Survey of GVWR vs. Actual Weight

[roblombardo]

I took the opportunity to weigh my coach yesterday after replacing the tires. The coach was fully loaded with driver, full of fuel and water. I was surprised how close the coach was to the 14,500 GVWR. His coach is relatively small compared to some, but does have three slides. This has me wondering how a 32’ E450 could possibly stay below the GVWR? Maybe some have a higher rating, but I think the axles, tires, etc. are the same? Mine weighed 13,350 with 4000# front and 9350# rear. This doesn’t leave much for tongue weight, but my trailer is light and likely within this margin (unverified yet). GAWR’s are 5K and 9.6K.

[ependydad]

This is 100% common on class C motorhomes. Many times the carrying capacity is quite low and very easily overloaded. I actually caution most families who are considering going fulltime against it because once you add mom, dad, a couple of kids, and a pet or two- you've eaten up a ton of CCC with just that weight alone.

[Duckogram]

It is all about numbers. The subject being the E-450 cutaway then the GAWR is the same for all (except old gens). So the GVWR minus the UVW is your CCC.
The UVW includes slide outs but not fuel or water or whats left in the holding tanks.
So if you had 2100 CCC and you add full fuel and water you are using up a full 1/3 of your CCC and have not even put your beer in the reefer yet.

I tip the scales with weights similar to yours full loaded for a month + trip. I do not travel with full water so as not to overload the rear axle. 10 gal max works for me.

BTW, you can stay below the GVWR and still easily overload your rear axle. It is the nature of the beast.

Edit: Don’t forget the 6 gallons in the water heater.

[BehindBars]

Originally Posted by Duckogram

It is all about numbers. The subject being the E-450 cutaway then the GAWR is the same for all (except old gens). So the GVWR minus the UVW is your CCC.
The UVW includes slide outs but not fuel or water or whats left in the holding tanks.
So if you had 2100 CCC and you add full fuel and water you are using up a full 1/3 of your CCC and have not even put your beer in the reefer yet.

I tip the scales with weights similar to yours full loaded for a month + trip. I do not travel with full water so as not to overload the rear axle. 10 gal max works for me.

BTW, you can stay below the GVWR and still easily overload your rear axle. It is the nature of the beast.

Edit: Don’t forget the 6 gallons in the water heater.

I understood it that chassis fuel is not part of CCC. The UVW already includes the full fuel tank and LP gas. See Forest River brochure. I attached their definition of UVW an CCC.

[roblombardo]

Originally Posted by Duckogram

It is all about numbers. The subject being the E-450 cutaway then the GAWR is the same for all (except old gens). So the GVWR minus the UVW is your CCC.
The UVW includes slide outs but not fuel or water or whats left in the holding tanks.
So if you had 2100 CCC and you add full fuel and water you are using up a full 1/3 of your CCC and have not even put your beer in the reefer yet.

I tip the scales with weights similar to yours full loaded for a month + trip. I do not travel with full water so as not to overload the rear axle. 10 gal max works for me.

BTW, you can stay below the GVWR and still easily overload your rear axle. It is the nature of the beast.

Edit: Don’t forget the 6 gallons in the water heater.

We regularly dry camp at amatuer MX races, so I travel full of water frequently. The rear axle GAWR is going to be my limiting factor. Fortunately the rear tires have some additional margin at 9880# max. I was considering adding a small supplemental water tank in the rear basement above the frame rails. I can now forget about that....

[Duckogram]

Originally Posted by BehindBars

I understood it that chassis fuel is not part of CCC. The UVW already includes the full fuel tank and LP gas. See Forest River brochure. I attached their definition of UVW an CCC.

I double checked and that is true for Forest River.

[BehindBars]

Originally Posted by roblombardo

I took the opportunity to weigh my coach yesterday after replacing the tires. The coach was fully loaded with driver, full of fuel and water. I was surprised how close the coach was to the 14,500 GVWR. His coach is relatively small compared to some, but does have three slides. This has me wondering how a 32’ E450 could possibly stay below the GVWR? Maybe some have a higher rating, but I think the axles, tires, etc. are the same? Mine weighed 13,350 with 4000# front and 9350# rear. This doesn’t leave much for tongue weight, but my trailer is light and likely within this margin (unverified yet). GAWR’s are 5K and 9.6K.

Per the 2022 Sunseeker brochure, the Classic 32 footers have a CCC in the neighborhood of 1600-1700 pounds. That would be insufficient for me. The large turning radius and low CCC are why we stayed away from the longest Sunseeker models.

All current E450 motorhome cutaway chassis are rated no higher than 14,500 pounds GVWR.

Our 2440DS is 27’1”, probably like the 2500TS in size and weight. Our CCC label shows 3000 pounds. That works for us. Problem is that with the floor plan, nearly all cargo weight I add will be on the rear axle. So rear axle rating is really my limiting factor. I have on occasion loaded it enough to have 9000 pounds on the rear 9600 pound axle, so we are good to go in all scenarios. The LiquidSpring rear suspension we have self levels, so loading up doesn’t affect front caster and handling characteristics.

[BehindBars]

Correction to my previous post: I have run the rear axle weight as high as 9480 pounds (assuming the scale was accurate). This rear axle weight included the tongue weight of a cargo trailer. To answer your survey question, the highest overall weight we have had on our 27 footer was 13,400 pounds on it’s 14,500 GVWR chassis. It we had a 32 footer instead, I would expect we would have the potential to be right at GVWR. And again, as I said in the previous post, the rear axle rating is our primary cargo carrying limitation.

Our front axle always runs around 4000 pounds, though it’s rated for 5000. So there is some capacity there but by floor plan design, the only real way to load up the front axle is with a cargo carrier on a front hitch.

[retiredintexas]

We weight our rig on every 8-12 week trip 8-12. We are always a few hundreds pounds over. After every trip we reallocate and move things around and helps a little. We typically carry about 20 gallons of water.
We had the 4 corner weighting done this last summer and found that the passenger side is the culprit
Our Jeep carries the compressor, tools, parts, computers, extra water, solar panel.
Our next trip we should be just about right. keeping fingers crossed

[Sergiop]

My 25ft E450 Forester, with a dinette side, weighs 11900 with full water and fuel. 4120 front, 7780 rear axles. Another time it weighed 12220, full water, fuel, grey and black tanks. 3960 ft, 8260 r.

I think if I didn’t have a slide, it could get by on the E350 chassis. But like my old 24d Tioga on a E350 it was right at max GVWR, and the rear was slightly over.

[newRVer]

Originally Posted by ependydad

This is 100% common on class C motorhomes. Many times the carrying capacity is quite low and very easily overloaded. I actually caution most families who are considering going fulltime against it because once you add mom, dad, a couple of kids, and a pet or two- you've eaten up a ton of CCC with just that weight alone.

Fortunately there is usually only two of use traveling in the RV so out driving weight is always just below the limit. Additionally we have stopped making trips with any water in the tank and just carry a gallon or two of water to use for hand washing and toilet use. If we need water like in a state park we will add water to the tank at the potable water station before going to the campsite.

On the occasions when we might have some family or friends traveling with us, we will use our toad for storage to free up additional carrying capacity in the coach.

Finally, when I replaced the tires I opted for commercial tires which have a higher load rating just so on the occasion when we are slightly overweight the tires will not be exceeding their load rating.

RVr

[dougc905]

Before storing my 2650, I ran it over a set of scales. It had full fuel, 30 gal total in the waste tanks, empty fresh water and just about all of the stuff we normally carry on our travels, excepting food. It weighed ~12,300 lbs. Didn't get f/r balance.


Heavier than expected, but I also have 2200 lbs headroom.