WEIGHING YOUR TRAILER
The diagram below shows how to weigh the trailer on scales.
The allowable personal cargo must be distributed in your trailer in such a manner that the Gross Axle Weight Rating is not exceeded.
To determine this, it is necessary to load all of your allowable personal cargo and variable weights. Then hitch the trailer to the tow vehicle with load equalizing hitch properly adjusted as shown on the following pages.
Place the trailer on a scale with both axles only on the scale (see illustration). If the weight on the axles exceeds the axle system G.A.W.R. then some of the personal cargo must be redistributed forward in order to place some of this weight on the tongue.
The tongue weight should be in between 10% - 15% of the trailer’s total weight, and must not exceed the tow vehicle’s or the hitch’s maximum weight rating. To determine tongue load, unhitch tow vehicle and place the tongue hitch post on a scale. The trailer must be properly loaded as determined above, with your allowable personal cargo and variable weights.
Use a scale, such as a bathroom scale, that has a lower weight limit than your tongue
TOWING YOUR AIRSTREAM
load, to check the tongue weight by using the following method (see illustration). Place a piece of wood of approximately the same thickness as the bathroom scales on the ground in line with the trailer hitch jack as shown. It should be so spaced that
a short piece of pipe or other round piece will lay exactly one foot from the centerline B of the jack extension. Place the scales so that another round piece can be exactly two
feet from the centerline of the jack extension in the other direction. Place a 4 x 4 on the two round pieces and screw the jack extension down on the top of the 4 x 4 until the tongue of the trailer is supported by it. Multiply the scale reading by three. This will be the tongue weight of your trailer. If you exceed the capacity of the bathroom scales, increase the
CAUTION: Be sure trailer is level when you read scales.
B - 4
