Pin Weight Analysis

[RVRunners]

Hello all. More information on real world pin weights for these campers. Ours is a 2017 Reflection 367BHS. The two scale tickets in the photos helped me ascertain the pin weight for our rig. The July 7 ticket includes me, the fifth wheel, two teenagers, my wife, the dog, around 70 gallons of fuel (truck has a 48 gallon tank plus a 33 gallon auxiliary tank in the bed = 81 gallons total capacity) and my assortment of tools in the truck. The November 2 ticket is just me, my assortment of tools and around 55 gallons of fuel.

You will see the July ticket has the truck at 13220 lbs. and the November ticket shows it at 9140 lbs. With the difference at 4080 lbs. and taking away the extra occupants and fuel on board in July (95 lbs. for the dog, 106 lbs. for the additional 15 gallons of diesel fuel and 425 lbs. for the wife and two teenage girls for a total deduction of 626 lbs.) leaves an estimated pin weight of 3454 lbs. The truck is a DRW F-350 with 14000 GVWR, 9900 RAWR, 5900 FAWR and 5507 payload so when you compare to the July ticket I am good to go on all ratings. You can see where a SRW F-350 or F-250 could leave you coming up short in one or more areas very quickly.

Today on the GDRV app the hitch weight for the 367BHS is listed at 2509 lbs. To be fair to I must say we are not shy about filling the front storage (basement) compartment and the front closet in the cap to the brim. The difference in my estimated pin weight and the GDRV marketing pin weight is 945 lbs and I would say our contents in the camper could certainly account for half of the difference if not a little more.

Happy Thanksgiving!

[xrated]

Good job going through the weighing process. As you know, the only true way of knowing is to do exactly what you did. In all fairness, the published pin weight numbers, in this case, 2509 lbs for that model is ALWAYS the empty weight of the trailer as it was built by the manufacturer.....and that number doesn't even included propane tanks, propane, or batteries. The problems usually happen to people that either don't know or aren't aware of that fact. Also, many folks do not realize that the pin weight will increase dramatically as the trailer is loaded. To me, when trying to calculate truck/trailer scenarios and whether a certain truck will work with a certain trailer, it is a "best practice" to use the GVWR of the trailer, assume at least 20-22% of that weight and use that as a worst case pin weight number, then size the truck accordingly. Also making sure that you add up all of the additional weight that will go in on the truck....passengers, extra fuel, toolbox with tools, 5ver hitch, firewood, etc,etc. If that total number and the pin weight number doesn't exceed ANY of the truck's weight ratings, you should be good to go....assuming the truck is in good mechanical condition.

[Boom 'r Bust]

Good job going through the weighing process. As you know, the only true way of knowing is to do exactly what you did. In all fairness, the published pin weight numbers, in this case, 2509 lbs for that model is ALWAYS the empty weight of the trailer as it was built by the manufacturer.....and that number doesn't even included propane tanks, propane, or batteries. The problems usually happen to people that either don't know or are aware of that fact. Also, many folks do not realize that the pin weight will increase dramatically as the trailer is loaded. To me, when trying to calculate truck/trailer scenarios and whether a certain truck will work with a certain trailer, it is a "best practice" to use the GVWR of the trailer, assume at least 20-22% of that weight and use that as a worst case pin weight number, then size the truck accordingly. Also making sure that you add up all of the additional weight that will go in on the truck....passengers, extra fuel, toolbox with tools, 5ver hitch, firewood, etc,etc. If that total number and the pin weight number doesn't exceed ANY of the truck's weight ratings, you should be good to go....assuming the truck is in good mechanical condition.

Actually the factory hitch weights include the empty propane tanks. I confirmed this with GD customer service before buying my 5th wheel. All units come from GD with empty tanks but no battery. They told me to add 120lbs to the hitch wt to account for the dealer supplied battery and propane gas.