Critique my Cat Scale numbers, pls

Got the mostly fully loaded truck and trailer weighed yesterday. This was my first time weighing. Curious what your thoughts are and whether I should make any changes.

There weren't any humans in the truck when weighed but here are my numbers.
A little over half a tank of gas in the truck.
Running the Andersen WDH that might need some additional tweaking...

Thanks for the help.

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Need more weight on the truck is my initial reaction. Did you weigh empty? That front axle weight seems awfully light…

what’s the dry weight and GVWR on the trailer?

 

front axle weight might be low since there is more weight pushing down the back end?

 

Right. Ideally a WDH keeps the weight there or adds more weight - you should never lighten the front axle when towing.

 

Here's the vin tag:

 

Was thinking the same thing. Posted the weight on the trailer above. Did not weigh empty.

 

Weighing either the truck by itself or the trailer by itself would help so we aren’t guessing tongue weight. Shooting for 8-10% and knowing the trailer is at least 8,500lbs loaded - you should be looking for 700-850 lbs tongue weight while not lightening the front axle. You can measure the height of the front fender - unloaded to loaded it should never go up more than an inch.

 

And, if you load the truck with people for trips, you gotta weigh with those people and gear in the truck. Otherwise, you’re still guessing.

 

I'll try and get over there to weigh the truck. Friend of mine has a tongue weight scale that I'm going to try and borrow too.

Before WDH, front ride height had previously risen about 1" and rear was hitting bump stops on a test drive to a parking lot with a level surface where I could setup the WDH.
After WDH setup, the front rose maybe 1/8". Truck is sitting pretty level now at right about 37" front and maybe 37.5" rear when loaded with the trailer and WDH. Rear is mostly off the bump stops. A carpenter level on the trailer shows maybe a slight nose down orientation but it's small.

Yeah, the guy gave me weights w/o me in the truck. Most of the time I'm solo or with my 120 lb woman so the truck was light by 340ish lbs plus maybe another 50 for clothes, water and food.


On another note, called the local hitch / trailer place and they didn't seem concerned about the light front axle...

 

Updates:
1. Weighed the truck without the trailer and with my woman, dog, myself and some other stuff in the truck and bed. Full tank of gas. Results:
Steer Axle: 3,340 lbs
Drive Axle: 2,500 lbs
Total: 5,840 lbs

Compare that to the weights of the truck (dog and stuff were in the truck, 120 lb woman was not, 3/4 tank of gas) with the trailer and WDH setup:
Steer Axle: 2,760 lbs
Drive Axle: 3,500 lbs
Trailer Axle: 8,280
Total: 14,540 lbs

The front axle lost 580 lbs with the trailer.

2. Borrowed a Sherline Tongue Weight scale and weighed the trailer at the coupler at the approximate height that it sits when hitched to the truck. Looks to be 850 lbs tongue weight.

3. Re-checked the WDH. Turns out the chains were a little too long and I was at the end of the threads on the adjusters (Andersen WDH uses chains). I cut a link out of each chain. I should be able to crank the adjusters a few more threads now so hopefully will be able to get some more weight on the steer axle next time I hook up the trailer and setup the tension on the chains.

The Andersen WDH came with the trailer and was setup for a different truck (lifted F250) fyi.

Anyone have some thoughts on this?
How much weight should I attempt to get back on the steer axle? Should I be trying to hit 3,340 or just more than I have currently? Should I aim for more than 3,340?
Also, the 100 lb generator is 2' behind the coupler on the trailer. I can place that in the truck bed. Should I?

Thanks!

2008 Tundra rwd cat scale weights

 

I thought you were supposed to aim for returning the front axle to the same weight as before your trailer was hitched up. I think one member here transferred too much weight to the front and actually broke the hitch on his truck.

 

Thanks. I'll give it a try over the weekend.

 

For the OP, that looks ok, imo. If it tows well, you’re probably good to go. Just to check, if your tongue weight is correct - and it appears to be so - you move on to allowable tongue weight and distribution. Allowable tongue weight is usually 500ish lbs on the hitch without weight distribution, and 1,000+ with wd, so you need weight distribution. The correct amount of wd force is determined by before and after height measurements. The acid test final answer is how does it drive? Too much sway? Move weight forward on the trailer. Can’t steer for shit? Move weight aft on the trailer. Careful with that one though, be sure to avoid too much sway.

 

Here’s a recent one of ours with total weight similar to OP. Truck tows nicely like this. Truck weight (known empty weight plus us and stuff) was about 6100, which puts our trailer near 8000. You can see the trailer axles are close to 7100, which means 900 is on the hitch. That’s all good. I don’t know the empty truck axle weights with and without wd, which would be admittedly super helpful, but here’s only a 760 lb difference in the truck axle weights with 900 on the hitch and it tows without a thought.

 

Thanks Mookie - and everyone else

Had my first tow a few weeks ago. Went pretty well. I did crank the nuts on the WDH chains tighter (getting more weight on the steer axle) after my post on 8/31 for that trip and that improved steering feel. Still felt a bit uncomfortable over a long bridge crossing with the wind blowing me around a bit but the rest of the ride was decent.

The stock rear suspension is a bit too soft for this much weight imo. HP/TQ and brakes were adequate. I might try some stronger leaf springs since mine have 170k miles or airbags or some of the other add-on spring options. Still need to research that. Or go to a 3/4 - 1 ton if prices normalize and I can find a decent deal.

I didn't have time to get weights after the last adjustment though. When I have some time, I'm going to try this while at the scale place try a few changes and get to a repeatable formula.

You really do need to understand how to set this up yourself. The tow hitch places and trailer maintenance/sales places can set you up with a baseline but no way are they going to scale it, test the settings on a tow, adjust, reweight, retest. It was rather time consuming to learn this and test different settings but the results were worth it. Now I understand what's going on and can adjust this stuff so that I'm towing more safely.