Sustainability

RECREATIONAL VEHICLES

Heavy-Weight Vehicles

RV tires have different uses and life spans than the tires on sedans, light trucks, CUVs and SUVs. Weight has the biggest impact on proper tire maintenance. Extreme care must be paid to the type of tire and proper tire inflation.

This section explains how to weigh such large vehicles to ensure they are not overloaded. Understanding individual axle and gross vehicle weight is important.

Weighing In

Where to Find Scales

Look for scales at moving and storage companies, farm suppliers, gravel pits, recycling companies or commercial truck stops. Call beforehand to ensure the facility offers public weighing services, note its hours of operation and verify any fees that might be involved.

How to Use Scales

There are different scale types, such as single platform, segmented platform (that can make several measurements at the same time) and single axle. Ask the scale operators for help, and explain that you need to know the weight on each axle end with the vehicle as level as possible. Regardless of scale type, you must be able to determine the overall weight, the right- and left-side weights for each axle and the weight on each individual axle from front to rear.

Weigh Fully Loaded

For accuracy, you must weigh the vehicle with all your passengers, food, clothing, fuel, water, propane and supplies. Any towed car, pickup, boat or trailer, and dirt bikes or motorcycles that are loaded onto the towed vehicle must be included in the weighing.

Be Prepared

It may take half an hour or more to weigh your vehicle. Take notes so that you will have a record of all the vehicle, axle and tire weights. Depending on what you learn, it may be necessary to remove or redistribute part of the load, then weigh the vehicle again.

How Much Should It Weigh?

The maximum weights for your vehicle will appear on the vehicle sticker attached somewhere to your RV, often inside the kitchen cabinets or near the entry door. The tire capacity sticker will be somewhere near the rear hitch, engine compartment or on the inside door frame. The weight sticker should tell you the Gross Axle Weight Rating (GAWR) for each axle and the Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR) for the whole vehicle. These stickers will also have information about the correct tire and rim sizes and recommended cold tire inflation pressures. If you exceed the Gross Vehicle Weight Rating, you must remove part of the load until you are within the legal limits.

Knowing the Correct Axle End Loads

The maximum load on each axle end is half the Gross Axle Weight Rating for that axle. You must not exceed the total Gross Axle Weight Rating for any axle, or the maximum for any axle end. Even if the entire vehicle does not exceed the Gross Axle Weight Rating, a given axle end might be overloaded. In that case, you must redistribute the load.

If an axle end has dual tires, the load on each tire is half the load on the axle end. Never exceed the maximum tire load rating that is molded into the tire’s sidewall (along with the inflation pressure for that load). Never exceed the maximum load or inflation pressure rating of your wheels.

Find the Recommended Inflation Pressure

Use the RV manufacturer’s recommendation (which you will find on the tire information placard). Never use inflation pressures lower than those printed on the vehicle placard.

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