Hard Lesson Learned

Topic 20638 | Page 1

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Unholychaos's Comment
member avatar

Picked up a P+G load in Kansas City KS today, misread the weight, got pulled into a weigh station on 70 and got a citation for being overweight on my tandems by 1700 lbs. Really kicking myself... dreading how much it's going to cost me. DOT officer said I won't get any points on my license, so at least there's a little bit of silver lining. What a way to cap off the week...

Whatever, it happened, nothing I can do about it now but stop moping about it and move on. Gonna finish up tomorrow with 3,821m driven within my 70h clock, PM tomorrow afternoon alongside a 34h reset. Every day brings a new adventure!

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.

Old School's Comment
member avatar

Sorry to hear that. Yeah lessons learned out here usually stick with us.

Did you misread your scale ticket?

Unholychaos's Comment
member avatar

Sorry to hear that. Yeah lessons learned out here usually stick with us.

Did you misread your scale ticket?

I stupidly didn't scale it. Misread the weight on the bill. Thought it said 41k but it was 44k. Dot matrix can be hard to read sometimes...

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.

G-Town's Comment
member avatar

A rule of thumb to consider for scaling and balancing the weight in the future; 32k or over, scale it. You probably had your tandems set in one of the lower holes; 1-4.

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".

Unholychaos's Comment
member avatar

A rule of thumb to consider for scaling and balancing the weight in the future; 32k or over, scale it. You probably had your tandems set in one of the lower holes; 1-4.

Had it in the 10th hole, 5th wheel all the way forward. Currently in the 17th hole to be barely legal.

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".

G-Town's Comment
member avatar

double-quotes-start.png

A rule of thumb to consider for scaling and balancing the weight in the future; 32k or over, scale it. You probably had your tandems set in one of the lower holes; 1-4.

double-quotes-end.png

Had it in the 10th hole, 5th wheel all the way forward. Currently in the 17th hole to be barely legal.

Wow...

Will be legal to run stretched out like that in every state you are routed through. We can't run like that in PA and NJ, 11 hole is the max setting.

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".

Susan D. 's Comment
member avatar

P&G loads are generally heavy and not loaded very well, as they have a nasty habit of putting heavier items to the rear, making it difficult to balance and be at a legal length for bridge laws.

I run loads to PA frequently and more often than not, those are problem loads. Most P&G DCs have certified scales and I always scale them at the DC before I accept the bols and then take the load to the nearest CAT scale to cover my bases.

To add insult, their bills are very difficult to read... Especially the second copy.

I'm sorry this happened to you.

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.
Unholychaos's Comment
member avatar

Since we're on the topic of tandems , the numbered holes is every open hole on both sides of the stop bar correct? This trailer has like 5 or 6 open holes in front of the stop bar. Should I not be counting those?

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".

HOS:

Hours Of Service

HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.
Errol V.'s Comment
member avatar

Since we're on the topic of tandems , the numbered holes is every open hole on both sides of the stop bar correct? This trailer has like 5 or 6 open holes in front of the stop bar. Should I not be counting those?

The holes that you count are only the ones to the rear of the stop bar. The stop is #0, and the next hole back is #1.

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".

HOS:

Hours Of Service

HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.
Unholychaos's Comment
member avatar

double-quotes-start.png

Since we're on the topic of tandems , the numbered holes is every open hole on both sides of the stop bar correct? This trailer has like 5 or 6 open holes in front of the stop bar. Should I not be counting those?

double-quotes-end.png

The holes that you count are only the ones to the rear of the stop bar. The stop is #0, and the next hole back is #1.

Well that could be my issue. Was always told to count EVERY open hole. So I was actually in about hole 6 or so; that makes a lot of sense now...

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".

HOS:

Hours Of Service

HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.
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