Weighing Motorhome

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RonPatt

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Nov 15, 2007
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278
Location
Mamers, NC
This is probably a dumb question to you pros, but here goes.  How does one weigh ones motorhome at Flying J?  There is a Flying J near the
Cummins Atlantic Coach Center and I would like to weigh my rig next month while I am there.  Do you check with someone inside?  I was going to weigh it the
last time I was there but I didn't see any instructions near the scales so I left.  Thanks

Ron 
 
There will be an intercom speaker on the scale, but high up so the truckers can reach it from the cab.  I would suggest you go to the fuel desk first and ask them how to proceed before driving onto the scales.  Tell them you have a motorhome.  Be sure to get each axle on a different scale.  A helper makes this much easier.  Once weighed, you go to the fuel desk, pay and pick up the weigh ticket.
 
It's been awhile since we weighed at a Cat scale but I think it was around $10.  Another option is to go to a quarry, they have scales to weigh their trucks and often will let you weigh there.  Or go to Oregon where the logging scales are common, always on, and free :)
 
I went to a Flying J scale to be weighed two months ago and it was $8. Like Ned said, go inside to the fuel desk first.
 
In New Brunswick (Canada), you can go to a regular truck scale on the highway and they will weigh you free.

Makes sense when you think of it.  The DOT doesn't want overloaded vehicles on the highway.

Rankjo
 
Unfortunately, the Flying J Scale will not give you all the information you probably want.  It will weigh the axle loads only and not the individual wheel loads.  That is more important so you can adjust your tire inflations for the highest side of the coach.  It's also helpful in allowing you to adjust your loads to even them out.

If a scale doesn't have a rail on it, you can first weigh each axle and then go back over the scale weighing only one side of the axle.  Simply deduct that weight from the axle load and you have your individual wheel loads.

 
Try a local agricultural supply, grain dealer or fertilizer plant. They will usually have a flat scale that will allow you to do one wheel at a time. The farm supply dealer near us leaves his scale on all the time with a local readout and doesn't charge if you want to do your RV.

Chet18013
 
While I agree that a 4 corner weight is the desirable, don't let that deter you from getting weighed at the FJ soonest. For a mere $8 it is well worth it to know the front and rear axle weights and you can estimate the wheel weights for tire pressure purposes until you get an opportunity to get individual weights.

For tire pressure purposes, just add 200 300 lbs to the actual axle weight and divide by 2 (4 on the rear axle). Look that weight up in the tire pressure table and then select the next higher entry in the table. That should give you enough margin to cover any imbalance between the actual weights at either end of the axle, until you can get actual weights.

Additional note (added later). Sometimes there can be a dramatic difference from side to side - see Bernie's example later in this thread. It is probably wiser to go up TWO entries in the inflation table to allow for imbalance wehn you do not have actual wheel weights to go by.
 
I found a great scale at a local moving company.  Be careful to ask the operator what they charge "per ticket" and explain that you are not a commercial vehicle and the data is for your own information only.  Sometimes the scale operator will want to charge "per ticket" which in their mind is per weight reading.

(I had to explain why I needed 7 readings and didn't want 7 $10 certified tickets :eek:)
 
In your case, I'd take 5 weight readings.

Front only
Front and drive wheels
entire RV
Drive wheels and tag
tag only

This will give you entire weight as well as a fore and aft distribution. If you can drive parallel to the scale and weigh only one side at a time, getting these readings, do it. You be surprised how far off you can be, side to side.

Chet18013
 
I think that going to the extreme of weighing each individual tire is not necessary. I would only do this if the weight load on each tire was always exactly the same, which in the real world it is not.
 
seilerbird said:
I think that going to the extreme of weighing each individual tire is not necessary. I would only do this if the weight load on each tire was always exactly the same, which in the real world it is not.
Click to expand...

Tom,

I don't agree with you that individual wheel weighing is not necessary. Years ago, I had my motor home weighed by A-Weigh-We-Go at an FMCA rally. They found a 1000 lb differential between the right rear and the left rear. The right side weighed x-500 lbs and the left side weighed x+500 lbs. I forget the actual weights, so can't quote them. I had no idea that I was far off in my weights. I did some serious moving of items in all compartments to try to get things into better balance. Unfortunately, the genset is on the left side and there is nothing I can do about that but I rearranged the heavier items to different compartments. I had the coach reweighed a couple of years later and found that I was much closer to being balanced but still a little heavy on the left side.

BTW, the first time I had it weighed, I was 200 lbs over on the GAWR. I was able to get that corrected by rearranging the contents of my compartments and cabinets in the motor home. Now I always carry my two packed tool boxes in the car now and have eliminated some items.

You said you would only weigh four corners if the weight load on each tire was always exactly the same. How do you know this, if you don't weigh each wheel?
 
RLSharp said:
Tom,

I don't agree with you that individual wheel weighing is not necessary. Years ago, I had my motor home weighed by A-Weigh-We-Go at an FMCA rally. They found a 1000 lb differential between the right rear and the left rear. The right side weighed x-500 lbs and the left side weighed x+500 lbs. I forget the actual weights, so can't quote them. I had no idea that I was far off in my weights. I did some serious moving of items in all compartments to try to get things into better balance. Unfortunately, the genset is on the left side and there is nothing I can do about that but I rearranged the heavier items to different compartments. I had the coach reweighed a couple of years later and found that I was much closer to being balanced but still a little heavy on the left side.

BTW, the first time I had it weighed, I was 200 lbs over on the GAWR. I was able to get that corrected by rearranging the contents of my compartments and cabinets in the motor home. Now I always carry my two packed tool boxes in the car now and have eliminated some items.

You said you would only weigh four corners if the weight load on each tire was always exactly the same. How do you know this, if you don't weigh each wheel?
Click to expand...

You are correct. However what I meant was only if the load stays the same, in other words you never added or subtracted weight from the vehicle.
 
Pierat & Chet,
All the scales I have seen at Flying J's are segmented scales, meaning they can take multiple weights at once. With judicious positioning on the scale you may be able to get all the axle weight readings at once. On my last visit, I got weights on both coach axles and the toad (which was hitched up) on one pass and didn't even use all the available segments (there were four, as I recall).
 
Like Richard, 4 corner weighing at least once is necessary. Just had our coach weighed at Spartan, had a 600# variance between the front tires and 400# between the rears. Worked on rearranging the basement contents. Hopefully, it was enough.
 
600# difference is a lot of difference, Bernie. Are you carrying bricks or just a lot of Pressure Pro sensors?  ;D

Its a great example, though. It can be downright amazing how far off the side-to-side balance can get. 200-300 lbs is not at all uncommon. And I haven't checked mine in 18 months now - have to put that on my "round-to-it" list.
 
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