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tyka · 12-11-2012, 01:11 PM

I loaded our MA with everything we thought we would need for five months. Six chairs, round glass table, no rim spare tire, lots of clothing for two adults, books, lots of tools, 7 foot lader, huge satellite dish/tripod, a fair amount of of can food and a separate washer/dryer.

Had it weighed at CAT SCALES with a full tank of fuel and half a tank of fresh water and with us in the motorhome (325 lbs). Here are the results.

FRONT AXLE: 7,400 Rated for 8,500
REAR AXLE: 14,640 Rated for 14,500
TOTAL: 22,040 Rated for 22,000

We were overweight until we burned 7 gals of fuel

that's about one mile isn't it.

I thought this would be useful data for others as well.

DandS · 12-11-2012, 01:55 PM

Not sure why it would be useful to anyone but you but, the moral of your story is to check your loaded weight, know what your limits are, and adjust tire pressures accordingly. Don't think 40# over would make much difference. My question would be: Why on earth do you need to haul six chairs....just wondering.

tyka · 12-11-2012, 02:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DandS

Not sure why it would be useful to anyone but you but, the moral of your story is to check your loaded weight, know what your limits are, and adjust tire pressures accordingly. Don't think 40# over would make much difference. My question would be: Why on earth do you need to haul six chairs....just wondering.

Some new MACA owners were wondering a while back how much they could load because Newmar build's heavy with lots of cabinets and real wood.

FYI: Two low profile beach chairs, and four foldable table chairs to sit outside and use with the round table. We don't like to sit on picnick tables and like to have at least two chairs for guests. Wonder no more!

Sky_Boss · 12-11-2012, 02:32 PM

Obviously, you have 2 problems. Over GVWR and over the rear GAWR. burning 7 gals of fuel fixes the GVWR issue but not the rear axle because the fuel tank is near the front axle and won't take much weight off the rear axle as you burn fuel.

If you carried about 18-20 gals less water then you fix both issues at the same time. That would leave you about 3/4s of a tank of fresh water.

Of course, moving some items towards the front will help too. But keep in mind that if you move a 10# item from over the rear axle to halfway between your axles, you remove 5# off the rear and add 5# to the front. We have to do the same thing with our MH but it is difficult. The problem is that your rig will probably gain weight when out on a long trip so making sure you have some fudge room is a good idea unless you plan to weigh it regularly on your trip.

Another thought is why canned food? You should have access to groceries while on the road. Of course, that could be your fudge room as you shed used cans of food that acted as ballast.

Do you know what the original CCC was and perhaps do you have "empty" UVW axle weights? That would be interesting to see.

DandS · 12-11-2012, 02:36 PM

OK - thought you were talking about dining table chairs. We carry folding chairs too. Used to carry five dining table chairs and learned real fast they aren't used and just extra weight. I am wondering no more !

tyka · 12-11-2012, 02:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sky_Boss

Obviously, you have 2 problems. Over GVWR and over the rear GAWR. burning 7 gals of fuel fixes the GVWR issue but not the rear axle because the fuel tank is near the front axle and won't take much weight off the rear axle as you burn fuel.

If you carried about 18-20 gals less water then you fix both issues at the same time. That would leave you about 3/4s of a tank of fresh water.

Of course, moving some items towards the front will help too. But keep in mind that if you move a 10# item from over the rear axle to halfway between your axles, you remove 5# off the rear and add 5# to the front. We have to do the same thing with our MH but it is difficult. The problem is that your rig will probably gain weight when out on a long trip so making sure you have some fudge room is a good idea unless you plan to weigh it regularly on your trip.

Another thought is why canned food? You should have access to groceries while on the road. Of course, that could be your fudge room as you shed used cans of food that acted as ballast.

Do you know what the original CCC was and perhaps do you have "empty" UVW axle weights? That would be interesting to see.

Thanks for your input.
It's a gasser. Our fuel tank is in the back. Some can foods we need are not sold in the US.

CCC: 1,110# with two 154 lbs persons, fresh water and propane tank full. I forgot to mention we had a full LP tank.
UVW 19,769#

Sky_Boss · 12-11-2012, 06:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tyka

Thanks for your input.
It's a gasser. Our fuel tank is in the back. Some can foods we need are not sold in the US...

OBVIOUSLY I need a lesson in reading the full post and comprehending what was actually said and not what I thought it said.

Been looking at Newmar DPs so long...

Forget everything I said...

I should have seen that since my gasser has similar numbers but they just didn't click. However, your situation is why we are looking hard to upgrade our MH to a DP.

Our CCC is 1607# and loaded for part time we only have about 250# we can add to the rear axle even though we have about 600# left in GWR. We have as much of the heavy stuff pushed as far forward as possible too. We could carry less water but don't want to rely on that too much. Sometimes a full tank of good tasting water is worth it's weight in gold.

You seem to have done pretty will with just 1110#. You will still have to be careful because I still think MHs get heavier as a long trip continues.

Mr_D · 12-11-2012, 06:50 PM

Newmars are heavy due to their solid construction!

If anyone is looking at older DSDP's, get a scale weight before you buy!!

Our 2002 had an advertised NCC of about 5,100#'s so I wasn't too worried about adding options.

When it was delivered the actual CCC was 663#'s and ALL of that was on the rear axle as the front was overloaded by 50#'s if I filled the fuel and propane tanks and before we loaded anything or got aboard.

Newmar ended up having Spartan replace the original 12,000# axle with a new 14,600# unit. While in the shop, on the rack, Spartan tech's inspected the unit and wondered why Newmar derated the rear axle to 19,000#'s. Their considered opinion was that there was no need to derate it.

So I'm confidant that I picked up 1,000#'s on the rear axle and 2,600#'s (minus the add'l weight of the new axle) on the front. Still not going to carry a rock collection but it did help.