New Voltage 3950 owner with some weight info

[BHCVoltage]

Hello all. New member here and just bought a 2014 Voltage 3950 Epic III with full body paint. I'm a commercial vehicle enforcement officer and have certified portable scales. I weighed the trailer and TV and wanted to share what I discovered.

My TV is a 2008 Ford F450 Lariat 4X4 with 4.30 gears. The hitch is a B&W turn over ball with the 20K Companion hitch. The weights, with full water, fuel and LP, as well as our two Yamaha Bruin 350 quads, two mountain bikes, clothes and food for four days, were as follows:

TV with no passengers full fuel and hitch:

Front axle- 5150 lbs
Rear axle- 4100 lbs Total 9250

Rear axle with trailer- 8,100

Pin weight 4,000 lbs

3950 weights were as follows:

Front axle, left side- 2750
right side- 3400 Total 6150

Center axle left side- 3000
right side- 3600 Total 6600

Rear axle, left side- 2950
rear axle- 3750 Total 6700


Total trailer weight 19,450 lbs

TV and trailer weight 28,700 lbs

Throw me and the missus in at 400 lbs and we're over 29K!!

So, I guess the moral of this story is that these things are HEAVY!! You really need to be aware of the weights so you can make the right choice for a TV. The "oh yeah, you can tow that with a 3/4 ton" salesman line is just that, a line for a sale!!

Anyway, I know this was a bit long winded but hopefully this'll help someone in a decision making mode!!

[calewjohnson]

Thanks for the info! We are getting our 2014 Voltage 3950 this weekend. I have a 2015 F350 with the 14k GVWR package...glad I went that route! I will be running close to that if I run with my 100 gallon TransferFlow tank filled, will have to pay attention and plan diligently.

Thanks again.

Cale

[DesertRat]

I was a City Fleet Manager for many years. Had a class "A" license also for many years. When looking for a toyhauler with the truck I have I know what it can tow. Also know what it can tow legally & safely. That's why I bought the V3605 it's with in the safe & legal range. On vacation this past summer I sure saw ones that weren't.
If you haven't weighted your rig it a easy thing to do. Most all truck stops have scales that you just drive up on & park. Go inside pay your $10.00 or so & they will give you a read out of total weight. It will also show the weight on the front & rear axle of you tow vehicle and the weight on your tow axles of your trailer.

[calewjohnson]

Originally Posted by DesertRat

I was a City Fleet Manager for many years. Had a class "A" license also for many years. When looking for a toyhauler with the truck I have I know what it can tow. Also know what it can tow legally & safely. That's why I bought the V3605 it's with in the safe & legal range. On vacation this past summer I sure saw ones that weren't.
If you haven't weighted your rig it a easy thing to do. Most all truck stops have scales that you just drive up on & park. Go inside pay your $10.00 or so & they will give you a read out of total weight. It will also show the weight on the front & rear axle of you tow vehicle and the weight on your tow axles of your trailer.

Scales are easy and accessible...I carry my weight tickets in my glove box for reference, always good to have. Since I will be just enough in the Voltage for being camping ready when we pickup on Saturday, I will be doing a weight with full tanks of fuel. Then I can adjust fuel amounts for future toys.

Cale

[azdryheat]

Welcome to the forum and your calculations are flawed. You added your 3 axle weights together and came up with the total weight of the trailer of 19,450? You forgot to add in the 4000# pin weight. Your total trailer weight should be 23,450, according to your calculations. Add in your 9,250 truck and you're at 32,700. Add in you and the missus and the grand total is 33,100.

If I were you I would go to a certified truck scale and recheck those weights as the weights you give are way off the charts. The dry weight of a 3950 is around 15,000 - 16,000 lbs. If your numbers are correct then you have around 7,000 pounds of stuff packed in there? Seems very extreme to me.

[4wlow]

I agree these units are heavy. I am also a commercial vehicle and weight enforcement officer and have a 3200. I recently weighed it packed up for a week trip with two motorcycles and approx. 30 gallons in fuel and water. The unit weighed in at 18100 axle and pin weight. Unit was weighed using certified portable scales.

[calewjohnson]

Originally Posted by 4wlow

I agree these units are heavy. I am also a commercial vehicle and weight enforcement officer and have a 3200. I recently weighed it packed up for a week trip with two motorcycles and approx. 30 gallons in fuel and water. The unit weighed in at 18100 axle and pin weight. Unit was weighed using certified portable scales.

Just curious, what was your pin weight before and after? As I will be picking up my first FW, I am not well versed on how the weight translates through the setup....I understand bumper pull and WD setups, that is what I was raised on.... I know how to add weight to the trailer and keep the tongue weight about the same....though it seems that a FW is a different beast all together.

Cale

[4wlow]

Pin weight packed for a trip is 3100. Adding two motorcycles made it 2800. Of course the numbers will depend on the weight of the motorcycles.

[BHCVoltage]

Okay, thanks for the replies. I thought it was way heavy. I'll have to check it on a regular scale when I have it out again. The weight on the VIN tag is 15980 with the LP bottles full. Figure 8 lbs a gallon for water- 1280 lbs and 6 lbs a gallon for gasoline- 360 lbs, plus the quads at 560 each- 1120. This should add up to around 18740 lbs.

I'll update new weights when I can get them... Thanks again for the help... John