Weigh Trailer Using 2x4/Bathroom Scale???

[rabbit]

Donna, your excerpt of my post above is a bit short. I'm sure you meant to include this also:

No queue to weigh while I was on the scale late AM. One rig pulling up as I pulled away.]

I'd say there are only two possible courtesies one could show commercial drivers in this situation: 1) decline to queue up or enter the scale at a moment of heavy demand, 2) avoid delay to another user by doing the weigh efficiently. I did not need to make a decision about demand because there wasn't any. I attempted to get my weights quickly and efficiently. I did not have to move trailer as axle and tongue on separate platforms and I had only to lift off ball for the t/w, drop it again and drive off the scale. The driver who came up drove directly onto the scale.

It may not always be possible to be courteous without some inconvenience to oneself (or even others). It's certain that I had the optimum situation. I wish you the same good fortune.

And I'm glad you agree with me.

jack

[Donna D.]

I do agree with you Jack and am glad I live in a state where the highway scales are typically left on, even if the scale station is closed and all are welcome to weigh trailers or tugs or motorcycles or... for free.

[Francesca Knowles]

Sheesh...

I started this discussion as much as a mental exercise as anything else.
I've weighed my trailer before at the landfill/mill scales....obviously, that's the commonest way to do so. And as a matter of fact, this experiment will require a trip to the scales, too- how else can I check the results?

The whole point-at least for me- is attempting to apply the little I know of physics... simple principles which when understood allow for the expansion of the use of a simple tool like an analog bathroom scale.

I'm certainly not contemplating any up-in-the-air gymnastics, and the "pipe method" is much too complicated to qualify as simple/easy. But I'm going to try my own tug-anchored-trailer-on-the-end-of-a-ramp method just as soon as my husband gets the backhoe reassembled and out of the shop!

And by the way:
I did have the discussion about this with him last night. His Engineership tells me that despite its simplicity (a thing despised by all good engineers) the theory is sound and worth putting to the test.

Thanks for the input, folks...

Francesca

[Thomas G.]

Originally Posted by Francesca Knowles

..........the theory is sound and worth putting to the test.Francesca

Please post pictures.

[Frederick L. Simson]

Originally Posted by Jared J

I'm sure I could find one, but it seems jerky to ask a company to weigh my trailer and hold somebody up.

How is a queue at the commercial/public vehicle scale any different than a queue at the grocery store? Are we that concerned with speed? Has "road rage" transmuted into "scale rage"? It's not like you're weighing 47 items in the "10 items or less" lane.

[Byron Kinnaman]

Originally Posted by Francesca Knowles

Sheesh...

I started this discussion as much as a mental exercise as anything else.
I've weighed my trailer before at the landfill/mill scales....obviously, that's the commonest way to do so. And as a matter of fact, this experiment will require a trip to the scales, too- how else can I check the results?

The whole point-at least for me- is attempting to apply the little I know of physics... simple principles which when understood allow for the expansion of the use of a simple tool like an analog bathroom scale.

I'm certainly not contemplating any up-in-the-air gymnastics, and the "pipe method" is much too complicated to qualify as simple/easy. But I'm going to try my own tug-anchored-trailer-on-the-end-of-a-ramp method just as soon as my husband gets the backhoe reassembled and out of the shop!

And by the way:
I did have the discussion about this with him last night. His Engineership tells me that despite its simplicity (a thing despised by all good engineers) the theory is sound and worth putting to the test.

Thanks for the input, folks...

Francesca

There's practical engineering and engineering just to play with basic physics. I played with the lever/fulcrum in physical science classes in both HS and college. I know they work, but.. Oh! by the way Rube Goldberg comes to mind when playing just to be playing. Playing on a smaller scale I think is a better way to go.

FYI... I spent my life as an engineer and always went for simplicity as did most of my fellow engineers.

[Jared J]

Originally Posted by Frederick L. Simson

How is a queue at the commercial/public vehicle scale any different than a queue at the grocery store? Are we that concerned with speed? Has "road rage" transmuted into "scale rage"? It's not like you're weighing 47 items in the "10 items or less" lane.

How many times do I have to explain this? The closest ones on that list are 40+ miles away. I'm not dragging my trailer that far to weigh it (especially without knowing if I need a license). I would be asking the dump or a private trucking company to weigh my camper for free, since they obviously don't have a charge for that. Asking them to do that is, IMHO, jerky.

[Byron Kinnaman]

Originally Posted by Jared J

How many times do I have to explain this? The closest ones on that list are 40+ miles away. I'm not dragging my trailer that far to weigh it (especially without knowing if I need a license). I would be asking the dump or a private trucking company to weigh my camper for free, since they obviously don't have a charge for that. Asking them to do that is, IMHO, jerky.

Obviously you don't know if they charge or not. You seem to have made up your mind. IMHO it's more jerky to NOT ask than to ask.

Also is you think for one second that a 19' 5th wheel Scamp in under 2000 you're fooling yourself. Look at "Weights in Real Worls" thread on this site.

[Jared J]

I have, which is why I've already said in this thread I highly doubt it weighs that little. If it doesn't, this just further proves my point that I can NOT drive it somewhere to weigh it! Using a bathroom scale is a viable, although not perfectly accurate way of measuring trailer weight. I don't operate my vehicle against its limits, so I don't care if I'm 20 lbs off. I'm done mucking up this thread. Do what you want.

[Mike Magee]

I'll be doggoned if I will haul my cat all the way to the cat scales, when I have a perfectly good bathroom scale at home! Not that the cat wants to stand on it for long, mind you...

The thing about driving onto a ramp or rail, supported at one end by a bathroom scale, is the danger of overshoot ...along with the difficulty of getting accuracy. If you pull a bit too far, it would be so very easy to overburden and break the scale. And as for accuracy, your measurement of distance each way will have to be very precise, I think, to get a reliable reading.

[rabbit]

And if everyone lit just one little candle, there would be a lot of glare but not complete illumination. Be free with your thoughts; careful with their application!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

jack