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Author Topic: weighing a car at home  (Read 730 times)
Capt Jack
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weighing a car at home
« on: April 03, 2008, 12:44:27 PM »

Ive heard about ways to weigh a car using some fairly common bathroom type scales.  has anyone done this?

I want to start looking at some of the weight distribution for the duster and see what I can improve by shifting the weight thats already there.  first step in that is knowing how much weight is on each corner I think...

so....anyone done this?  how accurate is it overall?
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Bill_Reilly
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Re: weighing a car at home
« Reply #1 on: April 03, 2008, 01:11:35 PM »

I don't think it's possible without using planks and figuring out the leverage. Typically, you'll see 800-900lbs per wheel in the front of an Abody, and 600-700lbs per wheel in the rear - far more than any bathroom scale would read. Unless you put boards under it and had the scale 10 feet away from the wheel, then multiply by the number of feet - which would be a royal pain, and probably not too accurate unless you measured exactly and had perfect scales - errors would also be multiplied, so you could end up being 50lbs or more off per wheel, making the whole process useless.
 
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Capt Jack
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Re: weighing a car at home
« Reply #2 on: April 03, 2008, 03:55:46 PM »

yeah, I was afraid of that.  didnt think it could possibly be all that accurate.

thanks Bill.  I'll have to think of something else
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Jim_Lusk
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Re: weighing a car at home
« Reply #3 on: April 03, 2008, 06:03:37 PM »

Somewhere in the garage I have a device that my dad picked up may years ago. It's a diaphraghm device that you fill with air and hang a pressure guage off of. Each tire would go on the device one at a atime for the weight. I don't even know if it would still hold air.
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Cpt Panzer
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Re: weighing a car at home
« Reply #4 on: April 03, 2008, 11:38:22 PM »

would you not also need the car to be level ( if you jack up one corner and set it back down at a higher level  like on a scale ) won't that ad more spring preasure  and throw the actual weight off for your calculation?? I really dont know , just a thought.    maybe you can make friends with a DOT officer who has a set of portable scales in his vehicle . they usually have at least 4 ,and they are usually pretty eager to get them out to show truck drivers how well they  work.   Dunno Grin
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bigtimeauto
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Re: weighing a car at home
« Reply #5 on: April 03, 2008, 11:47:01 PM »

where you located? i have scales.
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Bob

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Re: weighing a car at home
« Reply #6 on: April 04, 2008, 07:24:41 AM »

You could use scales from "The biggest Loser" - those would probably work.

I use a cherry picker and a really big fishing scale.
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Bill_Reilly
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Re: weighing a car at home
« Reply #7 on: April 04, 2008, 08:27:21 AM »

where you located? i have scales.

I was going to offer that too, but he's in california.
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bigtimeauto
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Re: weighing a car at home
« Reply #8 on: April 04, 2008, 08:43:13 AM »

where you located? i have scales.

I was going to offer that too, but he's in california.

Well if he want to bring it out he's more than welcome to! LOL

bill did you get my PM the other day?
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Bob

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Bill_Reilly
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Re: weighing a car at home
« Reply #9 on: April 04, 2008, 09:01:01 AM »

oops...yea I forgot all about that.
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Re: weighing a car at home
« Reply #10 on: April 04, 2008, 05:26:16 PM »

  MY MOTHER IN LAW MUST HAVE A SCALE THAT GOES TO 1000. SHE KEEPS SAYING SHE'S GAINING WEIGHT AND AT HER SIZE ITS HARD TO TELL!   lol lol
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LILBLUE65
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Re: weighing a car at home
« Reply #11 on: April 04, 2008, 06:20:15 PM »

  MY MOTHER IN LAW MUST HAVE A SCALE THAT GOES TO 1000. SHE KEEPS SAYING SHE'S GAINING WEIGHT AND AT HER SIZE ITS HARD TO TELL!   lol lol

 LOL LOL That opens up a whole bunch of " your momma is so fat..." jokes. Classic!

Rob
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bOb shingler
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Re: weighing a car at home
« Reply #12 on: April 05, 2008, 09:38:16 AM »

drive-on scales are at your local garbage dump, the cement factory and some dragstrips.  Grin
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Re: weighing a car at home
« Reply #13 on: April 06, 2008, 01:40:08 AM »

yes or i use my local grainery, its right next to the road, they always leave it on and accurate withing five pounds, go late at night and who would know
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Cpt Panzer
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Re: weighing a car at home
« Reply #14 on: April 06, 2008, 03:31:55 PM »

I've done that at the local stone yard.   just jump out and peek thru the window. Grin
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Gmax6
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Re: weighing a car at home
« Reply #15 on: April 06, 2008, 10:24:54 PM »

   We used the bathroom scales and it worked real well. I'll talk with my friend who did it and will fill you in later this week.  Relatively easy, if you know the details.                 
                                             Gary
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44073dust
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Re: weighing a car at home
« Reply #16 on: April 08, 2008, 07:27:37 PM »

Get something like this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/FLOOR-SCALE-PLATFORM-SHIPPING-PALLET-DRUM-SCALES_W0QQitemZ140221099994QQihZ004QQcategoryZ11814QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem


Goes up to 5,000 lbs.

Would have to figure out someway to center your mass in a 4 x 4 area though.

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Capt Jack
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Re: weighing a car at home
« Reply #17 on: April 08, 2008, 07:44:02 PM »

$549.00 !?!?!?!?!?!   Shocked

uh....hmm, maybe the dump would work afterall

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44073dust
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Re: weighing a car at home
« Reply #18 on: April 08, 2008, 09:59:39 PM »

$549.00 !?!?!?!?!?!   Shocked

uh....hmm, maybe the dump would work afterall



Yeah, I didn't know how much your budget was, but thought I would give you the link anyway just in case.
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bigtimeauto
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Re: weighing a car at home
« Reply #19 on: April 08, 2008, 10:02:46 PM »

If you go on line there are diagrams of the ratio needed on how to do it with 4 bathroom scales.
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Bob

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Re: weighing a car at home
« Reply #20 on: April 09, 2008, 11:13:48 AM »

So far I've found digital scales at $250 for 1000lb and $280 for 2000lb.  I've seen load cells on eBay for cheap that you connect to a DMM to read the weight, but I can't find any now.  Anyone have a solution under $100?
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boden
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Re: weighing a car at home
« Reply #21 on: April 14, 2008, 12:18:19 AM »

It can be done with as few as three bathroom scales with a board across them. If each scale has a 300 lb capacity you can weigh up to 900 lbs by just adding the readings  on each scale together. For best accuracy it is important to elevate the other three corners the same amount as the one you are weighing and to make the measurements on as level of a surface as posible. An easy way to think of it is to stand with your weight split between two scales. No matter how you stand the total of the two scales should equal your total weight, shifting your center of gravity relative to the scales just changes how the weight is distributed.
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