A Friend overweight on rear axle of class C

A friend of mine weighed his class C today and was 1000 pounds over on the rear axle.  He was 200 pounds over on the whole unit.  The front axle does have some spare room.  His toad was 1800 pounds under his legal tow weight. 

He was full of gas with all members on board and typical water carried.  Any ideas of how to get weight down? 

I am thinking because of the long rear overhang a pound he takes off the back may take well over a pound off the REAR axle because of the seesaw effect.  Add a pound to the far back and it would take weight off the front axle and add it to the back.  I am thinking he should be able to find a spot to cut 200 pounds and then repack pretty easily to move the weight from the rear axle to the front. 

Anyone had this happen?

The rear axle is nowhere near as bad as overweight on the front axle. 1,000 is A LOT. I'm not sure if you're required to pull through a scale but that is what's called "OOS". Out of service. That's where you sit until you fix it or get towed away. He's not going to fix that unless he gets rid of the toad or puts it on a trailer with a load leveler.

SkateBoard said:

He's not going to fix that unless he gets rid of the toad or puts it on a trailer with a load leveler.

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This is not correct. If your friend is towing four down or flat towing, the toad is contributing zero weight to the rear axle. Plus, if the whole unit is overweight, putting the toad on a trailer will just make matters worse, whether or not he uses a weight distributing hitch. Bottom line, he's carrying too much stuff and if he wants to get below legal recommended weights some of the stuff has to go. Moving some weight forward will help rear axle loading as you suggest.

Seems to me there is some confusion in tossing around the term "legal weight". Is he over the suggested sticker weight of the chassis  manufacturer, the suggested gross weight of the tire manufacturer, or state and federal weight laws. In my state ( a state that ignores tire ratings) he would have to over 20,000 lbs on the rear axle to be over " legal" weight.

Non-commercial vehicles are not legally required to stay under their GVWR. The only "legal" ramifications for a private vehicle is that being over the GVWR gives the opposition a ready made argument that the vehicle was being operated in an unsafe manner. Whether that is relevant of not would be up to a jury to decide, not a LEO.

I would say more then half the states require anyone over 10,000 to pull into weigh. If you have a single axle with one tire on each side I think it's 12,000 you are allowed. Duel tires gives you 20,000. If your overweight they don't care but over axle you're in trouble.

Overweight RVs are quite common. The RV Safety & education Foundation, which conducts RV weigh-ins at major RV rallies every year, has stated that about 50% of the vehicles it weighs every year are overweight on at least one tire position.

Fixing the problem is easy, at least in theory: "Lose weight or move weight".  In this case, both are probably needed, since the gross weight is over as well as the rear axle.  Some weight can be moved forward to take advantage of the avail;able front axle capacity, but some of it will have to go.

I would say more then half the states require anyone over 10,000 to pull into weigh.

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That certainly has not been my experience and we've traveled all 50 states (but only 49 of them in vehicles over 10k lbs).

Gary RV_Wizard said:

Overweight RVs are quite common. The RV Safety & education Foundation, which conducts RV weigh-ins at major RV rallies every year, has stated that about 50% of the vehicles it weighs every year are overweight on at least one tire position.

Fixing the problem is easy, at least in theory: "Lose weight or move weight".  In this case, both are probably needed, since the gross weight is over as well as the rear axle.  Some weight can be moved forward to take advantage of the avail;able front axle capacity, but some of it will have to go.

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Thanks Gary.  It sounds like losing some of the weight that is in the farthest back compartment will take weight off of the rear axle AND add weight to the front axle - right? 

The C class really encourages rear axle weight with that huge overhang.  I would guess that is for a better turning radius and handling but really adds to rear axle weight.

Getting rid of the 200 pounds total over really shouldn't be hard.  Losing 24 gallons of water, burning off some gas, and leaving a couple tools and he should be underweight.

SkateBoard said:

I would say more then half the states require anyone over 10,000 to pull into weigh. If you have a single axle with one tire on each side I think it's 12,000 you are allowed. Duel tires gives you 20,000. If your overweight they don't care but over axle you're in trouble.

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Police have watched me go right past weigh stations in every state I've been in (36,400 GVW now, 50,000 in a previous vehicle). Do you have a couple of example states (out of 26 plus) that DO require it?

Larry N. said:

Police have watched me go right past weigh stations in every state I've been in (36,400 GVW now, 50,000 in a previous vehicle). Do you have a couple of example states (out of 26 plus) that DO require it?

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Look it up yourself with Google

  If you drive an RV through a roadside weigh station you will have a whole bunch of truckers pissed off at you for wasting time and costing them money.

roadside weigh stations are for commercial vehicles only.

I used to have to tow a mobile laboratory office, made out of a goose neck trailer...basically a "work-truck" version of a small to mid 5th wheel trailer towed with a 1 ton dually dodge.  I forget the weights now, but I believe the trailer alone was North of 10,000#.  It was a heavy made trailer with some heavy equipment inside.  At the time, FL required a upgraded licence...Class D I think it was...for that weight
and in all my research, even to the point of calling DMV, State Troopers, etc... it seemed that technically I should keep log books and pull into weigh stations...

Not wanting to break any laws when it came to MY license.... I complied to the best of my ability.

Got some strange looks pulling through some of those weigh stations.  Mostly, I'd just get waived through like I was an idiot.


To the OP's original point though.... I struggle with the same thing with my 31ft class C.  My bet is that they are ALL like that...any of the 29ft+ class C's I mean.  The way they are built, there really is not much of a realistic fix.
I do wish that when I replaced my tires after a recent blow-out, that I'd been able to replace with 17.5 inch load range F or G tires and wheels.  Even though that wouldn't correct the rating or problem, it would surely remove what I bet is the weakest link.....

I've observed in Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Minnesota, and South Dakota; no RV's stopping at weigh stations (at least I have seen none when the weigh stations are open) and no RV's getting pulled over by the DOT down the road.

My unscientific conclusion is they are only concerned with commercial vehicles, which is what the very pissed off South Dakota DOT guy told me last year as he screamed "COMMERCIAL ONLY, MOVE OUT!"

Different subject with regards to, are you overweight or not, but my policy now is; let them pull me over.  We travel light and I'm nowhere close to the limit anyway.

SkateBoard said:

I would say more then half the states require anyone over 10,000 to pull into weigh. If you have a single axle with one tire on each side I think it's 12,000 you are allowed. Duel tires gives you 20,000. If your overweight they don't care but over axle you're in trouble.

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SkateBoard
Can you please name one?
I have traveled in, (or through), 47 of the 50 states with my 24,000 lb. motor home, (towing a 2,900 lb.Saturn ION), and have never seen a state which requires "anyone over 10,000 to pull into weigh".

I just did a search about this subject and found that the AAA has weigh station rules broken down by state.

To my knowledge, the only RV requirement is for those transporting them, because the operators fall under FMV requirements regarding HOS. Otherwise, a privately operated rig is not required to weigh, which is why large coaches many times have "Private Coach-Not for Hire" on their sides. Are you a commercial motor vehicle? If not, roll right on by.

The axle weights stated by another poster are grossly incorrect. There are no 50-state blanket weights, because of various state allowances. There are simply too many variables based on axle configuration/spacing/location, tire width, vehicle weight rating, etc.

My bet is that they are ALL like that...any of the 29ft+ class C's I mean.  The way they are built, there really is not much of a realistic fix.

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Brad, I think it depends very much on the manufacturer.  We owned two Lazy Daze Class Cs (22' + 30') and both had the usual long overhang, but we never had a weight issue with either one of them and, if you believe Jerry  : he says I always over pack.  Well, maybe.  We've always weighed our motorhomes because we used to see some that were saying the carrying capacity was only 600 pounds which is nothing short of ridiculous.  I don't recall the CCC for the Laze Dazes but it was definitely adequate.  The owner of LD was an aeronautical engineer who was very aware of weights and measures in general.  In fact we were surprised when we were measured at ferries.  The 22' was exactly 22' and the 30' was exactly 30'.  Our current 40' really is about 41' 6" and the previous 34' was more too.  That can be a really important measurement if you're parking at home in an enclosed area!

ArdraF

SkateBoard said:

Look it up yourself with Google

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You made the assertion. I won't waste my time for that.

many states and canadian Providences have signs out "commercial vehicles only no rvs ". i have never stopped at a weigh station in my rv's only big rigs