We picked this one up in July of 2020 with 20K miles on the odometer. 6.6L Duramax, 6 speed Allison, B&W turnover gooseneck hitch.
CK5
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Bertha - 2016 Chevy Silverado 3500HD
- Thread starter kennyw
- Start date
Of course, it didn't take long before Bertha was hauling home squarebody trucks for me.
After that, hauling stuff across country and a lot more squarebody trucks closer to home.
This year we picked up a 2025 Arctic Fox 811 LB camper and I have been setting things up to haul a truck to Blazer Bash this year.
I had the dealer that we bought the camper from replace the hitch with a Torklift Superhitch. I then added a 21" Torklift Supertruss extension and a B&W weight distribution system to my small, 10K trailer. It worked very well when I used it to head to a swap meet in March hauling a Unimog for a friend.
Over memorial day week, we loaded up again and headed out for the Midwest to visit family and attend my nephew's wedding. The first half of the drive out was going well until my wife found South Dakota very boring. In the middle of telling me how much she was not enjoying the trip that day, I saw a head appear in front of the passenger side headlight just before hitting a deer. I had to do some surgery to the inner fender in order to keep moving that night but it was still driving normal after that. The next morning, I was able to pull the bumper out a bit with the Tacoma, and we continued on.
Other than adding some duct tape to hold the headlight to the back of the broken housing, Bertha gave us no issues on the rest of the trip. I did go ahead and order a replacement bumper though. I also wanted to run across a scale and find out how heavy everything was. This scale was showing 500 lb before driving on and I wasn't sure if it was + or -500 though.
After that, I stopped at a truck stop scale because I thought the other scale was off high, turns out it was off on the low side. Overall numbers are within GVCWR, but the weight on the truck is a little over 2000 lb high for GVWR.
Once we made it home, I went ahead and got a scale weight without the trailer. I also no longerhad any water in any tank (400 lb) or the wife and dogs in the truck (undisclosed) which put the tongue weight at 1660 lb. So, I'm heavy on tongue weight by 500-750 lb. I can move the truck back on the trailer to help there.
After that the camper was emptied and taken to the dealer to fix some issues and the truck was emptied and dropped off at the body shop for repairs. Meanwhile, parts have started to arrive for the next phase.
Wednesday, I got the call that the truck was ready to pick up. I also had them repair damage to the passenger side dually fender my wife added some time back.
Thursday, I ran the empty truck across a scale with a full tank and driver. 8840 lb.
Then picked up the empty camper (but with propane tanks and batteries) and ran across the scale again with a full fuel tank and driver. 13140 lb
That puts the camper at 4300 lb. Quite a bit higher than the 2783 lb dry weight advertised by the manufacturer.
Thursday, I ran the empty truck across a scale with a full tank and driver. 8840 lb.
Then picked up the empty camper (but with propane tanks and batteries) and ran across the scale again with a full fuel tank and driver. 13140 lb
That puts the camper at 4300 lb. Quite a bit higher than the 2783 lb dry weight advertised by the manufacturer.
I love seeing HD trucks doing HD truck stuff.
So, in order to get the weight on the truck under control, I'm looking at selling my tilt deck equipment trailer and buying a 32-40 foot gooseneck flatbed and moving the camper off if the truck. 32 foot deck would be 40 foot long with the gooseneck and easier to camp with.
You tongue weight is worse than what you stated.
Look at the fully loaded weight your front axle was lighter because the tongue was pushing down on the back lifting the front.
I had offloaded my wife, dogs and 400 lb of water for the second scale. That is the reason the numbers do not add up. The weight distribution hitch also transfers weight onto the front axle from the rear. But either way, all of the tongue weight is split between the two truck axles.
Look at the numbers again, with all the loads including your wife the front was lighter than when the truck was empty.
Your weight distribution setup is not doing a good enough job
The math is simple.
22140 lb Truck with camper and loaded trailer
-6820 trailer axles
-13360 truck with camper and driver
-700 water, wife and dogs
= 1260 tongue weight
Alternately, you can get the same results looking only at truck axle weights.
(5260+10060)-(5440+7920+700) = 1260
You are correct that tongue weight reduces the front axle load with a bumper pull trailer. However , it does so by increasing the load on the rear axle. Notice the rear axle went from over 10K to under 8K as the front axle gained weight.
I did make a mistake coming up with the 1600 lb tongue weight figure. I'm actually closer to 15% instead of 20%. I can still back up the truck on the trailer and get closer to 10% tongue weight though.
22140 lb Truck with camper and loaded trailer
-6820 trailer axles
-13360 truck with camper and driver
-700 water, wife and dogs
= 1260 tongue weight
Alternately, you can get the same results looking only at truck axle weights.
(5260+10060)-(5440+7920+700) = 1260
You are correct that tongue weight reduces the front axle load with a bumper pull trailer. However , it does so by increasing the load on the rear axle. Notice the rear axle went from over 10K to under 8K as the front axle gained weight.
I did make a mistake coming up with the 1600 lb tongue weight figure. I'm actually closer to 15% instead of 20%. I can still back up the truck on the trailer and get closer to 10% tongue weight though.
Kenny
I know all that.
I just wanted to point out to you that your weight distribution setup either was not used or you didn't preload it enough
I thought you were saying the tongue weight was higher than the 20% I originally miscalculated. Backing the truck up a little on the trailer should help with the balance on the weight distribution along with taking weight off the tongue. Since it is hydraulic, I can also adjust it up or down as well using the scale weights as a guide. However, I'll never be where I want it as the camper is overloading the truck before I hook up the trailer.
A 36 foot gooseneck trailer with camper and CUCV looks like a good option. I have about 40" between the camper and truck on the trailer in this view leaving enough room to flip the rear ramps flat. I do not have a model handy for my tow rig, so I tossed in another stock squarebody to start with for scale.
