gross weight questions

I weighed truck and trailer yesterday and learned quite a lot. The only thing not in trailer, that we usually take, is refrig food. Also, I filled the 56 gal freshwater tank. My gross sticker on trailer is 12,500 and my actual weight was 9720 all good there. My problem is gross pick up weight Im good for 9200 and weighed 8940 with just me (no family and nothing else in the bed). My question to you guys is if I dump the 56 gallons of water (448 lbs in the very back of trailer) how much will I see less in the pin weight?? All individual axles are not even close to the max rating but the gross truck weight is.

Is that the weight of the truck hooked up to the trailer? I'm assuming that it is since I can't imagine an empty truck pushing the GVW limits like that. It'd help to know all the weights. For example, the last time I weighed my truck and trailer I was a total of 18,800 with 5,220 on the front axle, 5,520 on the rear axle and 8,060 on the trailer axles. Unhooked, I was 9,160 with 5,180 on the front axle and 3,980 on the rear, giving me a pin weight of 1,580.

But here's a swag, if your water tank is at the rear of the trailer, I'd say that emptying the tank would put more weight on the pin since you'd be having less leverage pushing down on the back, so you'd increase the weight in the truck. Where is the rest of the cargo in your trailer, if it's up front, you need to move the weight back in the trailer, that'll put more weight on the trailer axles and off the truck.

Hope this helps.

truck weight steer 4380 drive 3180 gross 7560
truck and trailer steer 4440 drive 4500 trailer axle 8400 gross 17340
Up front cargo I have the spare, 2 batteries, 5 lawn chairs, a 3 burner stove and a 1000w generator

Well, your pin weight does not seem to be excessive at 1,380 lbs (14% of trailer weight, target is 10-15%). Your front storage does not seem all that much (can't be more than 100-150 lbs), what about the distribution of the stuff inside your trailer?

Still, the only way to lighten the truck is to move stuff in the trailer aft and not being familiar with your trailer model, I can't say if that is practical or not.

On my last trip down the west coast loaded for two weeks of travel I was just 50 pounds under my GVW on the truck. This was with the family and everything that I bring. I would certainly like to have more available payload left over but I am not too concerned with my numbers.

The wildcat pulls great. I have only made one trip without it being loaded and that was to bring it home. I have gone both with and without water and it makes no difference in ride or handling. I have also been full water and the bunk room loaded with 12x14 wall tent, 120qt ice chest full and other elk hunting essentials, and in pick up bed 4000w gen and two smaller ice chests full and extra space filled with fire wood with no problems in handling. I am having a hard time figuring out why a 27bh is so close to the limit of my truck when I have ALOT of weight left in every other category.

Don't know if I am right; but here is how I think of it. The various numbers are limiting factors for different tasks. The GCWR is how much your total rig can weigh; this comes into play more for bumper pull trailers since the truck carries less of that weight. For 5th wheels the limiting factor becomes how much you can carry (GVWR). The axle ratings come into play if you are putting a lot of the weight on one axle (say, a snow plow). Those numbers are not necessarily related in a particular situation. Whichever one you are over or near is the limit. The others do not matter.

Glen, I think you are spot on. I have 1900# left on the back axle but only 260# left on the truck. Seems like the gross truck rating should be the front + rear.

There's more to GVW than adding up axle capacities, there's also what the suspension, frame, brakes, etc. are capable of . . .