GD 398M Real World Pin Weights

[JinNTX]

Hello all,

Tried searching the forums to no avail so hoping some of y'all can help. Those of you with a 398M do you have any loaded/unloaded Cat scale tickets for your pin weights?

We've been looking into the 398M and while the GD website lists only a 2,980 lb. pin weight, I've reached out to GD several times now to find out if that's unloaded, loaded, loaded with what amount of weight in the tanks / garage / etc. and I just keep getting sent to the dealership who keeps just saying that "it's the pin weight". Very frustrated in trying to get some details.

My current tow vehicle has a 4,561 lb. payload so I want to make sure my paper math matches up to real worl.

[xrated]

Hello all,

Tried searching the forums to no avail so hoping some of y'all can help. Those of you with a 398M do you have any loaded/unloaded Cat scale tickets for your pin weights?

We've been looking into the 398M and while the GD website lists only a 2,980 lb. pin weight, I've reached out to GD several times now to find out if that's unloaded, loaded, loaded with what amount of weight in the tanks / garage / etc. and I just keep getting sent to the dealership who keeps just saying that "it's the pin weight". Very frustrated in trying to get some details.

My current tow vehicle has a 4,561 lb. payload so I want to make sure my paper math matches up to real worl.

Every published pin weight with Grand Design is an Empty weight. And what that means in real life is that those numbers are even before propane has been added to the tanks and a battery or batteries have been added at the dealership. So be assurred that the pin weight on the trailer will be a bit over 3000 lbs. Then, as you start adding in all the things that you would add to the trailer, the pin weight will go up, and up, and up. The 398M is a 20,000 lb GVWR trailer, and as such, if the trailer is loaded to that capacity or even pretty close to that capacity, you can reasonably expect pin weights in the 4000+ lbs range. And again, depending on what you load, where it's loaded, etc. Your current truck, even with a 4561 payload number is probably not going to be the best choice for a tow vehicle for that trailer. Pin weights on these 5ver camping type trailers will run anywhere from 20% to 24, maybe 25% of the weight of the trailer. Let's say it is only 20% and you are loaded up close to the GVWR of the trailer. So 19,000 lbs time 20% is for the pin is 3800 lbs. Then you will need to count the 5ver hitch weight....roughly 200 lbs. Now you are at 4000 lbs being put on the truck. That leaves you with 561 lbs for everything else that may go in/on the truck....passenger(s), extra fuel, firewood, toolbox with tools in it, .....anything and everything. It's easy to see that you might go over the payload of that truck. Take all those same numbers, but use the 22% for the calculation for tongue weight. 19,000 lbs times 22% is going to put you at almost 4200 lbs of pin weight on the truck....plus passengers, extra fuel, etc....all the things I mentioned in the first example. Do the math for 19,500 lbs and see where that comes out.

And the bottom line, in my opinion is that a trailer that large should never be towed with a SRW truck. If yours is a Dually, but just not in line with most duallies as far as payload capacity, you probably have an older truck. If that is the case, then think about this. That payload number for the truck was on the day it was brand new. If it's an older truck, how much have suspension components deteriorated, how has the truck been taken care of...what condition is the brakes....and so on. Personally, I would never tow a triple axle trailer that big with a SRW truck....even if the numbers were all just inside of all of the load capacities of the truck....and those include GVWR of the truck, Payload, FAWR, RAWR, GCVWR, Tire load capacity rating.

And one more item of note....No, I do not have that particular trailer, but I do have a Momentum 394 which has pretty much the exact same specs as the 398M...from the trailer weight, to the pin weight, to the GVWR for the trailer...20K lbs.

[huntr70]

That is a totally dry "average" weight.

The unit you are looking at may be higher or lower, depending on options. You know for sure it will go up, as the LP tanks are sent empty, and there are no batteries in it.