Questionable Weights

[PecanMan5]

I went to the truck stop and had my 25 FC weighed. I am of the belief that the lady at the desk was making me go too far up and was getting my front axle on the unit a little across the second scale. either these weights are incorrect or I have a big problem with payload. The first pass was truck only with hitch as I normally use it. 2nd was with trailer w/o wd. 3rd was all hooked up. The lady was intent on me following her instructions. This is a 145 in. F150 extended cab which should OK on three scales, unless there is a limiter on them dictating my front end placement. The front wheel well height remains steady under all 3 conditions. With the wd hooked up I am dropping a little over 1 1/2 in. on the rear and the trailer is level. The other issue is I am using 800lb rated bars which I believe is too little for the 25. I am on the 3rd chain link and do not believe I can safely jack it high enough to go 4. Any ideas, or do I have a bad problem, because I am badly exceeding the payload of 1600lbs if this is true.

[ROBERT CROSS]

As I see it.....

3120lb frt axle wt is your target.(TV alone wt)

3060lb frt axle with WD set..

60lbs light on the str axle....pretty darn good if your under the GAWR front & rear and haven't overloaded the tires.

(4500lbs, that 25' FC is light)

No payload limit stated,(Sticker) so hard to comment there.

Your transferring enough weight, stay with the 800 bars.

Bob

[jcl]

Some questions come to mind.

1) What is the GVWR of the tow vehicle? Were you loaded for travel, or empty?
2) What are the front and rear axle weight ratings from the door jamb sticker?

Understand if you would rather not say.

If the question is simply is there sufficient front axle load restoration with and without weight distribution bars, then that looks reasonable. But the numbers beg some questions.

3) The trailer isn't 4500 lbs, it is close to 6000 (6060). Is that loaded for travel, or empty?
4) The totals (TV plus trailer) look the same for with and without WD, within 20 lb, but the axle figures don't jibe. When you applied weight distribution, it appears your trailer axles had reduced load (if the figures are in the correct boxes).

Jeff

[DKB_SATX]

I agree that this looks fishy, because when you apply the WD your trailer axle weight should go UP, not down. It should transfer part of the apparent tongue weight to the steer axle and part to the trailer axle(s).

[jcl]

Is it possible that on the third weighing, the figures were swapped between the truck (rear) and trailer axles? Then it would make sense from a weight shift standpoint, but I don't know if that can happen.

Jeff

[RLS]

You need to have those weights done again. If I am seeing it right, the second one is showing the tongue weight at 1,940 lbs. I do not think so!

[SSquared]

I think your trailer forward axle was partly resting on the middle scale platform, probably on the second one and definitely on the last one.

As DKB said above, when you add weight distribution, your rear axle weight goes down, and the front and trailer weights go up.

As a reference point, the trailer axles on my 2013 25FB Flying Cloud have ranged from 4800 (trailer brand new and empty, weight distribution connected but set to give not enough weight distribution) to 5960 (WD set to give high amount of weight distribution, fresh tank full, loaded for travel, trailer upgraded with awnings, inverter, bigger batteries)

[Ron Gratz]

Originally Posted by PecanMan5

--I am of the belief that the lady at the desk was making me go too far up and was getting my front axle on the unit a little across the second scale. either these weights are incorrect or I have a big problem with payload.---

Yes, there's a very high probability that the TT's front axle was partially on the drive axle pad when both the second and third weighings were made.

Assuming the measured steer axle loads to be correct gives an estimated tongue weight of about 900# based on the removal of 380# from the steer axle when the TT was hitched with no WD applied.
The corresponding load added to the drive axle should have been about 1280#.
The drive axle load for this weighing should have been about 2740+1280 = 4020#.

When WD was applied, the indicated amount of load restored to the steer axle was 320# giving a Front Axle Load Restoration of 320/380 = 84%.
The corresponding amount of load removed from the front axle would have been about 480# and the amount of load added to the TT's axles would have been about 160#.

The adjusted TV and TT axle loads would be:

_steer _drive _TTaxles _GCW
_3120 _2740 _xxxx _xxxxx
_2740 _4020 _5160 _11920
_3060 _3540 _5320 _11920

IMO, you have transferred more than enough load to the steer axles.
The newer model F-150s require only 50% FALR per Ford's specs.

Ron

[PecanMan5]

For JCL: The placarded GVWR is 7100lbs. The truck & trailer are loaded as I normally travel, that is 1 passenger. approx. 300lbs in the bed, the trailer has less than 25% fluids in the tanks, and I do not carry a lot of "stuff", so, 6000lbs is probably good. Thanks for all the responses.

Barry

[J. Morgan]

Very near a 2,000 pound tongue weight?

Something is wrong with;

A. Your loading of the trailer

or

B. The scale or placement on the scale.


The separate platforms are visible.


Brevi tempore!

[J. Morgan]

My truck,

Left is on the ball, right is with (too much w/d.

These weighings were over a year apart, so don't analyze the differences in the overall weight.


Brevi tempore!

[J. Morgan]

Brevi tempore!

[J. Morgan]

Your weight tickets indicate a tongue weight of 25 to 30%....

Way too much.


Brevi tempore!