I reported last time that my “empty weight” was 4060 lbs (1845 kg) for the car, which included 140 lbs (63 kg) on the hitch, and 680 lbs (309 kg) for the trailer axle. Seeing the total trailer weight at 820 lbs (373 kg) was a little surprising. I considered the following individual weights of its cargo:
- VW Spare Tire – 40 lbs
- 5 Gallons of Gasoline – 31 lbs
- Jack Stand – 5 lbs
- 1 Gallon of Water – 7 lbs
- E-Track Hardware – 10 lbs
- Empty 1/2-Height Husky Box – 20 lbs
Total cargo in the trailer for the outbound trip was ~113 lbs (51 kg). The real culprit? I hadn’t weighed the trailer since converting its deck to lumber and E-Tracks (+116 lbs or 52 kg), adding a truck rack and cargo basket (+100 lbs or 45 kg), and installing a load-bearing lid (+50 lbs or 90 kg). Those upgrades quietly added 266 lbs (121 kg) of forgotten weight to the trailer, bringing the actual empty weight to over 600 lbs (272 kg)!
Once we reached our final destination, my wife and I spent about two days at the estate garage sifting through her mother’s salvaged stuff in order to make three piles: load, ship, and donate.
My wife insisted on bringing home a cedar chest. It’s not terribly heavy, but the only suitable location to carry it was on top of the cargo basket. I had no intention of unstrapping and bringing it inside each evening. She understood that we’d wrap it in a moving pad and clear wrap, then seal a tarp around it for the move. From there, we’d hope that it was sufficiently weather-protected and that it was not interesting enough for someone to steal at any of our stops.
The cat was already with us and claiming prime real estate in the car. Available space is easy to see, but weight estimations can easily induce some errors! Several of the boxes that my wife wanted to bring home were full of photos or documents —PAPER— which is heavy! I used my mechanical scale to measure each box before loading. There came a point when I said, “That’s it… We’re capped!”
However, that wasn’t quite the end because she wanted to bring home some China, too. Putting China in a bumpy trailer is a bad idea, so I moved our luggage to one of the Husky boxes and carried the China in the rooftop cargo box for a smoother ride.
My next task before recoupling the trailer was to balance the load for appropriate tongue weight. My trailer already has a forward weight bias, largely in part due to its spare tire being carried in front. The truck rack biases forward a little, too, but just a little. I managed to get the tongue weight down to 150 lbs (68 kg). My estimate for total weight was just over 1000 lbs. Remember, I had not yet realized or considered the extra weight from trailer upgrades noted above.
We coupled the trailer and then returned to Medford to prepare for our big trip home. The next day, I took my combination to the scales to see the overall damage. I brought everything with me except for my wife, the cat, and a few small items that remained in our hotel room — none of which was with me when I weighed the outbound setup.
The trailer’s axle weight was 1040 lb (473 kg). Adding the 150 lbs from the tongue brought the total weight to 1190 lbs (540 kg). Figuring for another 10 lbs that wasn’t currently loaded put the tongue at 12.5%, a figure that I found very acceptable. In retrospect, I could have saved 35 lbs (16 kg) from the tongue if I had mounted my spare tire toward the rear end of the trailer. That would have yielded a nearly perfect 10% on the hitch!
The car itself was a different story at 4240 lbs (1927 kg)! The door placard shows a Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR) at 4255 lbs. “Whew! I’m IN!” But not really — the car would certainly be ~200 lbs or 90 kg overweight by the time we left with my wife, the cat, and other small items! The good news is that no single axle or wheel is loaded substantially more than another — the overage is distributed evenly.
Remember this for my car on a truck scale: “Steer Axle” is the car and “Drive Axle” is the trailer. The weight tickets indicate that the car gained 180 lbs (82 kg) and the trailer gained 360 lbs (163 kg) for a total gain of 540 lbs (245 kg). Again, the weights did not include my new passengers (<200 lbs extra for the car).
The extra weight is more of a problem for the car’s suspension than it is for the engine or brakes. Volkswagen America does not publish towing figures for the Golf/GTI, probably due to lawyers and American towing culture. However, Volkswagen UK publishes a Gross Combined Weight Rating (GCWR) of 7777 lbs or 3536 kg — I’m way under that at 5280 lbs or 2400 kg.
Of course, the full 7777-lb GCWR assumes that the trailer is equipped with brakes. However, my trailer is below VW UK’s 1400-lb (636 kg) requirement for brakes and it’s far below the trailer’s 2000-lb (900 kg) GVWR. This image shows the approximate weight loaded to each section of the trailer or rooftop.
There is risk, especially with the rainy forecast, but I practice sensible driving habits and don’t follow closely behind other vehicles. I’m confident that the car will be fine, especially with new tires all around and the GTI’s powerful brakes. Regardless, there’s bound to be a safety margin above the 4255-lb threshold — I seriously doubt that anything will explode at 4500 lbs gross vehicle weight or 5500 lbs gross combined weight! Right? 😀
In the next installment, we’ll hit the road for a quick visit to California and then head east. How does a heavily laden MK7 GTI handle wet mountain grades? Stay tuned!
“Maximum Effort!” (Deadpool)
Scott
