Weight And Distribution

So I took a break this weekend from studying the permits and endorsements on the high road program and got into the job duties sections. Was very surprised to find that how much fuel your carrying needs to be watched/calculated to not be overweight as a whole unit and furthermore from state to state on your front axles. I am surprised that the truck manufacturer's design dept. hasn’t come up with a solution for this. Also surprised the trucking company logistics dept doesn't calculate the loads So the truck can be filled 100% at a cheaper per gallon rate before leaving the terminal and be legal no matter where the truck is heading. Drivers have enough to worry about as it is, just seems like this is something that could be eliminated. Hope someone is working on this so its a non issue in the future

Drivers have enough to worry about as it is, just seems like this is something that could be eliminated. Hope someone is working on this so its a non issue in the future

Dave, that information is there because it's something that nobody will ever teach you. It's valuable stuff. You can be glad Brett wants to help you understand all the little nuances involved in this career.

I've been out here a good many years, but it's an issue that I only remember facing twice in my career. You're way overthinking it as a problem you'll be encountering often. It's only going to affect you on an extremely heavy load. Don't sweat it, and just be glad someone had the foresight to help you understand how to deal with the issue.

Thanks Old School. Gotcha, glad to hear its not too common. My initial thought was that this would be daily procedure, checking state regulations followed by scaling and calculations to stay legal. I am glad it is in the program and brought to light. Definitely good to know

Truck manufacturers/ companies do figure in the weight of fuel. At OD all of our trucks are set up to weigh 10,650ish on the front axle with a full load of fuel. Our Kenworths are a bit heavier than the Freightliners on the front, so they had Kenworth move the passenger side fuel tank back a little bit to make them weigh the same as the Freightliner.

In my brief stint at West Side Transport they would give you a fuel solution that seemed to be based on the weight of your next or current load. I had a couple loads for Pepso that where 44k pounds and they had me set for 2 fuel stops since I couldn't fuel.

Thank you Bobcat, nice to to know manufacturer's do make adjustments and the logistics dept can set up the fuel stops for those kinds of runs for you to take that off your plate.

Yes, overthinking it you are. I've had to dodge scales before a few times, usually by running at night or routing myself around them because of the weight of the load on a particular axle set.

As far as over/under being determined by the gallons of fuel I had in the tanks, I can only think of three times where it made a difference, and all of these were for my total weight (GCVWR being 80K).

Thank you all for clarifying this issue. Its obviously a rare situation and I am not worrying about it anymore. At least I now know how to deal with it if I’m ever faced with it

What I did, was when I was issued a truck (my 1st was a international prostar, and then 2 KW T680's), I would weigh my truck and empty trailer after I fueled up when I got home for a weekend at a CAT scale , this way I would have a breakdown of what the weight on each axle was, and what my total weight was. I had found out I could carry )on average) of 45k+/- of cargo before I had to start to worry (I could carry 46,500 of cargo before I was at 80k).

So, my advice is for you to do the same, this way, you can have a pretty good idea on the max weight you can carry and keep yourself out of an overweight ticket. Then this way all you have to do is worry about distribution and adjusting your 5th when and trailer axles.

Thanks Chris, that is a great way to ease the mind. You can just look at the load weight on shipping papers and know if your good or not with full tanks. Will definitely do that once I get out there.

You can just look at the load weight on shipping papers and know if your good or not with full tanks.

Don't go by the weight listed on the BOL. Sometimes it's only a guess by the shipper. Other times, it's only the product, and not the additional weight of the packaging. Don't trust a customer's "accurate" scales, either.

I had a load recently that was listed at 37,000 lbs. Actually, it was over 45,000 lbs when I discovered that the metal containers the product was surrounded by was not factored into the total weight.