Rookies, What Would You Do?
Topic 5345 | Page 4
Keep it going. The worst answer is the one not given.
Lurkers, we know you're out there, I see you! You have to get started on this forum sooner or later, might as well do it now. Test your knowledge and critical thinking skills here!
What would YOU do?
Curious...how much distance is gained sliding the fifth wheel forward one hole? I realize in this scenario it would probably put the steers overweight but still would like to know.
I'm sticking with you either find a way to get the load redistributed or you hope for the best. You're illegal running in the 13th hole or over by 40lbs so pick your poison or refuse to move it. Very interested in knowing the answer.
Definitely think this should become a regular/weekly feature on here. Great idea Daniel B.
OWI:
Operating While Intoxicated
Curious...how much distance is gained sliding the fifth wheel forward one hole? I realize in this scenario it would probably put the steers overweight but still would like to know.
I'm sticking with you either find a way to get the load redistributed or you hope for the best. You're illegal running in the 13th hole or over by 40lbs so pick your poison or refuse to move it. Very interested in knowing the answer.
Definitely think this should become a regular/weekly feature on here. Great idea Daniel B.
Sliding the fifth wheel one notch will shift 500 lbs I believe. It will not change the distance from kingpin to trailer tandems , since the kingpin is fixed-mounted to the trailer. Sliding the trailer tandems is around 250 lbs, per hole I believe.
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".
OWI:
Operating While Intoxicated
Personally I would check the room behind the tractor to the landing gear, if there is enough room I would slide the fifth wheel forward 1 maybe 2 notches. then re-scale to check if I am legal.
Sliding fifth wheel would add 500lb to my steers per hole. And I'm already only at 3/8 fuel and at maximum capacity on my steers...
Glad you guys like this trucking brain teaser. This was an actual real life situation I was in two days ago. I delivered this load on time successfully. What did I do?
Keep poking at it guys.
The obvious solution is easy. Get driving down the road then slam on the brakes sending half the load to the front of the trailer. Problem solved.
The obvious solution is easy. Get driving down the road then slam on the brakes sending half the load to the front of the trailer. Problem solved.
Sliding the fifth wheel doesn't change the weight on your tandems.
Personally I would slide the tandems back a hole and run it.
If you wanted to get really savvy you could adjust the tie bar on the tractor air ride limit switch to run the rear of the tractor a fraction lower and redistribute the weight that way lol
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".
Alright, as promised. Its answer time. Or should I say opinion time because there is no right answer.
Like previously stated, you have two poisons, both are a risk and you have to pick one.
However, there are many ways you can go about this.
You could always just go back to the shipper , but chances are DOT won't say anything about just 40lb. So this is the safest route but you won't always have the luxury of having extra time on the load for rearranging. Plus you might come off as a fool to your dispatcher because of something so small.
You could risk it and move it to the 13th hole. Remember, its about 3" between the holes. So theres a good chance they simply won't recognize that you're 3" too far.
Or you could just drive it in the 12th hole and hope the DOT won't care about you being over by 40lb.
If you thought it had to do anything with fuel or the fifth wheel you were dead wrong. Remember, the fuel tanks are between the Steer axle and the Drive axles. Most of the weight from the fuel goes to the Steer axle and a small amount goes to the Drive axles, depending on the location of the fuel tank.
Also, be sure to remember that moving the fifth wheel distributes weight between the Drives and the Steer axle only. It has no effect on the Trailer tandems. If you move the fifth wheel towards the truck you're putting the front of the trailer closer to your steer tires so you're adding weight to them. Likewise, if you're moving the fifth wheel back you're putting the front of the trailer away from the steer tires and onto the drive tires - so you're taking weight off of the steer axle and putting it on the drives.
I can tell you right now. If I moved the fifth wheel forward this is how my weight ticket would have looked.
Steer Axle - 13160 Drive Axles - 29760 Trailer Tandems - 34040
No change in the trailer tandems, we're back to square one.
There is only one way to alter the weight of the trailer tandems and thats by sliding the trailer tandems forward or backward.
They don't teach you this in school, but it is possible to shift freight forward thus taking weight off of the trailer tandems. When you're going down a hill the freight is already leaning forward. If there's room between the pallets, a hard brake can sometimes slide those pallets forward. This is dangerous though because you can easily damage the load.
What did I do? I moved the tandems to the 13th hole and I tried to shift the load forward by braking hard. By moving the tandems to the 13th hole I was at about 33600lb on my trailer tandems. If I successfully moved the load forward like I think I did than I would be a few hundred less. Needless to say, for this entire load I was getting a green light on my Prepass and was able to by-pass most scales. If I kept it at the 12th hole I would need to weigh myself at every single weigh station hoping for their mercy.
There is no right answer, but this is what I felt more comfortable doing.
Guys, I can't stress enough the importance of knowing how to properly balance your loads. These tickets in commercial vehicles aren't cheap. You will have heavy loads constantly where you will need to make yourself legal. Knowing the Weight & Balance section of the High Road Training Program is extremely important. You won't make any money out here because you'll be buried in debt from Overweight tickets if you don't know how to balance your load.
CDL:
Commercial Driver's License (CDL)
A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:
- Any combination of vehicles with a gross combined weight rating (GCWR) of 26,001 or more pounds, providing the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of the vehicle being towed is in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any single vehicle with a GVWR of 26,001 or more pounds, or any such vehicle towing another not in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any vehicle, regardless of size, designed to transport 16 or more persons, including the driver.
- Any vehicle required by federal regulations to be placarded while transporting hazardous materials.
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".
DOT:
Department Of Transportation
A department of the federal executive branch responsible for the national highways and for railroad and airline safety. It also manages Amtrak, the national railroad system, and the Coast Guard.
State and Federal DOT Officers are responsible for commercial vehicle enforcement. "The truck police" you could call them.
Dispatcher:
Dispatcher, Fleet Manager, Driver Manager
The primary person a driver communicates with at his/her company. A dispatcher can play many roles, depending on the company's structure. Dispatchers may assign freight, file requests for home time, relay messages between the driver and management, inform customer service of any delays, change appointment times, and report information to the load planners.HOS:
Hours Of Service
HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.OWI:
Operating While Intoxicated
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Well if they count holes you could put it in the 13th hole and then take a torch and cut the 1st hole each rail making it in the 12th hole.. But in reality since getting some sleep, slide the fifth wheel forward 1 notch.