want to weigh my trailer

[jimtesla]

In Simi Valley Ca

anybody know any local places where can get my trailer weighed
and find out what the tongue weight is

thanks

Jim

[Robin G]

Can think of a few places in Ojai or Ventura (mostly out on the avenue. Long drive for you. But, but you could pick up some good mexican food and send it to CO for me! ).

But can't imagine there isn't something closer for you. The local dump? Might look for a packing company, they usually have weigh stations. I have found the price ranges from $7 to $15 Do let us know what it weighs in at........ Do you have to have a offical cert of weight? If so call the DMV and ask them where to get a certification of weight. Good luck!

[Raz]

Like most subjects, this one comes up from time to time. Frederick Simson had a good recommendation a while back.

"The first place I would suggest people research for the answer to that question is your state/province Department of Agriculture, Division of Weights & Measures. These people know where all of the public scales are because they are tasked with making sure they are correct, and they have to visit each one to do that."

Good luck, Raz

[Carol H]

You could always slip across the line to Oregon and use one of the many free scales they have along the road ways.... good excuse to get the trailer out on a trip

[Dennis Clinton]

Call around. Isn't there still a gravel pit up the canyon in Simi(above the park). They should have one, as do most cement plants.

[jimtesla]

CDFA - DMS - Public Scales Listing

after taking in a suggestion on my post

found this in Simi for 10 a vehicle

my question is how to weigh the trailer correctly and how to get the tongue weight

any suggestions

[gmw photos]

Originally Posted by jimtesla

my question is how to weigh the trailer correctly and how to get the tongue weight

any suggestions

Assuming you go to a triple platform scale, like a CAT scale:

http://catscale.com/cat-scale-locator

Weigh your truck by itself
Weigh your truck and trailer connected together

Lets say your truck has 2500 pounds on the steer axle, and 2500 pounds on the drive axle. Your truck obviously weighs 5000 pounds.

Now with the trailer connect to it, lets say you now have 3000 pounds on the drive axle, and 3000 pounds on the trailer axle(s). You can see that you have 500 pounds of tongue weight, and your trailer weighs 3500 pounds total. You will also see that your steer axle has gotten lighter. It might be 2200 pounds. You can see that by putting all that tongue weight on, which is behind the drive axle, you have removed weight from the steer axle. How much you have removed from the front will help you determine if you think a weight distributing hitch might be appropriate.

EDIT: seems unlikely to me that you would need a WD hitch with a 13' Scamp, but perhaps some owners of campers like yours will chime in.

[Bob Miller]

A few miles away, in Riverside county, I get my trailers and RV's weighed at the local Waste Transfer Station. To weigh a trailer (which they do all the time) I just pull forward on their scale platform until my TV is off the scale. They check the weight still on the scale and give me a slip as if I was going to dump, I give them $5. At home I use a $5, 300 lb range, spring scale I picked up at the flea market and, using a block of wood to distrubute the weight across the scale, and a 4x4 vertically between the scale and the hitch, weigh the tongue weight.

[Frederick L. Simson]

Originally Posted by jimtesla

how to weigh the trailer correctly and how to get the tongue weight

any suggestions

Once you select a public truck scale to visit:

• Tell the operator you want 2 weights: hitched, and unhitched.
• Pull across the scale and park your tow vehicle ahead of the deck with your rear bumper even with the gap between the scale deck and the exit "apron".
• Record the scale reading of the axle weight of your trailer.
• Uncouple the hitch, and with the jack wheel on the scale deck crank up the jack until the coupler clears the ball.
• Record the scale reading of the total weight of your trailer.
• Crank the jack down and recouple the hitch.
• Drive clear of the scale.

Then do the math:
Total Weight minus Axle Weight equals Tongue Weight.

[Bob Miller]

A Question for Fred - The Scaleman...
As the scale I use will often have 10 more garden & general trash carrying trucks backed up for "weight in" tickets, and stopping to unhitch to get total weight is not an option, is there any reason that the method I described would result in a significantly different set of numbers than your method? I believe it is a single platform scale.
BTW: Empty trucks and trailers "weigh out" on a different set of scales.

[Thomas G.]

Another place to get a weight is metal scrap yard. They make extra bucks by providing weights from their scales. They may well be a little more patient with a trailer removal delay.

[gmw photos]

If you go to a CAT scale at late hours, you usually have it to yourself. CAT scales are generally located at truck stops that are 24 hour operations.
I don't know anything about California, but isn't Simi Valley near a major metro area ? If so, there is likely a CAT scale close by.
At a CAT scale, you usually pay $9 or $10 for the first weigh, and then $1 for each extra weigh if done within 24 hours.

[Frederick L. Simson]

Originally Posted by Bob Miller

is there any reason that the method I described would result in a significantly different set of numbers than your method?

It all depends on how you define significant. There are a couple of factors at play.

A $5 spring scale costs $5 for a reason: they are designed to be consistent, but not precise. Ever notice the spring scales in the produce section of the grocery store? They usually have a sticker on them from the County Inspector with a disclaimer that they are for Customer Convenience Only and not to be depended upon, and you use them at your own risk. You cannot sue the grocer for cheating you based on those scales. The scales built into the check-out counter are a different story. Those are designed and tested often to be legally precise (+/- 0.1%) enough for taxable business transactions, and the grocer has to invest $1000 per checkout stand for the scale alone, cash register is extra. You can sue the grocer if those scales are wrong.

However,

Waste transfer "truck scales" have a 100,000 pound capacity and read in 20 pound increments. So your trailer's axle weight reading can be off by 40 to 60 pounds, which is not commercially significant. Your $5 spring scale with the 300 pound range probably reads in increments of 5 pounds or less, but can be 1% or 3 pounds off and still be considered "OK." The spring scale's 3 pound acceptable error could be within the truck scales 60 pound acceptable error and the combined errors may not be significant. BUT if the truck scale is in error near the low side of its tolerance window and the spring scale is in error near the high side of its tolerance window, you could possibly decide that the tongue is slightly too heavy when in fact it is not.

If you get both hitched and unhitched weight readings from the same scale your calculated tongue weight will be more reliably true.

I wish I had a dollar for every complaint I get from Gyms and Doctor's offices who have multiple scales of different types who say they're wrong because they don't exactly match each other! Scales are rarely exact, they are only "within tolerance."

[Bob Miller]

Good pointers Fred
It sounds like the technique is OK and I will have to live with a little bit of tolerance. I do "calibrate" the spring scale a bit by weighing myself on a digital scale and then adjusting the spring scale to the same weight. As that weight is about the same as typical tongue weight, I hope it reduces that error range.