Towing with Curt Manufacturing BetterWeigh

I've seen that and always wondered just what an OBD port could tell you about weight.

I went with a tongue weight scale for the tongue weight and the Cat Scale system for the rest. The latter will give you front and rear axle weight, which I really doubt this Betterweigh even purports to do.

It would be interest to use this device right after a Cat Scale. Reading some of the reviews on Amazon sometimes it's close and sometimes not at all, which makes me wonder if the close ones are just luck.

Goodspike said:

I've seen that and always wondered just what an OBD port could tell you about weight.

I went with a tongue weight scale for the tongue weight and the Cat Scale system for the rest. The latter will give you front and rear axle weight, which I really doubt this Betterweigh even purports to do.

It would be interest to use this device right after a Cat Scale. Reading some of the reviews on Amazon sometimes it's close and sometimes not at all, which makes me wonder if the close ones are just luck.

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I believe it uses a combination of pitch measurement, accelerometer and torque converter data, because you have to calibrate it to your truck. Also known as the "HaulGauge"

EDIT: found the video

Goodspike said:

I've seen that and always wondered just what an OBD port could tell you about weight.

Click to expand...

The VIN. Which you can then compare to NHTSA data. NHTSA isn’t exactly reliable but there’s one thing which is always correct... And that’s wheel base and footprint which are used to calculate CAFE requirements.

With a bit more data you can make a simple model.... Is it Cool? Yes. Something you should use in the field? Oh hell no.

The towing site I used to hang out on gives it and it's twin brother the Haul Master mixed reviews. One guy swore it was within one pound of his trucks actual weight while others say it was way off, one saying by over a couple thousand pounds. There are a lot of variables, especially the acceleration calibration, which should be performed several times on straight level ground. Even so, I would go get the truck weighed for verification. Although the ads say it's +- 5%, one owner says when he spoke to the company they said 10%. Maybe this is a mix up, in the +- 5% equals a total of 10% or it really is +- 10% and the ads are wrong. 10% is pretty substantial and I wouldn't be happy with that kind of error margin.

Tom S. said:

Although the ads say it's +- 5%, one owner says when he spoke to the company they said 10%. Maybe this is a mix up, in the +- 5% equals a total of 10% or it really is +- 10% and the ads are wrong. 10% is pretty substantial and I wouldn't be happy with that kind of error margin.

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And when something is that accurate in any particular instance it could be very accurate or off by 10%.