Couldn't Get This One Legal
Topic 27668 | Page 1
I forgot to mention. I mentioned it to the scale master and they had me re-weigh free of charge and it came back as the same, 79600 gross.
I thought each hole on trailer tandems was 350 lbs? Wouldnt one more hole have given you 33810 on the drives and dropped trailer to 33670?
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 thought each hole on trailer tandems was 350 lbs? Wouldnt one more hole have given you 33810 on the drives and dropped trailer to 33670?
Just been working through the weights section. Would you have been over on length if you had gone one hole farther back on the tandems? If not would the weight change really have been more than 540lbs? What about fuel burn-off?
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".
With our trailers I've come to find that each hole shifts somewhere between 500 and 600 because the spacing is different than our older models. I had a newer trailer today and they tend to be closer to 600 when I've needed to adjust them but the loads I've had may have impacted that as well due to how its loaded, I'm not sure though. According to the high road though 4 inch spacing is 250 pounds and 6 inch spacing is around 400. I suppose I could have moved it 1 more hole and checked then adjusted it back if needed but I was fighting my 14 hour clock today. I Made it back with 10 minutes to spare.
The second time you wasn’t leaning on the button when they scaled you. Lol.
I wonder!! Are the newer trailer tandem holes spaced at 8 inches or is the difference in the design of trailer
🤔🤔🤔🤔
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".
All reefer trailers I've pulled in the last 4 years have had 500 lb holes.
Pretty much any weigh station on routes I've run allows overage on drives and trailers....even for the companies that had bad CSA scores. Do all the weigh masters allow coverage? Probably not, but have never been pulled in for being 100 lbs over and I've been okay up to 500....just as long as the load isn't over gross.
Laura
CSA:
Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA)
The CSA is a Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) initiative to improve large truck and bus safety and ultimately reduce crashes, injuries, and fatalities that are related to commercial motor vehicle
Reefer:
A refrigerated trailer.
20# on an axle grouping isn't worth them wasting the paper to print off a ticket. Most states won't mess with you until you're 500# over with many turning a blind eye up to 1000#. Over gross is a bit of a different story. Another thing to consider is that an over axle violation is considered a non moving violation and is a fine only, no points on your PSP and no points against the company CSA. In Ohio, your fine would be a whopping $1.
CSA:
Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA)
The CSA is a Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) initiative to improve large truck and bus safety and ultimately reduce crashes, injuries, and fatalities that are related to commercial motor vehicle
The second time you wasn’t leaning on the button when they scaled you. Lol.
hahaha I suppose that could make a difference but I always stand on the steps holding on to the door with my arm through window when I push the button.
If I had slid the tandems back 1 more hole that may have worked but I think itd still end up turning out to be around the same over. It would put me around 60 over on my drives assuming it shifted 600 per hole. Next time I have a full load I will weigh, and reweigh to double check how much its moving. The truck said I was averaging just under 8 mph surprisingly but it is pretty flat. At about 7 pounds per gallon that would burn off roughly 42 pounds by the time I hit the weigh station still over by 18 pounds.
Does the way your trailer is loaded in a van/reefer affect how much weight gets shifted with each hole? I slid it back 2 holes before the re-weigh which shifted 1240, or 620 per hole. Then again, the gross weight was different on these 2 tickets so I'm stumped. It's good to know it's a non moving violation. That $1 ticket (if issued) probably ends up being $80 after court costs lol. I suppose it wouldn't have hurt to slide it and try, but I think I'd still be over given how much weight moved. Original weigh tandems were in 3rd hole from front, after sliding they were in 5th hole from the front. Minnesota has a kingpin law of 43' to center of the rear axle, and Iowa (where weigh station is) does not have any restrictions. It's possible my math is incorrect or the different gross weight caused issues in my calculations but this is something you can expect to run into out on the road. I'll definitely be testing out exactly what it shifts for our trailers when I have some extra time in the next couple days. And here I thought I wouldn't need math after school.
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".
Reefer:
A refrigerated trailer.
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I had a D/H for a load of orange juice. My paperwork said it was 39,400 but I bet it was more. We have a PSI gauge in most of our trucks to get an idea of your drive axle weight. In these freightliners right around 64 PSI is 34k. Prior to leaving shipper I got drives where I felt confident I'd be legal and set off for a CAT scale. This is with a half tank of fuel in a daycab, 50 miles from a weigh station.
Also, if any new drivers haven't studied the High Road CDL Training Program weights and balances section do so! I dont typically drive this truck, I'm not sure why the normal driver had the 5th wheel so far back to have only 10,800 on the steers.
CDL:
Commercial Driver's License (CDL)
A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:
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".
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”