At 02:38 PM 5/26/2010, Mike \"Rocket J Squirrel\" wrote:
>got a weight of 5,126 lbs for a Westy. It's only 3,850?

5,269 GVWR (i.e. maximum loaded weight).  Look on the badge on the
upper part of the driver's door frame.  GAWR is Gross Axle Weight
Rating, likely around 2644 front and 2866 rear.

Curb weight is what you measure (or find) with furniture, fuel and
such aboard, but nothing else.  Might have to look around a bit to
find what it is for a Westy.  It's possible if a bit tedious to
measure one wheel at a time with a bathroom scale and:

Two by ten about 11-12 feet long, stiffening battens applied if
necessary above or below.
Another short piece ditto to rest the wheel on.
Three pc black iron pipe or hardwood dowel an inch and a half or so
diameter as long as the width of the plank.
Some means of making smallish locating groove in the plank.  A 2"
sanding drum would likely be great.

Mark off ten feet with overhangs on one side of the plank.  Carry one
of the marks all the way around and make another mark one foot
inboard from that on the other side.

Mark half an inch or so on either side of each mark, and cause a
rounded groove to appear therein, centered on the original
marks.  For the bottom you can split one dowel and fasten it directly
to the plank in the correct places.

Once you have your groove on the upper side, take the small bit of
lumber and *working across the grain* make a corresponding groove
roughly in the middle (for pipe) or fasten another piece of
half-dowel to it instead.

To use it, place one end on a hard support and the other end on a
thin plank laid on top of the bathroom scale.  Record the
reading.  Then place the upper support in its groove, inserting the
pipe if necessary.  Grease that part a little.

Raise the wheel, slip the apparatus under it and recheck the weight
then carefully lower the wheel onto the platform.  Record the weight.

Subtract the first weight from the second, then divide the multiply
the remaining amount by ten to get a pretty close answer.  Accurate
measuring and the half-circular supports are the key to this.  Your
average 300-lb scale should be able to weigh something approaching
2750 or 3000 pounds with this.

If the end support and the scale aren't in the same vertical plane
you'll start getting cosine errors, which for lots of folks are
easier to avoid than figure out.

Yours,
David