Excellent post! I was going to add rep points but FTE says I've given you too many.

When you consider tongue weights in the 500-1500lb range (for a bumper pull trailer, of any size/load) and you're talking 4-500lbs with your specific configuration transferred - thats a pretty big difference. But again - that transfer is only possible by getting that force through the ball, drawbar, and receiver.

Edit - you show 5720lbs drive axle loaded (no WD bars) and 3280 drive axle empty, no trailer. That is (5720-3280=) 2440lbs. extra on the drive axle with tongue weight loaded (no WD bars) - but there is more to it. Because of the distance the hitch is behind the axle, that weight isn't the "tongue weight". More over, the date between the loaded tickets and unloaded tickets is a month (loaded 7/5/18, unloaded 6/15/18) - so there is bound do be a difference in just fuel weight alone, then any gear in the back of the truck that was there when you were loaded and not there unloaded (or people, pets, luggage in the truck or not). Do you know what your tongue weight is??

In any event, its amazing how many people don't know what a scale ticket is and how to use them, or what they can show. This is exactly what they are excellent for. When I drove OTR (flatbed/specialized semis) 95% of the time a scale ticket was at the top of my load papers. Quick access for inspections (did save me from a ticket once - in more ways than proving weight - the quick access alone = "organized"), of course, but... over gross and over axles means a load shift or cut back at the shipper. If you've ever seen the real thin metal wire coils on a truck going down the road (like 1/4" to 1" round rolled steel coils - we call them "slinkys") - I hauled those all the time from Texas to Wisconsin and east to Boston. One of the routine places I picked up from was in the midwest and I changed up how I positioned the coils on the trailer from what "they" (shipper) wanted because I wanted the weight shifted differently. I can go 34k on the drive tandems and 40k on the trailer axles. The truck axles are a traditional tandem spread and the trailer has a 10ft axle spread. Because of the wider spread the legal capacity has an extra 6,000lbs head room. What that doesn't mean is an extra 6,000lbs of gross - I can still only go 80,000 (in theory - with EPU add another 400lbs, in most states - not all, or if there is a permit involved). The point is - I shifted the load backwards about 8-12" to favor that 6,000lb headroom. The guy loading didn't like that and argued with me up one side an down the other. It was my responsibility to ensure it was loaded correctly, not his, and as soon as I rolled away from the loading dock it was all my **** - not his. He never got over that... But I still kept loading the same way from then on. Yea, there was more weight in the "back", but I never had to worry about going over 34k on the drives. I nudged up over 80k before and ran fuel down to make weight, but thats another story...

I wish I had a scale to play with. There was a group of us that used to meet up in Millersburg, OH for some FTE truck pulls of sorts. There was a gravel yard up there with a drive-over scale we used. If I had a place like that accessible (permission + access) I'd use it all the time just for curiosity's sake weighing different configurations, loads, etc. Its one thing when you are in charge of your own configurations and loads (and can do all the work), its another when you are relying on another company, their schedule, and your loads require heavy equipment to move.... even if its a few inches of a shift. You can lose a whole day due to repositioning a load.

 

You have a good eye.....

The weight ticket from 6/15/18 was just the truck, a full tank of fuel, me in the driver's seat and the crap that lives under and behind the seats.

I wish I would have taken just the truck over the scales on 7/15/18 when I did the travel trailer. That day was on a trip out of town with the family and I was in a hurry to get to camp. The truck was heavily loaded with 2 adults, 2 kids, 2 small dogs, firewood, portable waste tank, large beverage cooler with over 60lbs of ice, fishing gear, large cooling fan, cinder blocks, etc. Because of that situation I don't know the actual tongue weight of my travel trailer. I can only guestimate the tongue weight. The GVWR of the trailer is 7682lbs the factory claims the hitch weight is 635 lbs. Add 2 x 20 lb bottles of propane, 1 battery, and a fully loaded front passthrough storage area and about 15 gal of fresh water located forward of the trailer axles and I would guess it's close 1200 lbs at the tongue.

We don't camp lightly and I would not be surprised if the trailer is over it's GVWR considering the amount of tongue weight the trailer feels like it has. I have a utility trailer that has 980 lbs tongue weight and comparing distance in travel of the rear suspension between the trailers is similar. I would guess the travel trailer is somewhere between 1100 and 1200 lbs at the tongue.

Looking at those weight tickets, take the drive axle weight without the bars 5720 and subtract 1200 lbs (for guestimate tongue weight) we get 4520. Then subtract the unladen drive axle weight of 3280 and we get 1240 payload. Between everything I had in the truck bed and other weight in the cab that sounds about right.

It's on my to do list to drop the travel trailer fully loaded on the CAT scale with the tongue jack sitting on the drive axle pads and see where it's at.