CDL Practice Tests: Weight & Balance

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Question #660 (1 of 10)

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What is the best way to determine what percentage of the weight of fuel will go to each set of axles?

  • Ask another driver what their numbers are
  • The percentage is standardized amongst manufacturers and is the same for every truck
  • Simply go by the number of gallons of fuel each tank holds
  • Weigh the truck immediately before and after fueling, and do a simple calculation
The best way to determine what percentage of your fuel will go to each set of axles is to weigh the truck immediately before and after fueling, and do a simple calculation
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Question #640 (2 of 10)

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Which of the following are not a primary factor affecting weight distribution across the axles?

  • The amount of fuel onboard and the placement of the fuel tanks
  • All of these factors affect the weight distribution across the axles
  • The position of the tractor's 5th wheel
  • The position of the trailer's tandems

The primary factors which will affect the weight distribution across a truck's axles are:

  • The position of the trailer's tandems
  • The position of the tractor's 5th wheel
  • The overall weight of the cargo in the trailer and the horizontal (front-to-back) position of its center of gravity
  • The amount of fuel onboard and the placement of the fuel tanks
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Question #636 (3 of 10)

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What is the maximum legal weight for the drive axles or trailer tandems?

  • 34,000 pounds
  • 26,000 pounds
  • 20,000 pounds
  • 12,000 pounds

The legal weight limits for each set of axles is:

  • Steer axle varies by state
  • 34,000 for the drive axles
  • 34,000 for the trailer tandems
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Question #661 (4 of 10)

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Where will the weight of fuel be distributed?

  • Entirely on your drive axles
  • Mostly to your drive axles, with some going onto the steer axle.
  • Entirely on your steer axle
  • Mostly to your steer axle, with some going onto the drive axles.
The weight of the fuel in your tanks will be distributed mostly to your steer axle, with some going onto the drive axles.
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Question #618 (5 of 10)

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What are the four basic weight limits?

  • single axle, tandem axle, bridge formula, and gross vehicle
  • double spacing, single axle, bridge forumula, overweight
  • single axle, tandem axle, single tire, eight tire
  • single tire, bridge formula, tri-axle, gross vehicle
There are four basic weight limits: single axle, tandem axle, bridge formula, and gross vehicle.
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Question #648 (6 of 10)

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You receive a scale ticket and your drive axles are 32,200 and your trailer tandems are 35,100. Based upon the two most common tandem slider rail hole spacings, what is the minimum number of holes you would have to slide the tandems to get the weight legal, and in which direction?

  • 6 inch spacing - slide tandems forward 3 holes
    4 inch spacing - slide tandems forward 5 holes
  • 6 inch spacing - slide tandems back 2 holes
    4 inch spacing - slide tandems back 4 holes
  • 6 inch spacing - slide tandems back 3 holes
    4 inch spacing - slide tandems back 5 holes
  • 6 inch spacing - slide tandems forward 2 holes
    4 inch spacing - slide tandems forward 4 holes
The two main hole spacings you'll find are 4 inches and 6 inches. You can estimate that you will move 250 pounds per hole for 4 inch spacing, and 400 pounds per hole for 6 inch spacing.
With 35,100 pounds on the tandems you must move a minimum of 1,100 pounds off the trailer tandems. To shift weight off the trailer tandems and onto the drive axles, you slide the trailer tandems back toward the rear of the truck.

With 6 inch spacing you're moving 400 pounds per hole so you need to move 3 holes to shift a minimum of 1,100 pounds (400 x 3 = 1,200).

With 4 inch spacing you're moving 250 pounds per hole so you need to move 5 holes to shift a minimum of 1,100 pounds (250 x 5 = 1,250).
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Question #652 (7 of 10)

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What is the cargo's center of gravity?

  • The center point of the cargo's weight.
  • The average height of the cargo above the trailer floor.
  • The overall length of the cargo after being loaded into the trailer.
  • The distance from the front of the trailer to the center point of the cargo.
The center of gravity location of the cargo is the center point of the cargo's weight. In other words, if all of the cargo in your trailer was one solid block, the center of gravity would be the point that the entire block would balance upon like a teeter totter.
Sometimes you will load 22 pallets that all weigh the same. That makes it simple to determine the center of gravity. But often times you'll have a mixed product and you'll have to look over what's being put on the truck so you can get the weight of the cargo roughly centered between the drive axles and trailer tandems.
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Question #669 (8 of 10)

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Based on the following figures, how much fuel can you legally add while remaining legal on the drive axles?

Percentage of fuel weight to drive axles: 30%
Weight Before Fueling: Steer: 11,275, drives: 33,750, gross: 77,220

  • 104.13 gallons of fuel
  • 110 gallons of fuel
  • 88.5 gallons of fuel
  • 112.75 gallons of fuel
Once you know your current axle weights and the percentage of fuel weight that goes on the drive axles, you can use this formula to calculate the amount of fuel you can take on:

We know that 30% of the weight of fuel will go to the drive axles and you have 250 pounds you can add to the weight of the drive axles and remain legal. So plugging these numbers into the formula, you get:

250/30 = 8.33
8.33x100 = 833
833/8 = 104.13 gallons of fuel you can add
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Question #634 (9 of 10)

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What is low-speed offtracking?

  • When making a high speed turn, the momentum carried by the trailer will cause it to swing wide and possibly outside the lane of travel
  • When a trailer's tandem axles are slightly out of alignment, the rear of the trailer will track off to one side or another instead of directly behind the tractor
  • When taking off from a dead stop, the initial torque of the engine on the drivetrain will cause a slight offtracking of the tractor which could be a hazard to other traffic
  • When a combination vehicle makes a low-speed turn the wheels of the rearmost trailer axle follow a path several feet inside the path of the tractor steering axle.
When a combination vehicle makes a low-speed turn - for example a 90-degree turn at an intersection - the wheels of the rearmost trailer axle follow a path several feet inside the path of the tractor steering axle. This is called low-speed offtracking.
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Question #643 (10 of 10)

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Sliding your trailer tandems toward the front or back of the vehicle will primarily change the weight distribution between which sets of axles?

  • It only removes weight from the trailer tandems
  • The tractor's drive axles and the trailer tandems.
  • The tractor's drive axles and the steer axle
  • The steer axle and the trailer tandems
Sliding your trailer tandems toward the front or back of the vehicle will primarily change the weight distribution between the tractor's drive axles and the trailer tandems.
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About The Weight And Balance Section

This section was created by Trucking Truth to help people understand how to load cargo, scale the truck, and understand the laws about truck weight limits. These materials will not be on your written CDL exams but it is critical that every truck driver knows these materials.

Types Of Weight Limits

There are four basic weight limits: single axle, tandem axle, bridge formula, and gross vehicle. The Federal Standards are as follows:

  • 20,000 pounds single axle weight
  • 34,000 pounds tandem axle weight
  • 80,000 pounds gross vehicle weight
  • Bridge Formula Calculations

Why Do These Different Weight Limits Exist?

There are a long list of critical safety issues which require putting limitations on the gross weight, axle weights, the weight distribution across the length of a vehicle, and the weight distribution across a minimum number of axles.

  • Putting too much weight on a small area of the road surface can cause ruts, cracks, and potholes
  • Putting too much weight on a small area of a bridge surface can cause structural damage to the bridge
  • Too much weight on your steer axle can lead to a "heavy steering" feel and may cause the truck to react improperly to steering inputs
  • Not enough weight on your steer axle can lead to a loss of traction for your steer tires
  • Improper weight balance between your tractor drive tires and trailer tandems can lead to poor traction and an increased risk of jackknifing
  • Too much weight toward the back of the trailer can lead to a "pendulum effect", causing the rear of the trailer to sway back and forth while driving down the highway or jackknife going around a curve
  • Overloading a tire beyond it's maximum tire load capacity can cause tire damage and blowouts
  • Overloading the suspension system of the truck can cause damage to the suspension system which could easily lead to loss of control of the vehicle

So as you can see, it's critical in so many ways to make sure that we follow the weight limits in strict accordance with the law. It is incredibly dangerous to overload a vehicle or to have the weight improperly distributed across the axles.

Methods Of Weight Transfer

There are several ways to distribute the overall weight of the vehicle across the different sets of axles. You will affect weight distribution by:

  • Changing the weight distribution of the cargo along the length of the trailer, or moving the cargo around after loading the truth. This will distribute the weight mainly between your drive axles and trailer tandems
  • Sliding your trailer tandems forward or backward will redistribute the weight mainly between your drive axles and trailer tandems
  • Sliding your 5th wheel will redistribute the weight mainly between your steer axle and your drive axles
  • Adding or burning off fuel will mainly change the amount of weight on your steer axle and somewhat on your drive axles also, depending upon the placement of your fuel tanks.

Limitations On Weight Transfer

There are several factors that will reduce the amount of weight we can transfer between the different sets of axles on the truck:

  • Federal laws limit the maximum weight on any set of axles and the gross vehicle weight - 20,000 pounds single axle, 34,000 pound tandem axles, 80,000 pounds GVW
  • The bridge law formula limits the maximum amount of weight you can carry across any set of axles based upon the number of axles and the spacing between them (we'll discuss this formula soon).
  • The maximum legal length allowed between your trailer kingpin and your trailer tandems will limit how far back you can slide your tandems
  • The load rating of the tires you have will determine the maximum amount of weight allowed on any particular tire
  • The load rating of the suspension system will limit the amount of weight you can have on any axle

The Bridge Formula

bridge law formula and regulations for trucks

Congress enacted the Bridge Formula in 1975 to limit the weight-to-length ratio of a vehicle crossing a bridge. They accomplished this either by spreading weight over additional axles or by increasing the distance between axles.

The idea here was to prevent putting too much weight on a relatively small area, causing damage to the road surface and bridge structure. By requiring trucks to spread the weight across a longer distance and distributing the weight across more axles, you help prevent damage to the bridges and roadways.

Compliance with Bridge Formula weight limits is determined by using the following formula:

W = the overall gross weight on any group of two or more consecutive axles to the nearest 500 pounds.

L = the distance in feet between the outer axles of any group of two or more consecutive axles.

N = the number of axles in the group under consideration.

Altering The Weight Distribution

The primary factors which will affect the weight distribution across a truck's axles are:

  • The position of the trailer's tandems
  • The position of the tractor's 5th wheel
  • The overall weight of the cargo in the trailer and the horizontal (front-to-back) position of its center of gravity
  • The amount of fuel onboard and the placement of the fuel tanks

In the coming pages, we'll go through these one at a time and learn to apply each one individually. Later we'll put them all together and show you how to get your truck's weight distribution legal out on the highways, coast to coast, under any circumstances.

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