has anybody had problems with the scales on the pennsylvania turnpike. i entered the turnpike at gateway weighed in at class 4. drove about 50 miles and got off at pittsburgh interchange and weighed in at class 6. it's been happening a lot.

didn't make any stops and burned fuel...how am i heavier...don't they check the scales.

tvtrucker

 

What are you driving that you were a class 4? I have never been anything less than a class 5 with an empty dry van and a 1998 Vovlo small bunk...

I think sometimes the scales weigh you wrong- I've been "heavier" but never "lighter" when I exited... because it put you in the wrong class. I have also found that they don't care what you weigh (class 8 ) so long as you pay. PA tnpk class 8 covers a lot of lbs...

 

Not telling you what to do but as soon as you pick up your Load get a Cat scale.
They're very accurate and if they're wrong they pay.

 

But I don't think they'll pay your TOLL ticket...

 

If you get a lawyer just throw that cost in too :P
Never had to have CAT come to court in my Behalf but the fine print on the Back says they will :P

 

I don't see how that guarantee works, though, in reality. Does anyone have any experience with this? Not just "well, they SAY" experience- but an actual case where the state scale was wrong and CAT backed you up or where the CAT scale was wrong and they paid the fines for you?

I'm curious because it seems to me you could be legal as all get-out and then go fill up and be over and get an overweight ticket. 300 gallons of diesel is a lot of weight.

 

Well CAT, Interstate, etc all say they will go to court with you if need be. None of them say that they promise you will win. :wink:

 

But seriously. When reality sinks in not many people in there right mind are going to drop everything in the middle of a load in Maine. Hop on a plane to Wyoming to make there court date to fight something that will cost them a fraction of what loss of work, flight or getting there and expenses would cost. Sure it sounds nice getting CAT to go or whatever but they are not going to reimburse you for expenses and loss of work. This is why a lot of out of towners get tickets and what not in another city. It would just plain cost to much to show up, period.

 

That's where you're wrong-I know you haven't driven truck yet but when your CDL is your livelihood you'll make all efforts to try and make arrangements to get it taken care of and not just paying a ticket that you may question it's credibility.

It'll cost you much more once you start getting a bunch of Points on your license.

 

tv, how hard did you hit the scale when you got off the exit at the "Burg"? Some of the scales at Pa Pike get on & offs have the smallest of bumps right in front of the scale. If you hit these too hard that could jump you up a class in weight. Next time try this. Stop completely before you go over the scale-then just idle over it. This will probably stop the weight jumps.