Trailer Weights in the Real World

[Vermilye]

Frederick Simson has been weighing & posting fiberglass trailer actual weights at the Fiberglass Forum for a number of years. Since he cannot post the actual spreadsheet at the forum, with his permission I have posted the .xls Excel spreadsheet at my LakeshoreImages site. I will update it as often as possible.

If you want to sort or otherwise work with the actual spreadsheet, it is available for download at http://lakeshoreimages.com/spreadsheets/Weight.xls. If you have accurately weighed your trailer & tongue weight, let me know & I'll add it to the list.

[santacruzer]

Weighed last week...2820 on the axle, 300 tongue weight. Thanks for spreadsheet!

Bob

[Vermilye]

Originally Posted by santacruzer

Weighed last week...2820 on the axle, 300 tongue weight. Thanks for spreadsheet!

Bob

Added.

[FMLNM]

Originally Posted by Vermilye

If you want to sort or otherwise work with the actual spreadsheet, it is available for download at http://lakeshoreimages.com/spreadsheets/Weight.xls. If you have accurately weighed your trailer & tongue weight, let me know & I'll add it to the list.

We just weighed our 2008 Escape 5.0 ata CAT Scale.
All 3 tanks empty, hot water heater empty, no food or clothes, propane probably 1 full plus one 1/2 or less tank.
Axle weight: 2620 lbs
Tongue weight: 720 lbs
Total Trailer weight: 3340 lbs

[Vermilye]

I've added your trailer & updated the Excel spreadsheet at Trailer Weights in the Real World.

Thanks!

[Brian B-P]

Assuming that the link is still valid as the current version of the spreadsheet, I'll note that one line appears to be Stargeezer's data from "The Big Easy" Has Landed...

21'
Escape
5.0TA
3329 (axle weight in pounds)
728 (pin weight in pounds)
4057 (total weight in pounds)
Shared
2014

The pin and total values appear to be incorrect, due to typo in the conversion of the scale readings (in kilograms) to pounds... see post #60 for details. The corrected values would be

3329 (axle weight in pounds)
617 (pin weight in pounds)
3946 (total weight in pounds)

[Vermilye]

Thanks for the fix. The latest version is 12/3/18

[EscapeBoulder]

We picked up our 2018 Escape 19'er last week, and stopped by a closed highway side scale today. (I was told that a little secret is that closed scales are actually active. Which I guess they are - at least in Oregon.) Anyway...

Total "rig" weight (2018 Highlander Limited + trailer): 9,700
Trailer alone: 4,400
Tongue weight: 650

Weights included 230 lbs of fresh water and 100 lbs of gasoline. And the trailer is "fully loaded" with reinforced walls, the inverter, TV, solar panel, front box, 2-6v batteries and more. We definitely didn't go "light weight" out of the factory.

Since I believe the tongue weight should be 10% to 12% of the total trailer weight, I guess I need to move some of the stuff in the front box to the back of the trailer. That's doable. And might just move us into the 10% to 12%.

We're also getting just around 15 mpg. One caveat is the I drive softly when trailering. No jack-rabbit stops or starts. Staying within or slightly below the speed limits, etc.

[Rossue]

Could not believe my Yukon/21 weighed the same as your 19/Highlander weight last Spring. Weighed trailer too and it weighed 4200, which for us is heavy and goes to show over time we keep adding stuff that adds up. Fortunately it doesn't matter too much here with an 8400# tow capacity.

Edit: Also the Yukon weighs about 800 lbs. more than a Highlander Limited.

[Ron in BC]

Interesting stats for the Classic 19. Heaviest @ 3740# with a 240# tongue weight and the lightest @ 2670# with a 460# tongue weight. Makes me wonder about the accuracy of some of the weighting.

Ron

[EscapeBoulder]

Originally Posted by Ron in BC

Interesting stats for the Classic 19. Heaviest @ 3740# with a 240# tongue weight and the lightest @ 2670# with a 460# tongue weight. Makes me wonder about the accuracy of some of the weighting.

Ron

I also questioned the accuracy of the scale. Maybe that's why it's closed Anyway, I plan to stop at another, and at least weight the total rig (both vehicle & trailer) and see how it compares.

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by EscapeBoulder

We picked up our 2018 Escape 19'er last week, and stopped by a closed highway side scale today. (I was told that a little secret is that closed scales are actually active. Which I guess they are - at least in Oregon.)

Alberta and British Columbia, too.

Originally Posted by EscapeBoulder

Total "rig" weight (2018 Highlander Limited + trailer): 9,700
Trailer alone: 4,400
Tongue weight: 650
...
Since I believe the tongue weight should be 10% to 12% of the total trailer weight, I guess I need to move some of the stuff in the front box to the back of the trailer. That's doable. And might just move us into the 10% to 12%.

So that's 14.8% tongue weight.

There's no need to bring the tongue weight down, as far as the trailer is concerned. You might want lower tongue weight for the sake of the tow vehicle, but for the trailer something like 10% is a minimum for stability, but higher is fine.

On the other hand, 650 pounds is quite high for a Highlander. Toyota says to run 9% to 11% tongue weight, since they want the trailer to be stable but don't want the tow vehicle carrying any more load than necessary, but they don't give a specific limit.

That brings up the question of whether the 650 pound tongue weight is correct...

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by EscapeBoulder

I also questioned the accuracy of the scale. Maybe that's why it's closed Anyway, I plan to stop at another, and at least weight the total rig (both vehicle & trailer) and see how it compares.

The scale is likely correct - it needs to be to enforce commercial vehicle load limits. They're closed in off-hours, because it isn't worthwhile to the enforcement agencies to staff the scales all the time.

Rather than questioning the total, I wonder about the method used to determine tongue weight. I'm guessing there is a weight-distribution hitch being used, and that can easily mess up tongue weight measurement.

[steve dunham]

The originator of “Trailer Weights in the Real World “ was a gentleman named Frederick L Simson . He repaired & calibrated scales professionally and if I remember correctly certified truck scales for several government agencies
If the readings in the table seem flawed , I doubt the issue can be traced to Mr Simson.
I would believe the probable cause is trailer owner supplied information .

[EscapeBoulder]

Tongue weight was measured by separating the tow vehicle & trailer with just the tongue “foot” on the scale. Trailer wheels were on solid ground, as was the tow vehicle for this one weight measurement.

[Brian B-P]

I was referring to EscapeBoulder's exceptionally high tongue weight in my comment about measurement technique.

On the other hand, I know that Frederick did great work which is much appreciated, but there are issues with the tongue weights for WDH-equipped vehicles in the original data due to the handling of the height of the tongue in the process... a trailer physics issue, rather than anything to do with the accuracy of the scales or the care taken in the measurement process.

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by EscapeBoulder

Tongue weight was measured by separating the tow vehicle & trailer with just the tongue “foot” on the scale. Trailer wheels were on solid ground, as was the tow vehicle for this one weight measurement.

Thanks Greg.

That's excellent - and more trouble than usually practical when the scales are open. The weight at the jack is a bit higher than at the coupler (a leverage issue), and the tongue weight is quite sensitive to height... but I'm guessing that you set it at the same height as when towing.

[azjack]

With our 17 loaded to go for a couple of weeks I checked the tongue weight at home,
leveled at tow level with a tongue scale, 450#. Then Fredrick weighed the wheels, also leveled and disconnected from the vehicle. Numbers were 1580 and 1620#.
I was happy with the numbers, about 3650# total with about 5100# for my Dodge Durango. Lots of brakes and engine that gives me about 15mpg at too high of speeds when it probably is not shutting down 4 cylinders.
Jack

[fudge_brownie]

Originally Posted by EscapeBoulder

Tongue weight was measured by separating the tow vehicle & trailer with just the tongue “foot” on the scale. Trailer wheels were on solid ground, as was the tow vehicle for this one weight measurement.

I had some issues weighing the tongue on my 19, at some point I complained to Reace about the high tongue weight, His reply was: "when weighing, the trailer must be separated from the vehicle and the trailer must be level based on the bubble levels". I think not having the trailer level may have been a cause of my high tongue weights.

[EscapeBoulder]

Wow... I didn't think of it and therefore didn't check to see if the trailer was lever (fore/aft) when measuring the tongue weight. As I had just released the hitch, and driven the tow vehicle off the scale, I bet I didn't lower the trailer back to level. So, my guess is the tongue weight reading is a little high. If I come upon another closed, but available scale, I'll give it another try. (Assuming it's not raining or snowing up here in Oregon!)