jcain

Anyone ever fill a water tank behind the axles to counter a slightly overweight tongue/pin on a 5vr?

jcain

Took a Cardinal to the scales today (before buying) because I knew it'd be really close! I loaded the truck with fuel and everything I travel with. I hit a CAT 3 times and came in 186, 172 and 198 lbs over payload each time. Upon returning to the dealer a mechanic suggested filling the fresh tank aft of the axles to unload the pin a touch. Just curious if anyone has done this? Advice? Suggestions? I was thousands of lbs under gvwr and gcvwr so I could afford the overall weight.

Dadrock33

well . . . technically, yes, you can fill the water tank if it is aft of the trailer's pivot points (the axles) but that might take a lot more water than you might think and you really need to plot this out first to see if it makes sense:
1 - how far aft of the axles does the tank sit? Save measurement for later.
2 - what is the maximum amount of water that the tank will hold (then calculate the weight - use 8.3 lb/gal of water)? So you need upwards of 200 lbs of "lift" - or minimum 25 gals of water - but wait, not done yet.
3 - use some your physics formulas to figure out the "lifting" effect - think of it this way [hypothetically] (i.e. if tank sits 10' aft of axle pivoting point and the tongue forward of the pivot point is also 10' long - then it's a 1:1 ratio of water weight down to "lifting" effect on the tongue [but increases the total weight towed] . . . ok? Now, we know that (more than likely) the tank isn't 10' aft of the axles so let's use 5' . . . . you now need twice as much water weight for that similar "lifting" effect, so you're up to 50 gals of water minimum . . . . use these simple ratios to work it out but as I think you can see, you are going to have to carry one heck of a lot of water pretty far aft to make up that weight differential . . . ..

question backatcha - any way to move some of the existing weight further aft? . . . thereby reducing your tongue weight and not increasing your overall weight

dereku

What about cargo in the truck and some airbags.

Airbags will raise the truck back up transferring more weight to the trailer axle and your front end. And shifting a little cargo out pf your truck and into the tt could help.

Just put your trucks spare tire in the tt all the way in the rear. Probably all you need.

ecobeest

Traveling with a wet system (WH and some H2O in FW tank) is the norm for most of us anyway. With that being said there's no reason why you couldn't up the anty by carrying even more FW.

Moving heavier items to the rear of the rig will have an impact as well. That's a bit of a tougher thing to acheive especially since most heavier items will be in the basement.

Twisty

"Airbags will raise the truck back up transferring more weight to the trailer axle and your front end." Not true.
Was the fiver empty/dry? If it was I'll bet that you'll be waaaay over when you get it packed for traveling.

93Cobra#2771

iTrader: (2)

There are some with rear H2O tanks that do fill them as a counterbalance. I would look at shifting some cargo back if possible.

Any cargo in the truck bed shifted to the fiver will help too.

Bags won't redistribute any weight, but they will firm the ride up if it is riding soft in the rear.

A7B2FX4

In a previous post re the Columbus brand you mentioned a payload of 2700 for your truck. Reading the Cardinal specs most of them are well north of 2000 pin wgt. You have also said you full time it. Seems like if you put items in the 5vr everything would have to be aft of the axles which would be a little awkward. The F250 is a good truck but probably not the right vehicle for the RV's you are looking at. Wish you well.

jcain

I was over payload but way way under on rawr and fawr. The mythical payload number for my truck makes no sense

11screw50

Yeah but if you're ~200# over with an empty 5er, you'll be way way over when loaded. Rule of thumb I've always heard for a TT is add 1000# to empty weight, a 5er is probably more since you've got that much more space. And pin weight on a 5er is a higher percentage too.

A lot of payload numbers make no sense...just like a lot of tow ratings don't either. They play games with the numbers to push you where they want you to be.