Sherline Tongue Scale

I mentioned in another thread that I was going to order a Sherline Tongue Scale. I bought the 5000lb version so that it would have enough capacity to measure 5th wheel pin weights. This device comes in 1000, 2000 and 5000 lbs sizes. According to the instructions, it is a hydraulic device. Accuracy is 2% in the mid range, and 3% at the extemes. That seems good enough to me.

Here’s what came in the box:




It’s all heavy metal and seems very well constructed. The manual is actually quite good and there is a good section on towing that every newbie should read. Here is the link to the manufacturers site on the device, you can read all about it and also view/download a PDF of their towing guide:

Sherline Trailer Tongue Weight Scales

The black peg like thing you see in the pic above is just that, a peg that you screw into the baseplate of the scale. This allows you to put the trailer hitch on the scale just like you do on the ball when you are getting ready to tow. Here it is attached:

I have 2 trailers I wanted to test this thing out with. As described in the manual, probably the easiest way to do this is using a floor jack. Here I have a 3000lb aluminum floor jack I bought at Northern that works very well.



You just pump up the jack until you lift the tongue support just off the ground – maybe ¼” or so. This first trailer is a Surveyor 189 that is supposed to have a dry tongue weight of 384#. As you can see below, I just have the tongue support plate off the floor by that much.




The trailer is fully loaded from my last trip out including 5-6 gallons of water, but the waste tanks are empty. 

500# even! Not really a surprise as most of my gear is loaded in the front compartment. I don’t use a weight distributing hitch on this trailer, as I’m below the 600 limit on my truck’s hitch. I may start using one, but discussing that in another thread.

Next I moved over to my Sunset Trail 25RB. This trailer is supposed to have a 600 lb tongue weight dry. In fact, the dealer insisted on providing only 600# WD bars with this trailer, as doing anything more would be “crazy” and “unsafe”. Well, was he right?




I set up the same way, but needed a wood block as the tongue height is much higher than the Surveyor.

950#! Guess my dealer is an idiot, just like others report.

I did fool around with the height of the jack to see if the trailer at an angle would vary these weights. Well, in my experimenting, it makes no difference if the trailer is level, slightly pitched forward, or slightly pitched back.




I know this was long, as I like to ramble, but I hope this is helpful to some. I think this is a cool gadget that most folks could find useful to have. Amazon $155 delivered.