CAT scale question

[Toddz]

He should be fine till he gets a 2500. As far as adjusting the hitch, he needs to get his truck weighed first. You don't want to over adjust just to try and make that rear axle weight either.

 

[dhay13]

He should be fine till he gets a 2500. As far as adjusting the hitch, he needs to get his truck weighed first. You don't want to over adjust just to try and make that rear axle weight either.

Yeah his old TT was 26' with 1 slide. It was a 2016 and dry weight was about 5500lbs. He hadn't planned on upgrading until about 2 months ago. He advertised his and it sold site unseen for what he listed it for. Guy came to look at it and as soon as he pulled in the driveway told him he'd take it. He went and looked at a few new ones and they really liked the 3250BH. He called me and asked about towing with his Tundra and I told him it would probably do it but not likely to be legal or comfortable. He only tows it twice a year and I told him he could use my truck to go pick it up so I decided to take a vacation day and go with him. We were going to go straight to his campground but he wanted to see how his would pull it. He said it felt fine. He was on a rural highway and said he never went over about 45MPH though.

His Tundra is leased so he figures next spring he will see if he can turn it back in and get a 2500 then. I think his Tundra probably only has about 3000 miles on it.

 

[Toddz]

Yeah, usually the toy choice forces the truck upgrade. I towed my toy hauler with a 1/2 ton and it did well. One day I decided to buy my wife a Rhino and after towing the trailer a short distance with the new toy in the trailer, I knew an upgrade was in the immediate future.
The thing was I was planning on a future upgrade anyway...
Tell your son to be safe on the job and don't tow like he is in a black and white until he gets the new truck..

 

[dhay13]

He should be fine till he gets a 2500. As far as adjusting the hitch, he needs to get his truck weighed first. You don't want to over adjust just to try and make that rear axle weight either.

He doesn't have axle weights for his truck but we can figure the weight since we know how much the TT weighed when he scaled his truck with it. We weighed it on mine then when we got back we unhooked from my truck and hooked to his then he went to the scales. TT was exactly the same as it was when we weighed it with my truck.

We know the TT weighed 9240 and 9260 behind my truck and his gross total was 15,800 so that means his truck was 6560. Trailer ball height was about the same as it was with my truck (we raised the ball on the WDH when we went to his truck). We had 1100lbs tongue weight behind my truck so that leaves his trucks tare weight at about 5460. He had about 470lbs of people in the truck at the time. These aren't exact numbers but close ballpark. He will have to re-weigh the whole setup again.

 

[kurek]

A cheap way to get your truck-only weights is go to a refuse transfer station when you have some garbage. Load your truck with all that you would travel with plus your garbage. You weigh in and out so your out weight is the number you want.

The one I go to with my yard and household waste varies by more than 500 lbs every time I visit.. I'm not enough of a penny pincher to flip out over two dollars and maybe it evens out in the wash but I really doubt that the variables add up that much like how full is my fuel tank, do I have a bottle of drinking water with me, did I bring a broom to sweep the bed, etc doesn't add up to any kind of weight like the variety of numbers I see on the scale.

(before any chuckler points it out I'm talking about the empty weight on the way out... )

 

[Toddz]

He doesn't have axle weights for his truck but we can figure the weight since we know how much the TT weighed when he scaled his truck with it. We weighed it on mine then when we got back we unhooked from my truck and hooked to his then he went to the scales. TT was exactly the same as it was when we weighed it with my truck.

We know the TT weighed 9240 and 9260 behind my truck and his gross total was 15,800 so that means his truck was 6560. Trailer ball height was about the same as it was with my truck (we raised the ball on the WDH when we went to his truck). We had 1100lbs tongue weight behind my truck so that leaves his trucks tare weight at about 5460. He had about 470lbs of people in the truck at the time. These aren't exact numbers but close ballpark. He will have to re-weigh the whole setup again.

I think it is great you are teaching him right and from the weights you are barely over on the axle weight rating. The only reason I said to weigh his truck before adjusting the hitch is not to determine the truck weight, but to determine how much weight has been transfered back to the front axle with the current set up. If he just raises the saddle on the hitch to get more weight off the rear axle, he might be over adjusting, which can cause just as many problems as under adjusting. In other words, handling wise he may have the best set up already on the hitch and has to live with being slightly over on the rear axle for the couple times a year

 

[GTyankee]

The trouble with using the scales at the garbage dump
The scale light weight reading in the morning will be different from the afternoon weight because they don't clean off the scales during the day, dirt & mud from everyone's tires builds up all day

 

[VernDiesel]

I always aim to replace my unloaded steer weight and get the tongue weight down to 12.0 percent for TTs. This is comfortably enough tongue weight to keep even flat front TTs from swaying at 65 mph. Steer weight is mostly about getting it in the zone so to speak. If you are 100 over or 100 under the unloaded steer weight its not likely to make the difference especially if tongue weight percentage is good. Now 4-500 pounds under with no weight distribution yea that's probably sketchy to drive, easy to roll, hard to stop.

I Like to see this type thread showing setup and adjustments according to scale results. As well as the Mfgr spec numbers to determine within spec or not and for setting up a safe stable tow. Instead of the ad-nauseum "advice" stacking of weight guesstimates towards a payload sticker number that while commonly being the first spec exceeded in itself is hardly a significant indicator of what a properly set up tow vehicle can handle.

Regardless of whether you are slightly above or below where you want to be with steer and tongue weight you will know you have it right when its stable in wind gusts or when a fast close passing semi bow wave doesn't wiggle your trailer & truck like some kind of white knuckle accordion ride. But rather just pushes you away a bit with your truck and trailer feeling almost as one solid unit. It should generally be two fingers driveable and not require two hands at 10 & 2 at all times.

Mfgr max specs such as axle weight, receiver weight, CVW combined vehicle weight and GVW gross vehicle weight also important to review but achieving an optimum or in the zone stability is found in the steer & tongue weight.

785,000 miles towing TTs for the Mfgrs over the last 7 years thats a pretty decent distillation of what I have learned about setup & stability. Great thread.

 

[Krashdragon]

2 things...
if you're towing an RV in Texas that weights 26000 or more, you should have a non-commercial Class A license.
and.
CAT scales are calibrated to +/- 20 lbs.
I'asked a couple different techs that I happened to catch at Cat scales. Since I have to weigh frequently, I was curious.

 

[Anthony Kalos]

You can only reweigh at the same CAT scale for $2.50 a pop within 24 hrs. Cannot go to another place even with the receipt from another. You have to pay the initial $12 fee and reweigh fee !

 

[Anthony Kalos]

Don’t ask me how I know....
I drive a semi 32 years now and counting ...