Weighed Rig At Scales Today... Now What?

[Oakstone]

In the hopes of finally understanding towing capacity, I went to the local scales today while on the way home from a camping trip and got the following numbers:

Truck Front Axle- 1510lbs
Truck Rear Axle - 1900lbs
Trailer Both Axles - 2010lbs

EDIT: I think the above must have been in KG? We're in Canada and the stuff I found says KG, so I think the actual numbers are:

Truck Front Axle - 3329lbs
Truck Rear Axle - 4189lbs
Trailer Both Axles - 4431lbs

I have a 22 XLT Short Box PB with Max Tow. The weights are down a bit for stuff like food (maybe 30 lbs?), but this was a "glamping" trip with hookups so I had less than 1/3 tank of fresh water and both my black and gray tanks were negligible. This is our typical setup. We carry 3 bikes above the bed and then maybe 200-300lbs of gear in the bed. 2 adults and 1 child as passengers.

I went to some of the calculator websites, but they ask for numbers that I can't for the life of me find on any of my stickers!

With the above info and these three stickers, what would be my best bet if I want to learn how to properly calculate things?

Mostly I just want to understand a) is my current setup safe and b) what max trailer weight should I be looking at if I wanted to upgrade in the future?

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[Gros Ventre]

You're over GVWR by 168#.

 

[Samson16]

It would be interesting to see what your fully loaded truck with occupants weighs without the trailer attached.

 

[Samson16]

Perhaps some of your gear can be moved to the trailer and secured properly for weight distribution. You have 3000+lbs. of unused trailer GVWR.

 

[Oakstone]

Ah ok that’s good to know! I can easily move stuff to the trailer.

I’ve only done two trips with this truck and it’s all felt fine and handled well, but I can move most of my bed cargo to the trailer fairly easily.

@Samson16 does that mean that if I am considering another trailer I can go up by a couple thousand pounds as long as I don’t go up over 3000 including the gear I move to there from the bed?

 

[Samson16]

Not exactly. You have a truck GVWR limit of #7350. That number includes the truck, everything on/in the truck, and the tongue weight of your trailer pushing down on it.
Your trailer has a GVWR of #7500 or close to it. Your fully loaded trailer shouldn’t exceed that number.
Your truck can tow #11,000 or more so that is not a limiting factor for you.
The gear and the bikes and the bike racks etc. and the trailer tongue weight are putting you over the #7350 GVWR limit.

 

[Samson16]

Sorry I rambled there. Bigger trailer means more tongue weight. Tongue weight falls between 10% and 15% of trailer weight typically.

 

[Samson16]

There are far more experienced people on here than I who you should hear from before taking my advice. Seriously

 

[HammaMan]

You're a tad heavy on the rear axle, but it's got a 4800lb capacity whereas the rear springs are only rated at 4150 (you're squatting I bet). Hard to spitball your hitch, but it may be a little heavy, or it could be your gear. Looks like you're not using a WDH, which would put more weight on the front and trailer axles. You need to weigh the truck without the trailer EXACTLY as configured, or weigh your trailer tongue(preferred). Given your overall weights, moving ~100lbs of gear from the bed to the rear of the trailer may do it. Depending on your tank locations if behind trailer axles, emptying or filling them may also do the trick (assuming tongue weight is good, my ASSUMPTION is that it's a little heavy given the trailer's weight).

The location of the gear in the truck also matters. Mass behind the rear axle towards the back of the bed will start to pull weight off of the front axle adding the sum of the weight and missing weight to the rear axle (it's the fulcrum). A bike rack on the back of the trailer would also do you good.

 

[Oakstone]

Thanks for the feedback! Most of all I just want to be safe. It’s quite easy for me to shift some weight to the TT. We carry a couple 50lb electric scooters that can go back there, along with a 50-60lb canopy/gazebo thingy. The bike racks cost me a fortune so I’d like to keep them there if possible haha.

 

[Oakstone]

You're a tad heavy on the rear axle, but it's got a 4800lb capacity whereas the rear springs are only rated at 4150 (you're squatting I bet). Hard to spitball your hitch, but it may be a little heavy, or it could be your gear. Looks like you're not using a WDH, which would put more weight on the front and trailer axles. You need to weigh the truck without the trailer EXACTLY as configured, or weigh your trailer tongue(preferred). Given your overall weights, moving ~100lbs of gear from the bed to the rear of the trailer may do it. Depending on your tank locations if behind trailer axles, emptying or filling them may also do the trick (assuming tongue weight is good, my ASSUMPTION is that it's a little heavy given the trailer's weight).

The location of the gear in the truck also matters. Mass behind the rear axle towards the back of the bed will start to pull weight off of the front axle adding the sum of the weight and missing weight to the rear axle (it's the fulcrum). A bike rack on the back of the trailer would also do you good.

Thank you for this!
I do have a WDH and tow level or ever so slightly up at the back. We did the hitch at the repair facility when I went to pick up the TT and had the F150 for the first time. I will get a pic of the whole rig from the side in a couple weeks when we head back out.

If I can convince the boss to stop long enough at the scales to muck around I think I can probably disconnect the trailer and weigh the truck separately and then maybe even just plop the tongue (with the Jack down would work?) onto the scale.

 

[HammaMan]

Thanks for the feedback! Most of all I just want to be safe. It’s quite easy for me to shift some weight to the TT. We carry a couple 50lb electric scooters that can go back there, along with a 50-60lb canopy/gazebo thingy. The bike racks cost me a fortune so I’d like to keep them there if possible haha.

Move 150lbs of gear to the back of the trailer and enjoy. No reason to go deeply technical as just moving 150lbs to the rear of the trailer is more than enough to keep things safe. If you had a 30' trailer in the 9klbs area you'd need to be a bit more careful.

 

[Davexxxx]

If I can convince the boss to stop long enough at the scales to muck around I think I can probably disconnect the trailer and weigh the truck separately and then maybe even just plop the tongue (with the Jack down would work?) onto the scale.

I called our local Cat Scales about this just today.

She said weekends are slower times and unhitching to get separate weights, would be no problem.

I'd call first, because I've heard others say that was forbidden.

 

[Oakstone]

@HammaMan oh another thought! I have never adjusted the WDH for this truck. I just used the chains on the same links I was using for my 2004 GMC Sierra (that in hindsight I really don’t know much about how it was tow wise).

We just adjusted the hitch ball up and down at the repair place until the trailer was running level.
I guess my WDH could need adjustment to put more load on the front axle?

 

[Oakstone]

I called our local Cat Scales about this just today.

She said weekends are slower times and unhitching to get separate weights, would be no problem.

I'd call first, because I've heard others say that was forbidden.

We have provincial scales that you can use free even when “closed” which is what I did today. I think I wouldn’t try anything if they were open. But closed they won’t be getting any commercial traffic so I’d have ample time I think.

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