Went to Some Scales - Finally

[Longhorn1500]

When camping in Oregon, we went to some farm scales by the side of the road. I tow a 30 foot Airstream Classic trailer with a 2014 RAM 1500 CC, 5.7 Hemi, 8-speed, and 3.92 gears. Here are the weights:

Truck/Trailer Combo:
3,550 Front axle
3,950 Rear Axle
8,200 Trailer Axles
15,700 Total (Combination)

Okay, you can see that I am a bit heavy on the rear axle (3,900 pound rating). So I increased the spring tension on the WDH springs by one link (the hitch is a Reese Strait-Line Trunnion). This changed the weights:

Truck/Trailer Combo:
3,700 Front axle
3,600 Rear Axle
8,300 Trailer Axles
15,600 Total (Combination)

You can see that the weights are much better (the trailer is a bit lighter since we are coming home and have less food and whatever). I am using bars for an 800 pound tongue weight. I may switch to 1,200 pound tongue weight bars (which I also have). The scales weigh in 50 pound increments.

I also weighed the truck alone:
3,500 Front axle
3,100 Rear Axle
6,600 Total

This puts my trailer at about 9,100 pounds loaded. Nice stuff to know.

Early picture without canopy or Timber Grove ASAM.

 

[Tankerpilot01]

When camping in Oregon, we went to some farm scales by the side of the road. I tow a 30 foot Airstream Classic trailer with a 2014 RAM 1500 CC, 5.7 Hemi, 8-speed, and 3.92 gears. Here are the weights:

Truck/Trailer Combo:
3,550 Front axle
3,950 Rear Axle
8,200 Trailer Axles
15,700 Total (Combination)

Okay, you can see that I am a bit heavy on the rear axle (3,900 pound rating). So I increased the spring tension on the WDH springs by one link (the hitch is a Reese Strait-Line Trunnion). This changed the weights:

Truck/Trailer Combo:
3,700 Front axle
3,600 Rear Axle
8,300 Trailer Axles
15,600 Total (Combination)

You can see that the weights are much better (the trailer is a bit lighter since we are coming home and have less food and whatever). I am using bars for an 800 pound tongue weight. I may switch to 1,200 pound tongue weight bars (which I also have). The scales weigh in 50 pound increments.

I also weighed the truck alone:
3,500 Front axle
3,100 Rear Axle
6,600 Total

This puts my trailer at about 9,100 pounds loaded. Nice stuff to know.

Early picture without canopy or Timber Grove ASAM.
View attachment 162256

It handles ok? 500lb tongue weight for a 9K trailer seems a bit light. But it if works...I’m just surprised it isn’t waggin a bit.

Granted the WDH alters the physics a bit...



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[Longhorn1500]

I do not know what the tongue weight is. It is not 500 pounds as some of the tongue weight is transferred to the truck front axle and the trailer axles by the WDH. It is definitely more than 500 pounds, I would guess it is around 900 to 1,000 pounds. I do need to make that measurement though. The trailer tows well.

 

[Tankerpilot01]

I do not know what the tongue weight is. It is not 500 pounds as some of the tongue weight is transferred to the truck front axle and the trailer axles by the WDH. It is definitely more than 500 pounds, I would guess it is around 900 to 1,000 pounds. I do need to make that measurement though. The trailer tows well.

Rog. That’s what I meant by the physics being altered by the WDH. I was a little surprised it was that much though to make it appear as 500lbs tongue weight. They do their job for sure by spreading that weight out!


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[BWL]

Looks like 200lbs transferred to the front and 500 on the rear 700 total tongue weight. It's an engineered trailer so whatever the tongue weight is is just fine. No need to try and raise it. I've had trailers that you can pick up the tongue by hand and they tow well.

 

[Longhorn1500]

Looks like 200lbs transferred to the front and 500 on the rear 700 total tongue weight. It's an engineered trailer so whatever the tongue weight is is just fine. No need to try and raise it. I've had trailers that you can pick up the tongue by hand and they tow well.

That 200 pounds is just what is on the front axle from the tongue, there is also what is shifted to the trailer axles. So the total tongue weight is more than 700 pounds. The trailer axle weight went up 100 pounds just from tightening the WDH springs by one link. The best way to know is to weigh the tongue.

You are right, it is an engineered trailer, but those engineers don't know the stupid ways people can load their trailers. Adding too much weight behind the trailer axle can definitely cause issues with towing.

 

[BWL]

That 200 pounds is just what is on the front axle from the tongue, there is also what is shifted to the trailer axles. So the total tongue weight is more than 700 pounds. The trailer axle weight went up 100 pounds just from tightening the WDH springs by one link. The best way to know is to weigh the tongue.

You are right, it is an engineered trailer, but those engineers don't know the stupid ways people can load their trailers. Adding too much weight behind the trailer axle can definitely cause issues with towing.

Weighing the tongue itself is of course the most accurate and the scale being increments of 50lbs also means you could be out by a lot between all axles from the estimate. Sounds like you already know to keep the bulk of the weight centred over the trailer axles for best towing especially with a half ton.

 

[mtofell]

Does your overload icon on the dash ever go off? I have a buddy with the exact same truck and similar trailer weight and his blinks at him often. He actually didn't know what it meant. At the risk of sounding like "Debbie Downer," you really should have an HD truck for that load.

 

[Longhorn1500]

Never had the overload light go off, do not even know what it looks like. Yea, a 2500 would be a bit easier tow vehicle, but this truck does a fine job and it is not outside the manufacturers specification for tow load or payload capacity. The Hemi and 8-speed do very well handling the load. I rarely go over 60 mph on the freeway and get a respectable 11 mpg with mostly freeway driving. Off the freeway in hilly country (which we have plenty of around here) mileage goes down to 9-ish mpg.

 

[crash68]

Looks like 200lbs transferred to the front and 500 on the rear 700 total tongue weight.

Look at the difference in the unhitched truck weight to the combined truck axle weights hitched. There is about a 1000 lbs difference or 11% tongue weight

 

[spokanedj]

Look at the difference in the unhitched truck weight to the combined truck axle weights hitched. There is about a 1000 lbs difference or 11% tongue weight

Im with BWL, unless I'm missing something.

Truck unhitched is 3500/3100
Truck with trailer 3700/3600

So 200 to front, 500 to rear is only 700 after you adjusted your WDH. Where did the 1000 pound figure come from?

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[BWL]

I did notice that it looked like close to 900 before he adjusted the bars and was 100lb lighter and 100lb more on the trailer after so the tonge weight may be close to the 900 range actual so in the 10% area most believe to be ideal. Me I think it all depends on the trailer and the truck pulling it.

 

[spokanedj]

My Truck is a 2015 RAM 1500 QC EcoDiesel with 3.92 gears. I had to pick a couple of the SxSs today, and decided to hit the scale to see how much everything weighs. This trailer doesn't have a WDH.

In the picture, the first set of weights are with the trailer connected. The second is with the Trailer disconnected. I have air lift 1000 bags in the rear that were aired up to 26lbs. As you can see from the second picture there is almost no sag.

With the trailer connected, I have LESS weight on my front axle than without it. I guess that shows how well a WDH works. Without a WDH, the trailer is applying 800+ lbs of tongue weight and 350+ is transferred from the front to the rear. The negative on the front axle is an interesting part.

 

[Elkman]

When I took my truck with a 3700 lb slide in camper load to the local CAT scale and paid the then $10 charge, I found that exactly 200 lbs of that weight was being supported by the front wheels. With a trailer providing a tongue load of less than 1500 lbs there would have been none of the weight supported by the front wheels.

It is important to know the total weight at the rear wheels and the load capacity of the tires. With my truck it came from the factory with tires rated at 3195@80 PSI and I upgraded them with tires rated at 3750@80 PSI and added 1100 lbs of load capacity at the rear wheels.

Good idea to take into consideration the weight of the fluids in the trailer with its fresh water and waste water holding tanks.

 

[VernDiesel]

Longhorn, Excellent job & write up. I transport Airstream & other TTs commercially with a 1500 Ram Ecodiesel to the tune almost 550,000 miles now. Mostly Ohio Indiana plants to West coast dealerships then West coast plants to eastern dealerships so over the mountains and she tows all day everyday like a semi. Mostly trailers in the 5 to 7k range. Anyway using scales is a routine thing for me and I well know the practical affects of it.

The correct method for calculating TW (tongue weight) when using a WDH (because it spreads TW to both TV axles) is to subtract your unloaded TV weight from your loaded TV weight. IE your first example 3,550 steer axle plus 3,950 drive axle equals 7,500 less the 6,600 from weighing just your truck. So 900 pounds TW.

FWIW Weighing just the tongue such as with a Sherline scale works fine when not using a WDH.

900 TW plus 8,200 TT axle weight equals 9,100 gross TT weight. 900 divided 9,100 equals 9.9 percent TW.

FWIW 10 percent with an AS or cargo or flatbed to 65 mph is sufficient or minimum so as to resist sway and being pushed & sucked by semi truck bow wave. 12.0 percent minimum for a flat front box TT again to 65. At least that’s my experience with 1/2 tons. Naturally a WDH with built in sway control also helps in fact it can help a lot. Works better than old style add on friction sway bars as well.

I’ve also towed a 9,100 TT 15,800 GCVW (15,950 is max for 4th gen 1500) with 8 speed 3.92 only with the Ecodiesel. Only it wasn’t an Airstream it was an aero nose box TT which with more drag takes a bit more fuel to tow. Towed it 1,000 miles from a Portland OR area to LA CA area. Down the 5 so up and over 5&6 percent grades in north Cali & again over the grapevine into LA area. A lot of weight for any 1/2 ton. Generally with TTs anytime you get over 8k a HD is a better tool for the job but as you know weight distribution or axle weights and TW is the key to stability. And a WDH combined with scales is the key to controlling the weight distribution. So kudos to you.

I was glad I had the bump in power and turbo brake from a tune. Well and factory TBC (trailer brake controller) plus I use axle to frame bags & XL or E load tires for better control & support. Truck pulled off 14.0 mpg running cruise control to 65 in 7th in the flats. With turbo brake & TBC I could hold down hill speed without even touching my truck brakes which is very comforting knowing you have fresh cool brakes should you need to make a hard stop. With turbo brake & TBC my original brakes lasted 293k. But the climbs pulled the truck down to 52 mph probably a little slower than your Hemi do.

Thanks again for posting this as many people have no idea what primarily is dictating their TV / TT stability and only look to payload or gvwr simply because they don’t know any better.

 

[Longhorn1500]

Hello @VernDiesel, thank you for the write-up. Yea, I know that I am at the upper end of tow capacity for this truck. I actually did not realize this trailer weighed as much as it does. I was guessing around 8,000 pounds. The truck seems to pull it very well though, and the factory TBC works great in my experience.

We purchased the Airstream in 2011, and had a box travel trailer previously. With the box trailer, it was like pushing a sheet of plywood through the air with that big flat front (angled slightly back). With our previous TV ('99 Chevy 5.7 V8, four speed 4L80E automatic transmission, 4.10 gears), going westbound on I-90 up the Vantage hill (about six miles long) out of the Columbia gorge, I had to go into second gear. We purchased the AS in Montana and on the way home, I was able to stay in third gear up the Vantage hill (both trailers weighed about the same). That rounded front and lower profile really makes a difference.

Thank you again!

 

[hotrod45]

There's an awful lot to be said for "distributed" and "level," while acknowledging capacities, of course. Good thread.