weights and axle slides
Hi all,, very new to potential overweight situations and would like your thoughts on the best thing to do. Yesterday I had the following load of pallitized stone ( each pallet 2800# )
Total Gross--78620 steer ---------10920 drive----------34460 trailer---------33240 53' trailer T800 KW day cab with my drive 460# over and my steers 9000 light, I was thinking that sliding my 5th wheel forward a notch or two would have taken care of the drive ( couldn't do it cause my slide was froze up but thats fixed now ) I guess the VA scale house was still having their coffee because I got that lovely green light anyway :-) Thanks a lot, David |
You would have just been heavier on the steers and drives. You may have been able to slide the fifth wheel up and then continued adjusting the weight off the tractor by sliding the tandems up. I would have just probably slid the tandems up two holes and reweighed.
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Piggy back questons related to OP
Rule of thumb 200 per hole on trailer slide?
Another :?: I would think you would want more weight on steers especially in bad weather ie rain and snow is this correct? |
I always preferred to run the trailer at max weight to allow room up front for fuel or grocery stops.
Moving 800 to the trailer would move the steers down maybe 150 and the drives down 650. Not a lot of wiggle room if you were running a sleeper with all the extra gear that goes along with it. But in a day cab, that would be great. |
Re: weights and axle slides
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I agree with the others...don't mess with the 5th...slide your trailer tandems up a couple holes. reweigh then do it more if you need to. You should never be in the situation of wondering if the scale house will pinch you or not though. Back in the old days a lot of us an heavy (as in waaaayyyyy too heavy)....dodged the scales or even ran them...but most of us have wised up. The only way to fly is to run legal...run safe. Know your weight before you even get near to a scale house. Insist on accurate weights on your bills (but never trust them 100%), weight at the shipper if they have scales, have on board weighing instrumentation that you keep well claibrated and check at a CAT scale(or similar place) if there is any doubt. If you get caught overweight these days, depending on how much you are over its going to cost you...perhaps big $$$ and may eve get you an OOS order. Then, if you can't get legal by moving your tandems or your 5th you have to get in the box and move freight around...not easy if its big rocks like you have, or it is palletized or a big hunk of equipment on a flat. Then you have to pay to have equipment come out to you to move stuff around....VERY expensive. And do not even THINK about moving until you weigh legal..if you violate an OOS order things get VERY nasty! As for trying to shift more weight to your steers..that is not necessarily what you want anyway. True, you need a % of weight there to maintain steering effectiveness god weather and especially bad, but don't get too caught up in thinking about that. Unless you are packing a pretty big axle up front you are only 1080 light on your steers anyway...not 9000 as you indicated. Most trucks have a 12K front, maybe a 14 or even 16, 18 but rarely a 20. You should be aware of what your truck/trailer has and never exceed it. For safety as well as legality. |
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But I have had VA make me move some cases to shift the weight towards the front on being over by 300#. Man I hate bring back sugar :D |
I would have move the tandems forward three holes to be on the safe side and not even have done a reweigh. I hardly ever do a reweigh.
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Depending on the weight on the trailer and how it is loaded, you should be able to move from 200-500 pounds per hole. I usually counted on about 250 per hole to be safe. You can tell for certain once you reweigh. Always slide toward the weight. You are heavy on the drives, so you should slide the trailer tandems forward. I always reweigh. I like to know exactly how my weights are distributed. When I have my spread axle apart, I rarely weigh because I am so used to how the weights run. If I am heavy, I will almost always weigh, just to make sure. It usually only costs $1 to reweigh. It is worth it for the peace of mind, for me. In your situation, 2 holes should do it for you. You won't help your weights that much by moving the 5th wheel. You can do more in your situation with the trailer tandems. Once your 5th wheel is in the right spot, you should very rarely need to slide it.
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If this guy was running palletized stone, he probably had a flatbed on a fixed spread, so all he had was the fifth wheel to slide. No slide on a fixed spread. He said it was a 53' trailer so it probably wasnt a fixed spread and he should have brought the tandems under the trailer. It costs $8.50 to scale at a truck stop, It costs $???.?? for DOT to scale it for you. This guy was asking for a ticket and got lucky.
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Thanks for all the replys. I really wasn't " asking " for a ticket but I did get lucky. Our trailers are not in the best shape and being an old wore out dude I could not for the life of me get the trailer tandem pin loose. It was a van not a FB. As I said I am new and trying to learn and this board is helping me to not do it the hard way. I go back and forth between the 53' van and a 48 FB, normally hauling recycleables ( scrap vinal, pvc and so forth ) but we also do general freight on the front of the run when going to pick up our loads. My boss knows absoutly nothing about trucks, one other truck and driver that is based about 150 miles from where I am; so not a lot of in house help. That is just to show how much needed you guys are to me and a lot of other newbes out here. And as far as someone saying I was "asking " for a ticket....well thats OK, I really belive that if ya gonna be stupid ya gotta be tough...and boy am I tough :-) but I try to learn when I can and not cost my boss too much $ in the process.
David |
I know that in knoxville,TN scales (or for that matter the entire state) if you are caught over axle they will not only fine you for the truck being OOS condition, they also assest a fee for each pound your over. This fine goes to the company not the driver, however if your an o/o with your own authority you are the company. They will let you go if you go after they fine you, however you better fix the weight before you get to the next scale house or they will fine you again.
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I haven't use this but it does appear promising.
http://www.pinpuller.com/ This is what I had. Not cheap but it does work. http://www.sta-rat.com/product.htm I also had a set of pins I made to set the location for the new pins. No more getting out to see if the pin was in the right location. All you had to do is determine where you wanted the pins. kc0iv |
kc0iv
Thanks for the links...THAT is exactly what this wore out guy needs !!!! I so like working smarter rather than harder !!! David |
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Wonder spray, vise grips, and a good ole BFH (Big....Hammer) are just a few required items for any discerning driver!!! |
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