Planning new tires, so weighed my Springdale 266 today. Interesting...

[DennisT]

We got our Springdale 266RL last August. Today I finally took it into town to the grain elevator's scales and did all the checking I could think of. I've been planning new tires and I wanted to know weight totals, side-to-side distribution, and tongue weight on TV. I am pulling it with a 1997 Dodge Cummins 12V, 4WD, 2500, ext. cab, long box with canopy. Pickup alone usually weighs between 7,000 and 7,500 pounds alone.

Here's today's breakdown:

Truck and trailer combination: 14,440 pounds.
Truck only on scales with TT attached: 8,500 pounds.
Trailer only on scales attached to truck: 5,940 pounds.
Trailer only, left wheels on scales, right wheels off scales: 2,750 pounds.
Trailer only, right wheels on scales, left wheels off scales: 2,940 pounds.

Trailer has 95% full tank of fresh water. Personal items already in TT, except food, extra linens, clothes.

Axles are 3,500 pound rating; sticker on TT stamped: GVWR/PNBV 7,740 pounds. Next I need to weigh the truck alone just as it is loaded today. 1,000 to 1,500 pounds of tongue weight is too high. I'm thinking tongue weight should be around 600 to 700 pounds.

With the GVW being 7,500 pounds, max., and the weight noted today, I could add 1,800 pounds of belongings inside the TT. (Which, of course, we will never, never do) The important thing I think I learned today is, especially when we dump 60% of our fresh water before traveling, I have ample availability for a modest load and still have a safety margin for tires and axles. (Tires are the danged Carisle ST205/75R/15).

Odd thing today is that the slide-out side weight came in 190 pounds lighter than the other side. That surprised me and it is that kind of thing I wanted to know. I, "think," the fresh water tank runs full width of TT, and if so, that would not contribute to mis-matched weight. Appliances, however, are all on the, "heavy," side. What this tells me is where to put the most weight when we load.

My wheels are 15x5 inch, and although I'd love to go up one size for load carrying, safe-margin, capacity, I don't think the wheels will take any more and there is probably insufficient wheel well clearance. Tentatively, now, I expect to end up with the same size new tires, of either Maxxis M8008's or the Gladiators that the local Les Schwab wants to sell me. I can get the Gladiators in load range D, but I don't think the wheels will stand going up to 65 pounds pressure. And I also can't find much feedback on Gladiator tires - I do know they make a lot of heavier truck tires.

Am I close to figuring all this right?

Thanks for listening,
Dennis in E WA state

[Ken / Claudia]

You need to check the truck axles front/back by themselfs both with the trailer attached and without. The rims will likely have wt. listed on them inside of rim (seen without tire) or out on the side somewhere. The tire dealer might even be able to look up the wheel by the maker,size etc. at get the information you need. Checking the side to side axle wt. is good to know but, likely not enough to change psi in tires unless it pulls or leans towards the heavy side. Maybe more helpful in loading stuff, lighter things on the heavy side. Lastly checking the axles one at a time will show if you have added or removed wt. from the front when hooked up to the trailer. Myself I found I added 1200lbs to the rear and removed 300lbs from the front so the hitch wt. was 900lbs not 1200lbs.

[BeerCan]

Checking weights is the best way I can think of to know what is going on with your trailer. I applaud you fro doing it right and not guessing.

I think your 2 choices for tires are good ones. The Maxxis have a good reputation and I have always had good luck with them. When researching for my current trailer the Gladiators came up often as a good tire to buy. I have no personal experience with them, but I ran across others that swear by them.

[DennisT]

Ken, you're right about breaking down my truck weights. I didn't think to check each truck axle when driving onto the scales. As far as unhooking the trailer and leaving it on the scales so it could be weighed independently, that would be the best of all for that single unit. Unfortunately, even though I went to the scales early Sunday morning, I didn't dare unhook and leave something blocking scale traffic - so I was sunk on that idea, which I actually did think of. (Although no one came along anyway)

Side to side weight differences would not have changed my tire pressure practice, but was helpful for balance of loading.

So when you, "removed 300 pounds from the front, " of your truck, you mean you, "tipped," back the weight distribution toward the rear because of trailer ball load. Sure, I would be doing the same thing. I don't think I'm going to worry about tongue weight - there's just not that much in the TT anyway, and I do think a lot of that full-fresh-water-tank-weight is somewhat forward of the axles; and we never travel with full fresh water anyway.

Beercan, thanks for the tire comment. I just couldn't find much on the Gladiators, and when I did the comments were often for slightly larger sizes of their tires. I stopped by Les Schwab again today. They said if they can find Maxxis tires, Les Schwab would not give them the same warranty service they give their other tires. They also mentioned they sell a lot of their Dynatrail tires for trailers and I have observed their employees use Dynatrail on their trailers. I'm looking closely at the local Schwab store as they have treated me very well, they are small, do a lot of farm tire work, and function a lot better than the city Schwab stores. Plus, the next tire store of any flavor for me is 55 miles away. So I might be looking closer at the Gladiators.

Thanks again,
Dennis