First, I read the Forest River marketing specifications to get the empty shipping weight: 4,490 lbs.

Since I had just prepared the camper for storage, I knew the contents were relatively sparse. I had just emptied all the tanks underneath (Fresh, black, hot and grey), so I had no reason to consider them. I added the weight for propane, pots, pans, dishes, tools, bedding, games, bathroom items, TV, and other miscellaneous items we prefer to leave in the camper when it is in storage, but even with generous estimations, I was still coming up about 300 to 500 lbs. short.

I fretted this over a couple of days and I finally found the difference. I needed to keep reading the Forest River marketing specifications. On the third to last page, it lists two items called the Interior Luxury Package, and the Exterior Luxury Package. It seems that I have both of them installed. They each add weight of 208 and 267 lbs. respectively. In total that is an additional 475 lbs. Mystery solved.

I later thought to read the trailer weight placard in the back of one of my kitchen cabinets. It lists the empty weight of the TT at 4,965 lbs., or 475 lbs. more than the marketing specifications.

In conclusion, I had accurately estimated the weight of my tow vehicle and travel trailer with the exception of the additional added factory options. In a future post, I will discuss how this applies to the maximum towing capacity of my tow vehicle.

[MtnGuy]

Good measurements !!!

Even without the long scale, you can add the TV and TT to get your GCWR.....looks like 11,510 lbs.

You can also get your before and after TV axle weights to see if your WDH is setup correctly.

[lindy]

What you refer to as marketing weight is the trl minus any options, i.e. A/C, awning, propane tanks, battery, microwave, etc. My 2604 on the Rockwood shows ULW as 5300, but the actual weight when it left the plant weighed 5809. Thus the difference in your figures.

[rrdrtravelers]

Well that must explain our difference too. Our cedar creek brochure says dry weight of 12,094 but yellow tag inside unit says 12.400. We weighed Ours on CAT truck scales on our way home from when we picked it up. We were surprised at the weight, which we considered empty bc nothing had been added except propane, partial fresh & grey water from demo. It weighed 13,000. Didn't even think about that.

[lindy]

Weighed our trk/trl today, 3000 front, 3320 rear, and 5680 trl axle = 12000 gross. Here's the rub, mfrg gross front axle 3600 gross rear axle 3600, mfg GVW 6010, Oh well I'm about 320 over mfg gross but well under each axle gross. Close enough to live with. Trl tows great. Only got the least bit squirrlly today in HIGH WINDS.