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Useless
Joined: 08 Oct 2005
Posts: 3176
Location: Canyon Lake, Tx.
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| Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2008 12:42 pm Post subject: |
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ChikinTrucka wrote: Well, it's like this. My feeling is that the load should be weighed and adjusted by the guy who loads it (who is paid by the hour!) and ready to go Sunday.
Does the person who loaded the truck even hold a CDL?? If not, then he would have no way of scaling the load.
So, the answer is NO, I didn't scale it. I did check the air gauges at the tandems and in the cab, they both said about 60 psi, which is usually good, .........
Using a tire guage to determine if you the weight of your payload is an exercise in poor judgement. Checking the tire pressure will not tell you if load is properly balanced, either. This is not simply a matter of running legal, it is also a matter of running safe.
.......and I wouldn't have weighed it anyhow. Apparently, the trailer gauge isn't right.
Well based upon your own words, regardless of the distance to the scales, or who loaded the truck, you are still leaving yourself exposed to the risk of being caught, cited, and fined. In this respect, you can't blame the company, or who loaded the truck.
Do you think I'm asking too much? I don't want to be a prima-donna, but, what the F-? I don't see any reason why the guy who loaded the trailer shouldn't make it right and if necessary, go back to the shipper and take some off. I don't have that option on Sunday night.
How do other companies handle this and how much overweight do you consider acceptable?
Obviously, there IS a problem here, and it's one that can negatively effect both your employer and you. How other companies handle these matters is less material than how your company will handle them.
With the cost of fuel, other costs associated with operating a truck, and lost time, lost productivity, and wasted miles, few companiws can afford to dole out money for fines unnecessarily.
Time to start rattling some cages!! |
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golfhobo
Joined: 16 Oct 2005
Posts: 4181
Location: the 19th hole / NC
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| Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2008 12:39 pm Post subject: |
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Quote: Useless said:
Quote: O.P. said:
Well, it's like this. My feeling is that the load should be weighed and adjusted by the guy who loads it (who is paid by the hour!) and ready to go Sunday.
Does the person who loaded the truck even hold a CDL?? If not, then he would have no way of scaling the load.
How many times must I stress COMPREHENSION??? :lol:
The O.P. is referring to the CDL holding "local" driver who goes to pick up the load. He then brings it back to the yard (often without passing a scale) and the OTR driver must take it cross country!
If the shipper loads a trailer that CANNOT be made legal, and the LOCAL P&D driver doesn't CATCH it, the OTR driver is then SCREWED!! Happens to ME all the time! :shock:
My advice to the O.P. is..... find a certified scale between you and the nearest DOT scale and USE IT.... regardless of whether or not it is "out of route."
IF you have to turn around and return to the yard MORE THAN ONCE.... tell your dispatcher you will refuse to haul another load that doesn't have a scale ticket attached to the BOL!
Keep in mind, also, that a LOCAL truck may have a different weight empty, AND a different 5th wheel location. Unless your load is extremely light, and YOU are convinced that you are legal..... NEVER cross a DOT scale without knowing your weight and its distribution! That is part of your JOB! |
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ChikinTrucka
Joined: 06 Jan 2008
Posts: 128
Location: Maine, Ayah
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| Posted: Fri Mar 21, 2008 8:33 pm Post subject: |
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Useless wrote: ChikinTrucka wrote:
I did check the air gauges at the tandems and in the cab, they both said about 60 psi, which is usually good, ........
Using a tire guage to determine if you the weight of your payload is an exercise in poor judgement.
Apparently you are not familiar with air gauges. They are on the dash and mounted to the trailer axle area. The pressure reflects the pressure in the air bags. This is a very good reference for axle weight. 60PSI is about equal to 32,000 pounds. In other words, if it reads under 60 PSI, I don't really need to weigh it. However, it is very easy to get an inaccurate reading, that is where experience and good sense take over. I do realize that I am responsible for the load and need to be sure it's legal. I was really just bitchin about the guy who picked up the load for not weighing it, and the company's' nonchalant attitude about me finding a place to weigh it on a Sunday. Bottom line is, I weigh all my loads now, even light ones. And if it's overweight, I just take it back. They can't afford to have a delivery sitting in the yard that was supposed to be delivered the next day. It won't take long before they start requiring loads to be weighed by the guy who picks them up.
And, all our trucks are basically the same, so the weight is pretty accurate. Or, more to the point, since we don't have spread axles, overweight tandems is the most common problem, and this doesn't change much from one truck to another. With an accurate tandem and gross weight, I can accurately assess my drive axles weight. |
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ChikinTrucka
Joined: 06 Jan 2008
Posts: 128
Location: Maine, Ayah
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| Posted: Fri Mar 21, 2008 8:40 pm Post subject: |
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golfhobo wrote: Happens to ME all the time!
IF you have to turn around and return to the yard MORE THAN ONCE.... tell your dispatcher you will refuse to haul another load that doesn't have a scale ticket attached to the BOL!
Thanks Golfhobo. It at least makes me feel better knowing that I'm not alone with this problem. And I do weigh all my loads now. Only problem is, the closest scale is past the state scale! I got a load last week that the day driver picked up from a place that has a scale. He went over the scale to make sure it wasn't overweight, good. But nobody bothered to tell me, so I still had to go out of my way and waste $8.50 of the companies money and an hour of my time to get it weighed. Sometimes people just don't stop and think past their own selfish life! |
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ChikinTrucka
Joined: 06 Jan 2008
Posts: 128
Location: Maine, Ayah
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| Posted: Fri Mar 21, 2008 8:42 pm Post subject: Re: Overweight |
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Sealord wrote: "I don't see any reason why the guy who loaded the trailer shouldn't make it right and if necessary, go back to the shipper and take some off." Apparently your co-worker gives a rat's butt about you and what you do on Sunday. Maybe you should introduce him to the curative mind altering protocols of the results of screwing over a co-worker. BOL
Don't give me any ideas............ :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: |
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Useless
Joined: 08 Oct 2005
Posts: 3176
Location: Canyon Lake, Tx.
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| Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 2:34 am Post subject: |
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ChikinTrucka wrote: Useless wrote: ChikinTrucka wrote:
I did check the air gauges at the tandems and in the cab, they both said about 60 psi, which is usually good, ........
Using a tire guage to determine if you the weight of your payload is an exercise in poor judgement.
Apparently you are not familiar with air gauges. They are on the dash and mounted to the trailer axle area. The pressure reflects the pressure in the air bags. This is a very good reference for axle weight. 60PSI is about equal to 32,000 pounds. In other words, if it reads under 60 PSI, I don't really need to weigh it. However, it is very easy to get an inaccurate reading, that is where experience and good sense take over. I do realize that I am responsible for the load and need to be sure it's legal. I was really just bitchin about the guy who picked up the load for not weighing it, and the company's' nonchalant attitude about me finding a place to weigh it on a Sunday. Bottom line is, I weigh all my loads now, even light ones. And if it's overweight, I just take it back. They can't afford to have a delivery sitting in the yard that was supposed to be delivered the next day. It won't take long before they start requiring loads to be weighed by the guy who picks them up.
And, all our trucks are basically the same, so the weight is pretty accurate. Or, more to the point, since we don't have spread axles, overweight tandems is the most common problem, and this doesn't change much from one truck to another. With an accurate tandem and gross weight, I can accurately assess my drive axles weight.
Gottcha, Chikn'!!
Sorry, I thought that you were referring to a tire guage, and I was scratchin' my head trying to figure that one out.
I've been outta' the cab for a few years now!!
In any event, as I said, what you have here doesn't work for you or your company, so I hope they'll set about finding a solution.
BOL2U!! |
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BIG JEEP on 44's
Joined: 09 Jul 2005
Posts: 1342
Location: Fixing something under my jeep
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| Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2008 10:12 am Post subject: |
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| I got stopped for being over weight a couple weeks ago in hammond LA I swapped with another driver at the Pilot in Orange TX ...The other driver picked up in east orang TX for BFG ...Now up until now I have always re-weighed a load even if driver said he weighed it and it was good to go ...however this driver said it he weighed it and because the Pilot was super crowded I decided to take a chance , And on my way across LA I got a log book inspection at the scale in Lafayette LA ...good to go...then red lighted on the pre-pass in Hammond where I was 1000lbs over on the trailer...No way did the other driver weigh this load ... We both had identical trucks and besides it's the trailer so truck weight had no bearing on the trailer tandem weight ...I beleive the other driver figured he did not have to cross any scales after p/u so he never bothered to weigh it ...LA gives an 800lb grace ,so to be stopped you're pretty well/good over ...luckily they were cool and give the option to fix it ...which I could easily with 4 holes ,and went across scale again and on my way ....But if it was not fixable simply by sliding and contents of load could not be moved by hand in a pich to redistribute load I'd been screwed escpecially if over gross ...So this incident was basically free of consequence ,but a remioder to always scale no matter how in convenient ...not to mention being stopped at a scale for weight issues just invites further inspection if you peak the DOT officers interest . |
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