Scaling A Load
Topic 24487 | Page 2
We were 2200 over our 80,000 limit.
Sliding the tandems won't bring you under gross. Running 82200 lbs will get you a very hefty fine.
The rule of thumb I follow is to go to the nearest scale when I feel the weight is close. You'll learn which shippers push the envelope a bit.
Shipper:
The customer who is shipping the freight. This is where the driver will pick up a load and then deliver it to the receiver or consignee.
Tandems:
Tandem Axles
A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".
Tandem:
Tandem Axles
A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".
I get a CAT scale on any load weighing more than 20k in the box. In our cascadias, we also have a load guage, measured in PSI. If you have one of those, learn your gauge. Note it's position at every legal weigh. Mine, as long as I'm at or below 60, with a heavier load, I'm generally okay, but I'll still get a CAT scale to confirm it.
To guestimate a good place to set my tandems , if I can see in the trailer, I'll look at the tail end of the load in the back of the trailer, and set the axles under the back of the load/back pallets and that typically gets me legal. YMMV.
Now, many people don't know how to properly scale a load, believe it or not.
Slowly pull onto the scale at 2-3 mph. Once on the scale, put your truck in neutral with your foot very lightly on the service brake. When you feel the scale settle down and stop rocking completely, ease your foot off the brakes. If you're not rolling or moving, you're good to get your weight. I use the CAT scale "weigh my truck" app and LOVE it, but if you don't, just press the button and give them your info, and when they have your weight, ease off the scale (don't be a jerk and block the scale) and go in to get your yellow ticket.
Using the CAT scale app, if I'm good on my first weigh, I can be done scaling in 2-3 minutes, have my weight and roll. It's a huge time saver.
Also these scales have springs under the scale platform.. they're quite sensitive. If you go barrelling across a scale, it can get it out of calibration. Having these scales serviced is costly, so have a little respect please. Oh and never set your brakes on a scale. It can cause you to get an inaccurate weight.
Tandems:
Tandem Axles
A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".
Tandem:
Tandem Axles
A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".
CAT Scale:
A network of over 1,500 certified truck scales across the U.S. and Canada found primarily at truck stops. CAT scales are by far the most trustworthy scales out there.
In fact, CAT Scale offers an unconditional Guarantee:
“If you get an overweight fine from the state after our scale showed your legal, we will immediately check our scale. If our scale is wrong, we will reimburse you for the fine. If our scale is correct, a representative of CAT Scale Company will appear in court with the driver as a witness”
HOS:
Hours Of Service
HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.
Susan thank you for posting about how to properly scale. It will definitely help alot of people. I've never scaled before but thanks to the experienced drivers here I knew about not setting brakes (especially when at a weigh station!). I found it quite sad that they needed to post that drivers aren't allowed to slide tandems while still on the scale. I thought most people understand by doing that you risk damaging the scale, and its inconsiderate to other drivers. Ended up hitting the QuikTrip truckstop I35/80 exit 136 because it was closest to our yard, not to mention we have an account there (along with about 100 other places in the 8 state region)
Ended up in an 18 cascadia today and my guage shows 60 psi with a 35k load. Tandems were all the way back and weighed 11,540 steers, 33,080 drives, 25,360 tandems. Total weight 69,980. I'll be off work the next 3 days so I'm definitely gonna study up on the high road for aspects I never paid much attention to.
Tandems:
Tandem Axles
A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".
Tandem:
Tandem Axles
A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".
So far, the air guage is all my trainer has done. We have had 45K to 47K loads, and he slides the tandems until the gauge reads 60.
Tandems:
Tandem Axles
A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".
Tandem:
Tandem Axles
A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".
So far, the air guage is all my trainer has done. We have had 45K to 47K loads, and he slides the tandems until the gauge reads 60.
Just one more problem with lease op trainers. They don't want to pay for the scales. Tell him you won't drive with a heavy load like that without scaling it. If you are driving, the ticket, fines, points are all on you. Trainees should not be subjected to that kind of crap. I sure hope you report that ******bag to your Terminal Leader. Good luck Grumpy, hang in there!
Terminal:
A facility where trucking companies operate out of, or their "home base" if you will. A lot of major companies have multiple terminals around the country which usually consist of the main office building, a drop lot for trailers, and sometimes a repair shop and wash facilities.
Tandems:
Tandem Axles
A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".
Tandem:
Tandem Axles
A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".
Grumpy wrote...
So far, the air guage is all my trainer has done. We have had 45K to 47K loads, and he slides the tandems until the gauge reads 60.
Not a good strategy. You might be legal on the drives but overweight on the trailer tandems or total weight.
Tandems:
Tandem Axles
A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".
Tandem:
Tandem Axles
A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".
Grumpy wrote...
So far, the air guage is all my trainer has done. We have had 45K to 47K loads, and he slides the tandems until the gauge reads 60.
Not a good strategy. You might be legal on the drives but overweight on the trailer tandems or total weight.
That was my thought as well. Maybe that is why he is so nervous about weigh stations.
Tandems:
Tandem Axles
A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".
Tandem:
Tandem Axles
A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".
Exactly, Tractor. I would NEVER ask a trainee to drive unless I was POSITIVE the load is legal. I've picked up loads at one of our terminals or drop yards that there was no way they could be made legal.. and hundreds of miles from the shipper :-/
In those cases, I notify my boss/safety director along with a copy of the CAT scale and I drive it myself with the guarantee, in writing, that the company will pay any fines and citations associated with that load. That's happened to me twice. One time I did some VERY creative routing to deliver such a load. It's pitiful, considering it's company policy to scale every load that I even got stuck with that crap. I'm not putting a trainee/student through that stress. It's not cool.
Shipper:
The customer who is shipping the freight. This is where the driver will pick up a load and then deliver it to the receiver or consignee.
Terminal:
A facility where trucking companies operate out of, or their "home base" if you will. A lot of major companies have multiple terminals around the country which usually consist of the main office building, a drop lot for trailers, and sometimes a repair shop and wash facilities.
CAT Scale:
A network of over 1,500 certified truck scales across the U.S. and Canada found primarily at truck stops. CAT scales are by far the most trustworthy scales out there.
In fact, CAT Scale offers an unconditional Guarantee:
“If you get an overweight fine from the state after our scale showed your legal, we will immediately check our scale. If our scale is wrong, we will reimburse you for the fine. If our scale is correct, a representative of CAT Scale Company will appear in court with the driver as a witness”
TWIC:
Transportation Worker Identification Credential
Truck drivers who regularly pick up from or deliver to the shipping ports will often be required to carry a TWIC card.
Your TWIC is a tamper-resistant biometric card which acts as both your identification in secure areas, as well as an indicator of you having passed the necessary security clearance. TWIC cards are valid for five years. The issuance of TWIC cards is overseen by the Transportation Security Administration and the Department of Homeland Security.
HOS:
Hours Of Service
HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.
Thanks Susan
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Position Of The Trailer Tandems
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Tandems:
Tandem Axles
A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".
Tandem:
Tandem Axles
A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".