When purchasing a motorhome, you may not find a place to weigh your motorhome wheel
by wheel, as weighing experts recommend. However, you can weigh each axle. Then, you
can evaluate the placement of storage areas, liquid tanks, major appliances, slideouts,
generator, LP-gas tank, etc. to see whether the distribution of these heavy components could
cause problems. If the capacity is not reasonably distributed, you may have difficulty loading
the coach within its limits.
When buying or weighing a coach, you must have a good knowledge of your personal
weight carrying requirements. To help in your calculations, here are the approximate weights
(pounds per gallon) of the liquids motorhomes can carry:
water -- 8.3; A full 60 gallon water tank uses up nearly 500 pounds of your capacity!
gasoline – 5.6;
diesel fuel -- 6.8;
propane -- 4.2.
When determining your requirements, keep in mind that everything you put in the RV has
weight. We know from our weighing program that the average couple carries approximately
2,000 pounds of "stuff," and many full-timing couples may carry as much as 3,000 pounds.
Weighing your motorhome is critical to ensuring that no ratings limitations are exceeded.
Weighing by wheel position
Ideally, you will weigh the motorhome by individual wheel position. Considering the
multitude of floor plans, slideouts, generators, holding tanks and the location of storage
space available, RVs are frequently severely biased to one corner or one axle.
If you weigh your RV on a truck scale by axle and find that the vehicle is within GVWR, it
could be that the vehicle exceeds a tire rating, especially if the GAWR is equal to the sum of
the tire ratings, which is frequently the case.
Use a certified scale
To weigh your vehicle by individual wheel position, we suggest you use a certified scale.
"Certified" means that a qualifying agency inspects the scale periodically to verify its
accuracy. Most truck stop scales are certified, as are most grain elevators, co-ops, and other
scales used in various trades.
The key is to find a scale that permits you to place individual wheel positions on the scale
independently, while keeping the vehicle level and all wheels in the same plane. It is not
critical to have the wheel in a particular position on the scale, and do not be concerned with
what portion of the motorhome is on the scale and what portion is not. The individual
wheel loads will be the same regardless of your position on the scale, as long as you keep the
vehicle level.
Determining the loads
When weighing a motorhome in this manner, first determine the individual wheel loads,
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