Where do I weigh my rig?

[teachndad]

Hi,

I was reading more of the threads in this forum and from time to time people mention that they weighed their rig - TV with trailer.

Where does one go to get their rig weighed? Are they gov't run or private? Are there any costs involved? I am in Southern California in the west end of the San Fernando Valley - if that helps.

I have seen a sign marking a scale on the side of the 14 freeway just past Placerita Canyon northbound, but I seldom go out that way and have never checked it out. I only mention that in the rare chance that someone reading this is familier with the highway I mentioned. This is not one of those scales that truckers use to weigh their 18 wheelers that is run by the Highway patrol.

Cheers

Rod W

[komondor]

Look for places that sell rock or sand they all have scales to weigh the trucks

[topspy]

After doing a Google on [public scale california]:

CA Dept of Food & Agriculture Listing of Privately-Owned Public Scales:
http://www.cdfa.ca.gov/dms/programs/...lelisting.html

And the CA DMV offers this advice:
"You can find a public scale by looking under "Weighers?Public" in the yellow pages of your local telephone directory."

Shop around...

Good Luck!! 8)

[brian_bp]

I just use the highway scales which are provided to enforce weight limits for commercial trucks. They are free here in Alberta, in British Columbia, and in various other provinces and states. A discussion in another forum suggested that they are not free - or even available to recreational users - in California, so that likely leaves following the suggestions from topspy.

One company with a chain of many commercially operated (weigh for a fee) scales which are available to the public is CAT Scale. They have a locator feature on their web site, and offer a location list to be downloaded. I've never used their services, so I have no idea if they are good or reasonably priced, but they're so common it seems likely that they are reasonable, and I know that other people with travel trailers have used them.

[shineysideup]

I recently weighed my van and trailer at a flying J. You can look them up online and see if they offer that service for that particular flying J. It cost me $10 Canadian... I went in to the store, inquired about weighing my rig, got a phone number (the phone at the scales wasn't working - didn't matter anyway, I couldn't get out because of the barriers on each side of the vehicle) drove to the scales and put the front van axle on the front pad, the back van axle on the second pad and the trailer axles on the third pad (I could not separate the trailer axles and the van axles, after all it is setup for a transport!). I used my cell and called, she gave me a truck and trailer number and I got the results when I paid. Quite painless, the scales seemed really tight even for a van and trailer!

good luck,

shineysideup

[brian_bp]

I wondered about Flying J because there is one near me; according to their location listing, it does have a "J-scale". Coincidentally, another truck stop directly across the street from it has one of only two CAT Scales in the whole province (for those not from here, note that Alberta is huge and filled with heavy trucks). An ad which I found on their web site shows a price of $7.50... presumably U.S.

An advantage of paying for a commercial scale - rather than my free method - is that they provide a printout. Highway scales where provide a printout while they are attended, but I don't know if that is only for commercial trucks, and I tend to visit them outside of their working hours anyway (they leave the scale and display turned on).

[kschachn]

Another place you may consider is a landfill. The one that takes our trash is open on Saturdays for dropping off stuff, and they let me weigh our van for free. It was a platform scale so you didn't have to weigh each axle individually. Of course it usually weighs full garbage trucks, so I'm not exactly sure just how accurate it was for a van. But it seemed close and it's probably OK.

[shineysideup]

the landfill could be a good start for the overall weight of the rig... Personally I wanted to weigh each axle of my setup. I was looking for an overall weight and each axle weight... (checking tire capacities, axle capacities etc.)

[brian_bp]

I think that any weight information is better than just guessing, but I agree that individual axle loads are important, and I insist on them for myself.

The other problem with the landfill/dump scale here is that there is a minimum dump fee, and the scales are at the entrance and exit gates, so there would be no way across the scales without paying the minimum fee... which is just as much as a commercial scale. Of course, if you have to haul stuff there anyway, you might as well note the (exit) weight as a bonus!

The precision of truck scales - including the highway scales here and I believe commercial truck scales in general - is increments of ten kilograms or twenty pounds. I think that's remarkably precise for many tons of capacity, and good enough for our purposes. It isn't very good for tongue weight, because getting the tongue weight normally means taking the difference between other measurements, and the more readings which are combined, the more error accumulates. I use a bathroom scale or hydraulic cylinder and pressure gauge for the tongue weight.

[schmuly]

I live 10 miles north of the US border in BC. There is a highway scale for commercial trucks, but they are only open 50% of the time. Only being 2 miles from my house, I have used the scale all the time.
1. In winter I add gravel to the back of my 4x4 so the weight is at 50/50 with a full tank of fuel (great handling on ice and snow)
2.Put tongue jack of trailer on scale to get tongue weight.
It is an axle scale but there is enough room on the side to weigh each tire separately.