Bridge Law Chart.. Rand Mcnalley
Topic 14115 | Page 3
Yall are way out of my league
my head actually hurts from this lol
Yall are way out of my league
^ this ^
And if DOT asks me, they're getting a Cat scale ticket and a blank stare. But I'm sincerely happy that you're happy. Really, I am.
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.
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”
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Bridge Heights DOT Truck Equipment Understanding The Laws Weight and Scales
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Ok I am back....
I am going to use our 4 axle trailer as an example. Based on the math 12k on steer, 42k on drives and drop axle and 52k on the quad trailer I should be legal for 106k but since surrounding states limit you to 105,500 I will use that number.
Now if you can get the full 12k on the steer that would leave you with 93,500. Overall bridge is good for the 105,500 so no issue there. Now in order for me to bridge that 93,500 pounds the measurement from the center of my drop axle to the center of the last axle on the trailer has to be 57.5 feet. The dang trailer is only 53' long and the center of the last axle is 3' from the back of the trailer so now I am down to 50'. Now the drop axle is 4' ahead of the front of the trailer so now I am back up to having a bridge length of 54'.
According to my chart, that means I can only legally bridge 91,500. Add that to the 12k for the steer and I can only legally gross 103,500 pounds. That is 2k short of what I should be allowed to gross.
Even with that we target net weights for what we haul so we try to get 65k of load on the trailers. I can only legally put on 63,500 pounds because the trailer is 3k heavier than the newer trailers are.
But for your situation pulling 80k gross loads you are fine. If you measure out to at least 40' from the center of the front drive axle to the center of the rear trailer axle you are allowed to bridge 68660 pounds and then you add 12k for the steer and you are at 80,660 pounds that you can bridge.
I know it is clear as mud but there is nothing you need to worry about on bridge weights for your setup.