Every driver should know his empty weight, regardless of what they pull.

I think Mike3fan's original advice was the best.

A couple of weeks ago I tried to help a Swift driver in an almost identical situation at the Miller brewery in Irwindale. I think what is really needed is a law requiring all shippers with certified scales to provide axle weights to trucks loading at their facility and further requiring them to adjust any loads that are not legal.

The amount of fuel wasted each day in the U.S. by truckers dealing with this same BS must be huge- I'd push that angle to get the enviro's on board.

I'm sure we will see this soon, along with safe parking sites for all of us.

I cam assure you that the BS doesn't go away at a smaller co. I work for a 15 truck regional carrier & would quite often trade my chromed out Pete for a chance to be anonymous. In a small company you have not just your BS to deal with, but other drivers that want to involve you in theirs.

Good luck & hang in there.

In order to possible legal out on weight at any rate, you would have had to be able to slide your tandems 8-10 holes and then slide a 5th wheel at least 3 to 6 spaces forward depending on the exact type of slide the truck would have had.

Of course this is just weight legal and does not take into account any bridge or king pin laws that might be involved.

Most of the trucks I have driven had sliding 5th wheels. In something like 8 years I only had to slide them 3 or 4 times, and two of those times for certain it was to set it when I was assigned the truck because some idiot (either the last driver or the shop) decided to move it either all the way forward or all the way back. (and no the all the way back was not on a Volvo)

It has been years since I have had to move my fifth wheel. Most loads can be made legal by moving the trailer tandems if the loader has done their job. If a load is very heavy it is usually best to not load it past the 48' mark on the trailer. If the shipper loads it all the way back to the rear of a 53' trailer it is sometimes difficult to make it legal on the axles.

I've already run into a little of what your talking about with Green Bay although Henderson may be run a little differently than Gordonsville. They can pull us off of loads and switch us around from Henderson and do it all of the time. 2 days ago Green Bay scheduled me for my last stop apt. on my 14th hour. ie: started at 1030am and my 3rd stop was scheduled for 1230am. Hell No!!! Went in and said no-way and they pulled me and put me on a different one. We run groceries in NC, VA Beach, Johnson City TN and Bedford, Pa once in a while only so I have no worries about ending up in Maine. Heck, I moved from there so I didnt have to drive the Pike and NYC.

As for the "attitude" we have all been there and thats what I was getting at. It's easy to have stuff go on and walk into a customer without our gameface, it's one big happy world look and get off on the wrong foot from the get-go. I'm sure you didnt do that but we all slip on it and then when we are leaving with something messed up our mind is not totally on driving and we cut a corner and run a curb or something.

No disrespect intended, Hawk!

I ran with a fixed 5th wheel for 3 yrs and, much to my surprise, never had a problem with shifting weight. I was leery of this but found I didnt need it. Still feel better with one, though.

You know how many drivers would KILL for a Wal-Mart dedicated run? myself included??? I've turned down roads that really got me nervous, i've been to shippers/drops where people inside have this 'god' complex, and really irks me. i've NEVER forgot how big an azz i'm pullin' behind me where i bend a wheel by hitting a curb. You must have been going pretty good clip to bend a trailer rim.....why take it out on your equipment?? If a buddy lets you borrow his car, and you get mad and break the windshield, who do you think he is going to ask to fix it? Be lucky the company dont take the rim out of your paycheck.

As far as your weights, the lady inside was right....you are not over weight, you were 79,900. You said your steers wernt even 11,000. I had a load at Nestle in Texas, i was 660 overgross (80,660) and lucky for me the scale was a couple miles away from their gate. Why would i not go back to the shipper? one poster said they'd not even take the laod back on the road again, maybe that was because the scale you stopped at was 25 mi away.

either way, i may be a dumb swift driver (according to some of you) but atleast i know you slide your tandems toward the 'problem'. It isnt rocket science to scale your truck so you're leagal. I knew how to do that before i left the driving school.

Not many!! Esp. on Schneider End.. Different Load release times and very inconsistent sleep patterns.. Not many drivers want this account.. All wal-mart warehouses are different.. Maybe in your area maybe so, it might be gravy, who knows

What does this have to do with anything, i guess you was nervous when you pulled them cones and barriers ah??

Where in my post does i say i did this intentionally?? i was mad and frustrated.. it was an accident i didn't swing out wide enough... jackass, and if the company does take it out of my check i completely understand and won't say a word about it.. and if i did do that to my friend windshield which odds are i would never do something that stupid i would be a man and pay and fix it!!

I clearly told the lady and office i was overweight on my drives and trailer axle.. i knew i wasn't, but let me know rocket scientist, even if was to adjust the trailer pin settings and then be 34,600 over both axles (which it was when i left with the load after scaling it for the 2nd time after getting re loaded) is legal good buddy?? huh?? is that not being overweight on YOUR AXLES??

you not a dumb swift driver... your a stupid (insert three letter word here) swift driver... No disrespect to you D and Cdswans..

and i clearly said i made a mistake while typing i re wrote what i meant, so your self proclaim you know how to slide da da da.. is useless.. i slide my trailer axles all the time at the scale gate leaving the warehouse... i have done this over 20 to 30 times in the past 6 months

Also moving barriers and cones in a Road Closed Construction Zone... damn that Swift School is a special place you went to.. went to Memphis..

Also for Future References.. if i'm posting something and asking for advice, you keep it moving.. you and you only!!

Naw, i didn't take offense to your comment.. every comment been cool except for that Kev punk, i don't like him, something he did to some young black j b hunt drivers back in the day didn't like that very much.. but naw we cool man and i understand where you was coming from..

and i don't know if Schneider is going to do it with you guys in Henderson but we also have a run that runs us up to Symrna Delware Wal Mart warehouse and have us drop an orange box, pick up and wal mart box and take it to Palmyra PA to pick up an load of cereal, and bring it back to Gordonsville.. I love this run!!! its usually easy and painless..

Didn't know yall run all the way out to Johnson City, thats a good little ride.. but again man no hard feelings, i'm sorry if i came off that way

Shippers can do the math and know what the load weighs. The problem is driver #1 shows up with a day cab Freightliner pulling a new lightweight van with super singles all the way around and driver #2 shows up with a long hood Pete and a spread axle reefer. The loads are the same but the trucks are the variable in the equation. In an ideal world you get to a shipper, they weigh you, figure how many pallets you can haul, load you and make sure you are legal before you leave. Some places have this set up most dont. Now, If Hawk had a spread axle trailer, or a slider with 50 holes in it there would have been no problem. He can only run the equipment they give him.