If you are towing a trailer, you have some important numbers to pay attention to – the tongue weight allowed by your ball hitch as well as the tongue weight restrictions your tow vehicle may have.
Now, most travel trailers will tell you the tongue weight “dry” – meaning before you load up your trailer with all the stuff you travel with. And if you add an extra propane tank or add extra batteries, then this can really up that trailer tongue weight.
But other than going to an RV store that may have the equipment available, how can you weigh your trailer’s tongue weight?
Believe it or not, a bathroom scale will work. But before you go and grab that fancy glass bluetooth scale, be aware that any scale made of glass will very likely break, even if you protect it with plywood or pieces of wood. Here is where the bargain basement old school style scale will work for you.
If you trailer is large, you will also want to make sure that the scale goes up high enough for your suspected weight, and a bit above that.
If you don’t mind shelling out a bit more money, there are some tongue weight scales available that are actually designed for the job. The two most popular models weigh up to 1000 lbs and up to 2000 lbs, and you can even get up to 5000 lbs.
They are designed small, so you can pop it in your trailer storage, and it will also give piece of mind while you are travelling, especially if you are adding additional weight to your trailer tongue, such as if you decide to add extra batteries or propane in the midst of a trip.
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