Measuring The Total Weight of Camper

[Ger]

Morning Campers.
I’m pretty diligent about not overloading my camper or tow vehicle and have even weighed each item that I put in the front storage bin of my camper to get a total weight, but I really don’t know what the ACTUAL weight of my ENTIRE camper is when loaded up for a trip. Have any of you actually weighed your loaded camper, and if so how did you do it? The only thing I can think of is if there was access to one of those weight stations that you sometimes see at the side of the highway. Cheers.

 

[jmkay1]

You can look up CAT scales and bring your camper to one of those. Do not use those off highways. Some dumps may have scales and perhaps some RV shops. Some Flying J truck stops may have some scales. Edit to add: You can sometimes use your bathroom scale to get your tongue weight.

 

[Anthony Hitchings]

CAT SCALE for total axle weight, weight your tongue on a digital bathroom scale.

Ultimately I made my own digital axle weigh scale (in a separate thread).

 

[rob.mwpropane]

We have a few local dumps / scrap yards. We do enough business with them that they don't care. You can always try calling around, especially to little mom and pop shops.. they get it, just happy to help.

 

[Phil O'Regan]

The CAT scales at various truck stops along the interstates are easy. I have used two or three different ones, and with their WeighMyTruck smartphone app, it is quick and painless.

 

[bondebond]

It was pretty pain free to weigh my setup at the Loves here in town on their CAT scale. Just drive up on the scale, hit the intercom button, tell them what you want to do. I did total weight, axle weight and tongue weight. I pulled off the scale, went in and paid for it. I think the first weighing was $12 and like $3 for each additional but memory is getting foggy on that.

 

[Lug_Nut]

Bath scales usually max out about 250 ~300 lbs. Use leverage to your advantage and you can use your home scale anyway.
I use a steel bar just over three feet long. I have it marked at 1 ft, then 3 foot. I place the short end on a piece of angle iron. I jack up one trailer wheel and place it at the 1 foot mark. I place the 3 foot mark on the bath scale. I let the wheel down onto my bar, read the scale reading and triple the weight indicated.
Repeat for the other side. then I use a jack stand that holds the tongue's ball receiver on the bath scale (direct read, no 3:1 ratio bar). Remember to have the tongue height adjusted to the tow height for best accuracy.
My Colorado is 660 lb empty so 3:1 works fine. Yours is heavier? Use a 4:1 ratio bar. Mark it at 9 inch and 36 inch. Scale reading at 36 will be 1/4 the weight sitting on the 9 inch position.

 

[Ger]

Thanks all. Our next trip is off to The White Mountains in NH and we will pass two CAT Stations on the way, so it’ll be perfect to test the fully loaded camper / car. And as Bondebond said, it’s $12.50 for a weigh in and $3 for a re-weigh with 24 hours.

thanks for your input.