Trip to the CAT scales

[Kookie]

I have always been curious as to how well the dealer set up my hitch when we took delivery of our Jayco 23MDS a couple years ago. I have a 2001 F150 5.4V8 355:1 Automatic 2WD. What really got me wondering was when I came to a stop one day and my front tire slid through a patch of sand that was on the road. So since I recently replaced the tires on my truck to a set that are about 1/2", taller I decided to take the time and actually go through the instructions for setting up my Husky Centerline WDS. I went to an empty parking lot that was about as flat as possible with a tape measure, wrenches, and the printed out instructions from the website. I went through the procedure methodically taking all the measurements and making adjustments as needed. I had the trailer loaded with fresh water and all but a few small things that we normally take camping and the truck was loaded with chairs, folding tables, extra oil, 5 gal. gas can, and 3500W inverter generator.
After I got the hitch set up as close to the parameters as possible I made a trip to the CAT scales and ran it across 3 times. Once with the WDH hitch installed, once with the WDH hitch disconnected and once with the truck only.
I put together an excel spreadsheet with all the weights as well as capacities of both the truck and trailer. I had to calculate the trailer gross and tongue weight so I'm not so sure about them. I'll try to post a pdf of the spreadsheet and see what kind of feedback you all can give me.

[SOMBATFAMILY]

Great spread sheet and good looking numbers. You can probably lighten the load on the front of TV by increasing the tension on your WDH spring bars and that will put a little bit more TW on your TV front axle. You can also shift some weight around on your trailer to get less tongue weight. I think 15% TW is over kill, especially for your size trailer. If you're satisfied and it towed great then don't do anything else to it.

[Kookie]

Thanks for the feedback! I had the hitch in several different positions and found that any more tension raised the nose of the trailer an inch or more higher than the rear. I settled on this set up because it kept the front of the truck closest to the original measurement without nosing up the trailer so much. Lowering the ball and increasing tension didn't get me the results I was looking for either.
I weighed the rig with a full fresh water tank mainly to know what the GCW was as well as how much tongue weight I would end up with. I usually travel with about 1/4 tank of fresh water for taking care of business at potty breaks and such and fill up the tank at the campground before setting up if we are dry camping. I can also lighten the load on the truck a hundred or so pounds if I know I wont need a generator and gas can.
I did tow the trailer about 30 miles each way to the CAT scale and it felt stable at towing speed and handled well going down a 3 mile 6% descent at speed with a few moderate curves in the road.
Thanks again for your input!

[Rustic Eagle]

Kookie,

Welcome to JOF

If you get a chance feel free to post your 23MDS "scaled" tongue weight results at the following JOF thread:

https://www.jaycoowners.com/forums/f...t-57188-2.html

Bob

[wabirch]

Thanks for the template on weight results, cat scales soon on my list