Scaling bulk loads
 

To all you tanker-yankers out there....

Where do you guys scale your bulk loads ? Does your shipper have scales at the point of loading, and all you need to do is give them your tare and gross ?

Also, how many hatches on your trailer do you load through ? The company that I work for here in Alberta, distributes a load-sheet, which is updated periodically, and all drivers are expected to adhere to it. What it does is, it lists all the trailers by make and number, and tells us how much to load through each of the hatches for any particular type / make of trailer.

Thereafter, all we need to do when we go to the load point is, look up the trailer number on the load sheet, find out which hatches to open up and how much to load through each hatch, drive up to the fall-protection area and open up those particular hatches, and get on the CB with the loader to tell her my tare and gross, and how much to load through each hatch, before driving under the silos to get loaded. The loader is able to know exactly how much the weights are, as the truck is parked atop a scale while it's getting loaded. FYI, we haul primarily cement, sand and flyash.

How do you guys do it ?

When I hauled bulk loads,mainly calcium.The shipper had scales that you pulled across when arriving empty.Most of the time we loaded on scales,if we didn't,there was a load gauge in the cab and on the trailer.You knew where to have the loader to stop loading. If we were pulling a trailer with three hatches we loaded in the middle hatch,if it had four hatches we would load in the last hatch and then about halfway through we would move to the front hatch to finish loading. I t helped being able to drive the same truck everyday. I miss hauling bulk,but the calcium gave me severe headaches so I had to quit hauling it.

How do you guys like a haulin bulk am starting a new job on moday haulin bulk. All i ever drivin was dumps and tankers. This is all new to me. What do you guys like and dis like about it.

We load sand in bulk tankers (pneumatics) and load the front and back pockets. the load distributes itself into the center compartment at it loads. We also load mainly on scales. We have gauges when not loading on the scales and loading on the old racks. We just load the front pocket until the gauge reads "30" and then the load the back pocket till the gauge reads 70. We are legal up to 85,000 on Oklahoma roads and 90 in Texas. We are all gravity drop here at this terminal, we can dump a load of Silica Sand in around 7 minutes. The dolomite takes a little while longer like 20 minutes. Loading and scaling is just like most any other trailer, load on the axles and allow the chips to fall where they may. You may get a few bloopers before getting your truck dialed in. This means that you will probably be either lighter or heavier than you'd like. Getting weight off of a true pneumatic is a pain in the butt. So load it a little light rather than too heavy, its easy to add weight than remove it. We also have automatic dome lid openers, we do not have to climb up onto the trailers for any reason. Most places will require you to use "fall protection" which is kind of a pain.

What about end dumps. How can you get the axle weights rite when you load?

Re: Scaling bulk loads
 

I haul mostly animal fat. the shippers have scales to weigh in and out. I tel them how far down from the top to load it, since the product always weighs close to the same, it's pretty easy to get it right/ one place has a computer. you just tell the guy how much weight to load, he punches it in and 20 minutes later, you're done, that's my kind of loading.

Well, that's the negitive thing about my company. They just assume to eat the weight ticket. :evil:

I'm sure if I jump on a scale, I'm overweight. However, we have only a couple of runs that go past 50 miles from the terminal. BTW, I haul fuel, and the only time I see a scale is if I dropping at a truckstop. :wink:

Fozzy, I thought Tx was 80,000? Do you have special permits? Can you get it for any loads?

Where I work, we load on a scale and get loaded through the middle hatch. As long as we are under 80,000lbs if we get an over weight ticket on an axle then the company pays it. We have all kinds of different trailers so you never know which one is heavy where, so as long as you stay under 80k that's all that matters.