Heaviest Weight You've Hauled?
Topic 22813 | Page 7
As close as I could get last night. I was hoping I didn’t pass a scale, or the guy would take pity on me.
Sealed load, no one in the plant to rework, closed for Easter.
That last adjustment was one hole.
Their scale is viral. At most one hole will move 500 pounds tops.
Take it to a certified CAT scale.
Viral?
I will say that load pulled best and rode smoothest of any load so far. No idea why. I have had loads from there that scaled perfectly before but for some reason this one rode like I was driving my pickup, and pulled like I had a half load.
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”
As close as I could get last night. I was hoping I didn’t pass a scale, or the guy would take pity on me.
Sealed load, no one in the plant to rework, closed for Easter.
That last adjustment was one hole.
If I was going to drive overweight by a little bit, I would rather it be over on my drives if the tandems were legal for the states you're going through.
Depending on how much fuel you had, you could have burned the extra weight off. I've done that once or twice now. But I was only over by 100-150 pounds give or take.
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".
TWIC:
Transportation Worker Identification Credential
Truck drivers who regularly pick up from or deliver to the shipping ports will often be required to carry a TWIC card.
Your TWIC is a tamper-resistant biometric card which acts as both your identification in secure areas, as well as an indicator of you having passed the necessary security clearance. TWIC cards are valid for five years. The issuance of TWIC cards is overseen by the Transportation Security Administration and the Department of Homeland Security.
for some reason this one rode like I was driving my pickup, and pulled like I had a half load.
To be honest, I think it's because you had an active imagination that day or you were seeing the world through rose colored glasses.
I've heard many stories of people who think they have some sort of magical feel for the truck. For instance, many drivers like to think they can tell when the truck is a little bit overweight on one of the sets of axles. Unfortunately, that's utterly absurd. No one can tell if 1,000 pounds of weight is shifted one or two feet too far in one direction on a truck that weighs 80,000 pounds, is 70 feet long, and the axles in question are far behind the driver with 3 levels of air suspension in between the axles and the driver's seat.
But hey, it's fun to dream, right?
If I was going to drive overweight by a little bit, I would rather it be over on my drives if the tandems were legal for the states you're going through. Depending on how much fuel you had, you could have burned the extra weight off. I've done that once or twice now.
Almost all of the weight from fuel will go to your steer tires, not your drives. It's always possible a truck was built with the fuel tanks farther back, but the majority of the time they have the fuel tanks really far forward so 90% or more of the weight of fuel will be on your steers.
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".
TWIC:
Transportation Worker Identification Credential
Truck drivers who regularly pick up from or deliver to the shipping ports will often be required to carry a TWIC card.
Your TWIC is a tamper-resistant biometric card which acts as both your identification in secure areas, as well as an indicator of you having passed the necessary security clearance. TWIC cards are valid for five years. The issuance of TWIC cards is overseen by the Transportation Security Administration and the Department of Homeland Security.
for some reason this one rode like I was driving my pickup, and pulled like I had a half load.
To be honest, I think it's because you had an active imagination that day or you were seeing the world through rose colored glasses.
I've heard many stories of people who think they have some sort of magical feel for the truck. For instance, many drivers like to think they can tell when the truck is a little bit overweight on one of the sets of axles. Unfortunately, that's utterly absurd. No one can tell if 1,000 pounds of weight is shifted one or two feet too far in one direction on a truck that weighs 80,000 pounds, is 70 feet long, and the axles in question are far behind the driver with 3 levels of air suspension in between the axles and the driver's seat.
But hey, it's fun to dream, right?
Almost all of the weight from fuel will go to your steer tires, not your drives. It's always possible a truck was built with the fuel tanks farther back, but the majority of the time they have the fuel tanks really far forward so 90% or more of the weight of fuel will be on your steers.
My first thought was DOT fixed a bunch of the potholes over the weekend. But if they did, they fixed miles and miles of potholes.
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.
TWIC:
Transportation Worker Identification Credential
Truck drivers who regularly pick up from or deliver to the shipping ports will often be required to carry a TWIC card.
Your TWIC is a tamper-resistant biometric card which acts as both your identification in secure areas, as well as an indicator of you having passed the necessary security clearance. TWIC cards are valid for five years. The issuance of TWIC cards is overseen by the Transportation Security Administration and the Department of Homeland Security.
Viral?
3 different total weights each time you weighed the loaded truck. Yes...something was a bit off.
3 different total weights each time you weighed the loaded truck. Yes...something was a bit off.
I thought that was weird as well but chalked it up to my inexperience.
3 different total weights each time you weighed the loaded truck. Yes...something was a bit off.
I thought that was weird as well but chalked it up to my inexperience.
"Wonky" is probably a better word than viral to describe the scale readings you experienced. Keep in mind, the scales at shippers are not typically certified, thus not always accurate or functioning properly. Best to run the load to a CAT scale and return to the shipper if something needs reworking. Trust your instincts...regardless of your rookie status, common sense should be your rule of thumb.
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.
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”
In my experience, most customer scales are not accurate at all, like G-Town wrote, so always use a CAT scale if you can. I got loaded one time at some dump in OH10 with recycling cardboard and scaled at the shipper. Supposedly 79,100 on their “it’s accurate” scale. I could tell it was overweight, but it was a short run to VA, at night and on a weekend, so I didn’t scale. I got to the delivery, scaled on the inbound lane, and it was overweight by 3,500. Their scale is accurate. So 83,500 for my heaviest. I wouldn’t advise it, because I’m not paid by the pound hauled.
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.
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”
I had many loads that were over 79,000. Roofing shingles, lumber, and some sort of special stuff for football fields. We were told to keep our personal items to a minimum to keep our empty weight down. I never ran over weight, but always had trouble getting the scale operators to do a split weight for the rear axles.
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Adverse Conditions DOT Life On The Road Safe Driving Tips Truck Driving Lifestyle Understanding The Laws Weight and Scales
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Oops, lol.
12,300 lbs