Tongue Weight

[swip]

I went to our local waste facility that weighs all vehicles in and out and charge you by the pound for garbage. A sand and gravel pit have the same vehicle scales and most will provide the service of measuring your RV's etc.
I went on with the truck and trailer but stopped before the trailer wheels were on the scale, took note of the weight. Then drove a bit to get the trailer on the scale, again took note of the weight. I came back later with just the truck unloaded and measured it alone.
Out trailer is a Bigfoot 25rq and I always wanted to know what my loaded trailer weighed. The results: Trailer 5732 pounds, tongue 750 pounds.
I have weight distribution and sway bars. I tow with a Ram 1500 SLT 4x4 crew cab with 10,000 lbs tow capacity and it tows very well.

[Raspy]

Steve,

Good information.

What engine and differential ratio are you running? What is your average mileage on trips?

Thanks

[Jon Vermilye]

Originally Posted by swip

I went to our local waste facility that weighs all vehicles in and out and charge you by the pound for garbage. A sand and gravel pit have the same vehicle scales and most will provide the service of measuring your RV's etc.
I went on with the truck and trailer but stopped before the trailer wheels were on the scale, took note of the weight. Then drove a bit to get the trailer on the scale, again took note of the weight. I came back later with just the truck unloaded and measured it alone.
Out trailer is a Bigfoot 25rq and I always wanted to know what my loaded trailer weighed. The results: Trailer 5732 pounds, tongue 750 pounds.
I have weight distribution and sway bars. I tow with a Ram 1500 SLT 4x4 crew cab with 10,000 lbs tow capacity and it tows very well.

I added your trailer to the "Trailer Weights in the Real World Spreadsheet". I'm assuming that the 5732 is the axle weight from your description of the weighing method. If it is the entire trailer weight, let me know & I'll correct the spreadsheet.

[swip]

Raspy, the engine is a 5.7 V8 6 speed. Axle ratio is 3.92

and

Jon, that's a good question, the trailer was attached to my truck, so the shared tongue weight is missing. It makes me want to go back and weigh it without the truck. I did not know about your spreadsheet. I'm going to save your info and get back to you at some point. I might pull it out this Friday for one last weekend.

[swip]

Sorry Raspy, We typically get about 21 litres per 100 km or about 11 miles per gallon, I have a bit of a heavy foot though.

Glug, glug.

[Raspy]

Originally Posted by swip

Sorry Raspy, We typically get about 21 litres per 100 km or about 11 miles per gallon, I have a bit of a heavy foot though.

Glug, glug.

Steven,

Actually, 11 mpg sounds like good mileage for the V8 pulling your rig.

Also, can't you just subtract the unloaded truck weight from the truck with loaded tongue weight, to get your tongue weight? Then subtract the unloaded truck weight from the entire rig weight to get the trailer total including tongue weight?

[cpaharley2008]

A couple of pointers, I believe your transmission is 5 sp, not 6 speed. My 2009 was the 5 sp and I got 12 mpg towing to not with the 3:55 rear end. My 2014 Ram, same Hemi, has the 8 speed auto with 3:21 rear and my fuel efficiency increased to 13-15 towing and 19-22 un hitched. The Ram, like you said can tow 10,000 lbs but it can only carry 1300# in the bed. That is the limiting factor, so with 750 tongue weight you are down to maybe 500# less passengers and then what ever you carry in the bed. BTW, check your spare tire, it is probably a limited wheel and tire as most Rams. I went out and bought another full sized wheel and tire and carry it in my bed.