This is part of a series on getting my truck and camper weighed. The truck is a 2012 Dodge Ram 3500 Dually/Crew Cab/Long Bed/4.10 gears and the camper is a 2013 Palomino Sabre 36QBOK-7.
According to the CAT Scale website’s “How To Weigh” page, I wanted to my front truck axle (aka “Steer Axle”) on the first platform, my rear truck axle (aka “Drive Axle”) on the next platform and then the trailer’s axles on the third platform. So, that’s what I did.
This weighing gave me my total combined weights. This is good because it tells me I’m under a few of specific truck ratings when hitched up- specifically:
- maximum my truck can carry (gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR))
- My truck’s GVWR is 12,300 pounds
- My actual vehicle weight is the steer axle (5,220) + drive axle (6,260) added together = 11,480 pounds
- my axles ratings (GAWR front and rear)
- GAWR front = 5,500 pounds (steer axle weight is 5,220 pounds)
- GAWR rear = 9,350 pounds (rear axle weight is 6,260 pounds)
- my gross combined weight rating (GCWR).
- According to the Ram Body Builder guide is 28,000 pounds (my combined weight was 23,040 pounds)
A couple of caveats – this was my first camping trip of the season and thus, we are definitely carrying less than the end of the season because we tend to accumulate crap during our trips and purge at the end of the year. I also didn’t know it, but I was out of propane. I was carrying about 1/2 to 2/3 of a tank of freshwater which is pretty typical for us. My 5 waste water holding tanks were as close to empty as possible (with just some winterization R/V antifreeze in each- about a gallon each). I sometimes carry more or less waste water, depending on my last trip and when my next one is. And, due to winterization, my water heater tank (10 gallons) was empty; that is typically full.
Read the Rest of the Series
- Introduction
- Getting Weighed #1 – Truck and Camper
- Getting Weighed #2 – Truck Only
- Getting Weighed #3 – Trailer Axle Weights
- Closing Thoughts
HI and thanks for your detailed information on getting weighed.
I have weighed my truck on a CAT scale (no trailer) and then a 2nd weigh with my truck hitched up to my brand new, unloaded 5th wheel trailer. I’ve been looking for a calculation for determining pin weight, based on these measurements, but haven’t found it online yet.
I had assumed that my pin weight would be the (DRIVE AXLE WITH TRAILER) minus the (DRIVE AXLE TRUCK ONLY). But I just talked to my RV manufacturer and he said the only true way to measure the pin weight is without the truck, using a tripod scale that supports the king pin. Is that right? He said to just use the pin weight that came on the sticker with my 5th wheel, but that is an unloaded weight. In fact, there is a difference of only 110 lbs between my trailer’s stickered pin weight (2610 lb) and the CAT scale weight of (DRIVE AXLE WITH TRAILER) minus the (DRIVE AXLE TRUCK ONLY) (2720 lb). This leads me to think that using the CAT scale DRIVE AXLE weights is a valid way to measure pin weight without a tripod setup that only an RV manufacturer would have access to.
I’m comfortable that I’m not going to exceed my truck’s GCWR, but not yet comfortable – as I add weight to the trailer – that I won’t exceed my truck’s GVWR and RAWR. Any suggestion is appreciated!
The RV manufacturer was not correct. You can get the trailer’s pin weight just like you said: simple math.
You can use http://www.towingplanner.com to calculate the numbers from the weigh tickets/slips.
Thank you Doug!