So I just bought a 97 Ford L8000 8.3L Cummins single axel old county plow truck to haul gravel and plow my 2 mile driveway.... I figured it'll barely be on public roads but I'm best off going ahead and transferring the title over to my name just in case I ever sell it..... So I go in and they tell me they won't register it until I can tell them the empty weight? So the GVWR is 41,000 printed on the door but I can't find anything about the damn empty weight, anyone got any decent guess as to what the empty weight would be on this vehicle? It does have the plow and a wing, so I don't know if that factors into the empty weight? I don't want to just completely make something up but I figure if anyone here could just give me a good estimate, that would probably be good enough.... I've searched all over the internet and can't find it so it's not like the registration lady will be able to prove me wrong... Thanks in advance for any help!
Here's the truck
Cab and chassis = 13,000. Plows, box etc brings it to 20,000 plus or minus. My best guess.
Sounds about right
In my state you have to have a certified scale weight.
International without the plows attached was about 17,000 for a single axle, 21,000 for a tandem. Add 3-5000 for the plow setup.
Interesting spec on the old truck. 20K lb front axle and 21K lb rear axle? BTW - what's all that white stuff on the ground?
I guess What I meant by "just bought" was that I bought it this past winter..... hence the snow in the pictures....hehe. Just now getting around to transferring the title. Thanks all for answers... I will probably just go with 21,000 since that seems about right?
I would consider the empty weight whatever it weighs without the plow.
Any good guess what it would weigh without that giant chunk of metal? Any other opinions? Thanks
Go find a scrapyard, farm elevator, or other place of business with a scale. The local scrapyard charges $5 for a certified weight to take to the SOS for title transfers. I had to weigh a trailer I bought out of state. I was in, out and back to the SOS in like 20 minutes total. (SOS = Secretary of State. Michigan doesn't have a DMV)
For another reference, an '87 F-750 with 429 gasser, single axle, no plows, was right on 13,000 lbs at local gravel pit.
'97 IH 2554, DT466, full on fuel, extra overload spring set, heavy box and 350 lb. 30K hitch - 17,350# with me and the border collie in the cab.
Does the empty weight affect what you might have to pay in road taxes, whatever..? Sorry I have no idea how those rules work in the US but over this side of the pond, the heavier the truck (empty) the more you'll pay for the yearly road tax. If more weight is going to cost you more money, surely anything that can be unbolted (like the plow and the wing) should not be classed as part of the truck - because let's face it the truck can operate without them. In that case you'd want to pull all those extras off then put the truck on a scale.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Weight is money in taxes. If they want to know the empty weight, I would tell them 9500#.
Here in Colorado you have to have a certified scale ticket for a title weight and they do tax you by the weight. I purchased a C70 Chevy service truck with a utility body and autocrane loaded that bad boy up with 10000lbs of tools compressor,welder,and whatever else I thought might be needed only to unload it to get an ''empty'' weight. It only weighed 9100 with everything removed. I would say your L8000 would weigh quite considerably more than that but I would find out first if it needed to be a certified weight and go from there.
I hauled gravel with my plow truck after Christmas, full fluids, me and my son in cab, put my tare weight right on 19,100 pounds. A bit heavier than I was expecting, but not out of line with what other guys posted above.
2001 IH4900 with a 466e crew cab single axle with a 10' rock bed and loaded full of tools is 18,700ish. John
My 1994 L8000 weighs 15,060 empty