I Can Never See Any Reason Under The Sun Why Trucks Should Ever Be Overweight.

It seems like a waste of time, money and resources to deal with an overweight rig.

Lost time means lost money for the driver.

It seems completely stupid that a truck should even be overweight leaving the shipping dock in the first place. The shipper should know exactly what a pallet of oil drums or a pallet of Campbell's' soup weighs and how to multiply. The driver should always know exactly what his rig weighs full of fuel. Don't shippers even have scales that are calibrated and trade-legal?

It’s not so much overweight as a whole as overweight on the axles.

Do you know how to check axle weights on a single scale? Do you know how to adjust for that weight? Do you even know the axle weights and what the difference is for a regular tandem and a spread?

Coming off pretty judgey for someone who I doubt has even seen a scale.

It will happen and it is a part of trucking. What you do when it happens is the important part.

Like andhe78 said it's not total weight, but axle weight and length. There are only two times I can think or that I had to have a trailer reworked because of weight VS length issues.

Todd I suggest you pick up a Rand McNally and look at the front pages. Pages A16 and A17 is where you will find the weight and size limits. Pages A26 to A46 will show you state by state directory of low clearances, permanent weigh stations and restricted routes.

Some places do, some don't they do what everything weighs it's usually a matter of getting it balanced correctly so each axle is legal.

Since pretty much everything I pull is single axle I'm only allowed 20k pounds, unlike them fancy tandem fellows who can have 34k, and are able to slide stuff to adjust their weights.

Some produce shippers dont care and will load the trailer as heavy as they can. been there done that many employ illegals so why would they care if the truck pulls out illegally?

Some produce places dont even put weight on the BOL. just quantity. A shipper in McAllen Texas loaded a trailer and it weighed 83,000!!!! The same place tried to put 4 pallets more than Prime told me to expect, i told them i wouldnt pull out of the door if i had more.

One General Mills place loaded me so heavy my tires were flattening from the weight and the closest CAT scale was 60 miles away. surprise surprise, they had to rework it and remove pallets.

It’s not so much overweight as a whole as overweight on the axles.

Do you know how to check axle weights on a single scale? Do you know how to adjust for that weight? Do you even know the axle weights and what the difference is for a regular tandem and a spread?

Coming off pretty judgey for someone who I doubt has even seen a scale.

Sorry, I know nothing about the rest. I was considering the overall (gross) weight of the vehicle as a whole. I figured that's all they check at the chicken coops. Plop the whole enchilada on the govt. calibrated scale and see if the numbers go over 80,000 pounds or not.

So, whose responsibility is it to make sure axles are not overweight? The loader? The driver? Everybody?

So, the weight issue is more complex than that it now seems apparent to me. Anyway, as a driver I would always like to try to do everything in my power to make sure the rig is highway legal weight-wise the first time. I would never want to encounter a "failing grade" at the chicken coop and at least not have such failure be MY fault.

It’s not so much overweight as a whole as overweight on the axles.

Do you know how to check axle weights on a single scale? Do you know how to adjust for that weight? Do you even know the axle weights and what the difference is for a regular tandem and a spread?

Coming off pretty judgey for someone who I doubt has even seen a scale.

Sorry, I know nothing about the rest. I was considering the overall (gross) weight of the vehicle as a whole. I figured that's all they check at the chicken coops. Plop the whole enchilada on the govt. calibrated scale and see if the numbers go over 80,000 pounds or not.

So, whose responsibility is it to make sure axles are not overweight? The loader? The driver? Everybody?

So, the weight issue is more complex than that it now seems apparent to me. Anyway, as a driver I would always like to try to do everything in my power to make sure the rig is highway legal weight-wise the first time. I would never want to encounter a "failing grade" at the chicken coop and at least not have such failure be MY fault.

The High Road Training would explain stuff like this, and also prepare you to go to school and get a job

Some shippers have scales. Some product has uniform weight, most do not. Pulling reefer I do a lot of produce loads. No two pallets of apples weighs the same.

Unless you are hooked to the same trailer all the time your weight is going to fluctuate as well. A new reefer usually weighs less than an older reefer. A thermo king may weigh different than a carrier.

An international weighs about 300 pounds more than a freightliner.

The person loading the truck also matters. As a general rule I don't like putting more than 43,000 pounds in my trailer because it becomes a challenge to scale. However I have had people that can put 45000 pounds in my box and it will scale legal the first time. Others at the same customer can't get 40,000 pounds to scale legal without reworking the load.

Very little, if anything, in trucking is black and white.

Todd, I have places where they load me on a scale, piecemealing to get as close to 80k as possible. So 51k on my deck, without the option to slide my tandems , how do I use that scale to make sure I haven’t loaded too far forward and my drives aren’t overweight?