Trying to understand Cat Scale numbers.

[Skh25]

I weighed twice, once just me totally empty truck.
2nd was loaded truck, travel trailer as if we were going to the rv park. I'm guessing I need different weights also?
Empty steer, 3380 ...drive, 2520..total, 5900. And I weigh about 195.
Fully loaded..steer, 3300..drive 3700 total 12,260
17 Ram 1500, 5.7 8 spd. 3.21 axle Crew with 5'7'' bed. Fully fueled both times.
1510 Payload, GCWR 13800, max trailer 7990
Any help appreciated.

 

[crash68]

Load the truck and trailer up like your headed out camping and run the combo with the WDH bars attached across the scales. Then drop the trailer and weigh just the truck, that will give you all the numbers you need.

 

[Skh25]

Those are the numbers I have above. Except the truck was empty. I need the loaded truck by itself weighed. Thank you.

 

[Travelin Ram]

GCVWR you are OK, 12,260 vs rating of 13,800.

GVWR you’re at 6,000 vs rating of ??? You should be OK as truck only gained 1,100 from empty.

A little more tension on the bars would be good. Your steer axle is -80# loaded.

 

[crash68]

Those are the numbers I have above. Except the truck was empty. I need the loaded truck by itself weighed.

As those numbers sit, it looks like you have 1100 lbs of tongue on about 6K trailer making your tongue % on the high side(due to using an empty truck weights).
If it tows smooth like that, probably no need to mess with the adjustment. Your front weight is fine and the back is heavier than the front, both still under your GAWRs.
If your reweighing, list the trailer axle weights not the total weight of the truck & trailer.

 

[Skh25]

GVWR is 6900.....empty truck except me 195Lbs.
And loaded with trailer. Both with full fuel tank.

 

[regal81455]

Personally I think I'd add a little more tension to the bars too. This should move some weight back on to the front and the trailer and reduce your drive. Hopefully when done the steer and drive are pretty close to the same ( 3400+3500 each ).

 

[regal81455]

Additionally, I'd have taken one more measurement personally and that would have been trailer attached with tension bars thrown in the bed. This will give you a clearer picture of the what the tongue weight really is and if you might need to readjust how you loaded the trailer.

Do you have a lot of added cargo weight in front of the trailer axles?

 

[VernDiesel]

3300 steer axle plus
3700 drive axle equals
7000 loaded truck weight less
5900 empty truck is
1100 actual dynamic tongue weight (WDH)

5260 trailer axles plus
1100 tongue weight equals
6360 gross trailer weight

1100/6360 = 17.3% tongue weight percentage.

In this case it's not going to hurt you but it's way more tongue weight than you need for stability & sway resistance. (lol you are already at max truck GVWR)

When working with heavier travel trailers/toy haulers I adjust the WDH and or trailer & truck loading to aim for 12.0%. This has proven sufficient for sway resistance & stability to 65 mph with wind gusts and semi truck bow wave. That's on a multitude of trailers over mega miles behind my 1500. Lol Wyoming tested. 10% on other trailers. No sense in loading your truck any harder than you have to.

You have replaced most of your unloaded steer axle weight which is good and shows the WDH is working. So either your trailer is loaded nose heavy or you put a load of bricks in the back edge of your bed. Lol I'm betting no bricks because their weight would likely override the WDH some and your slip would reflect with less weight on the steer axle.

Your current setup should tow fine. But now you know how to optimise it for stability & safety and to make more room per Mfgr spec for passengers and bedload.

Lol Sorry if I am not interested in what your payload sticker says.

 

[Skh25]

Thanks, it is a 26 foot trailer with a front kitchen and slide. It seems to pull well, but I can feel the steering seems lighter than normal. Maybe I should try to transfer a little weight forward on that front axle. Thanks for your input. It's much appreciated.

 

[jvbuttex]

Personally I think I'd add a little more tension to the bars too. This should move some weight back on to the front and the trailer and reduce your drive. Hopefully when done the steer and drive are pretty close to the same ( 3400+3500 each ).

is that the goal of the bars? get steer and drive close to equal weights?

 

[regal81455]

The ultimate goal is to bring the steer back to where it was before anything was hooked up ( unloaded weight ) but yes, an even weight over the axles would be better than being lopsided one way or the other.