The Jeep Dolly

Hickey

Burn-barrel enthusiast
Supporting Member
I started installing lights on the trailer after mounting this tongue box. I got pretty lucky with this box, I didn't plan on a tongue box at all and I've had this one laying around for ten years. It fit the opening perfectly.
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I still haven't weighed it at a proper scale, but I did weigh the tongue with a bathroom scale. It has a 179 lbs empty tongue weight. That was before the box on the front was mounted.
 

Hickey

Burn-barrel enthusiast
Supporting Member
Well today was the maiden voyage of the Jeep Dolly, and let me tell you... I built a damn sweet trailer. 😎

That sucker is stable AF, even in bumpy damn roads at high speeds. I did get a tiny little sway at one point, but I blame that on 3 things.

A damn bumpy road
A long sweeping curve
90 MPH.

But really, it was steering input causing that sway because of that stupid bumpy road. And really, it was barely any sway. My dump trailer sways just as much.

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I put about 250 miles on it today and averaged 12 MPG. Probably could have done better if I wasn't going warp speed, but that is 1 mpg better than towing the Jeep in my dump trailer.

On the way home I scaled the truck and loaded trailer on one ticket, then disconnected from the trailer and generated another scale ticket. This tells me the approximate tongue weight and total weight of trailer with Jeep on it.

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This tells me that my tongue weight is 780 lbs and the empty trailer weight is around 1,200 lbs. I have to go back tomorrow and scale it again without the Jeep to verify that weight.
 
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Hickey

Burn-barrel enthusiast
Supporting Member
We have final weights for the trailer. Once again, I weighed the truck and trailer twice. Once hooked together, and once decoupled.

The trailer with tool box and tie downs is 1,240 lbs. I would say the tie downs are over 50 lbs total, so the trailer itself is definitely under 1,200.
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You'll also notice that the gross weight changes by 20 lbs. Most truck scales measure in 20 lbs increments. They are also allowed to be up to 2% off and still be considered accurately calibrated, so the weights on truck scales can vary slightly.
 

Hickey

Burn-barrel enthusiast
Supporting Member
Badass!

Side note, how are you getting those weighs for $2.50? That’s like, 1/3 or 1/4 of what I’ve been charged
They are re-weigh charges. I'm not sure what the time limit is, but the first weigh is $12, and re-weighs after that are $2.50 until the time runs out. Maybe 24 hours? I used the CAT scale app on my phone and it gives you the re-weigh option. It's a very convenient app for this type of thing. Doesn't do me a damn bit of good at work because of their payment processes.

If anyone else is interested in using that app, make sure you set it up with your payment options before getting on the scale. You don't want to tie up the scale too long. I used PayPal for mine.
 
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