Weighty matters

One of the issues that we had as a continuing problem with the Trek was that it was overweight on the rear axle - I think even as it was shipped from the factory. We were able to improve it a lot, but it constrained what we could carry and where. This was one of the factors that contributed to our desire to get a different rig. Before we purchased the Bluebird, Dwayne had it weighed at a CAT scale, and we were pretty convinced that we would not have weight issues with the Bluebird.

We had scheduled to go by Rainbow's End Escapees park in Livingston to get a "4-corner" weigh at the SmartWeigh - they actually weigh each end of each axle, so we got the weights of the coach on the ends of all 3 axles. Preparing for this required us to get the information about what the weight ratings were for our bus - which was "interesting" since the placard was installed in front of the cabinet facing the windshield. Thank goodness for smartphones to use "selfie"-mode to take pictures of things that you can't easily see.

We transferred this information to the form for the SmartWeigh:

You may not be able to see, but we have Load Range "L" tires - they are BIG and hefty!

Then Chris, at SmartWeigh, did the weighing and gave us our results:

We were well within limits on all axles. The only question mark was on the towing capacity; the label inside the bus (a different one from the picture I took) had indicated GVWR (Gross Vehicle Weight Rating) of 51700, and GCWR (Gross Combined Weight Rating) of 54700, only a 3000 pound difference. That would be what the tow vehicle could weigh. That really didn't make sense - it seems that the bus should be able to tow much more than that - but the hitch might be limited, so we would needed to check into that.

It turned out that we had already planned to take the bus to M&G to get the air braking component put into place so our tow vehicle would have proportional braking. While the technician was under the bus, he checked the hitch and said it was easily a 10000 pound hitch. So we have no worries there either!

Look at that service pit!

This gives us much peace of mind as we continue on our journeys!