CMV Weight Issues

I earned Mr. Schneider a $270 fine in Virginia because of a weight and tandem positioning issue. (I may have posted this previously, but if I did, I'm going to play the old man card). Anywho, I picked up a very fragrant load from Unilever and went about 5 miles to weigh it. Overweight! Adjusted tandems , re-weigh, still overweight. Back to Unilever to have product removed. Then back to the scale. Weight was legal, but just barely. Weight on rear tandems very close to the limit. So, I said to myself: "Self, if you move those tandems up, you will be overweight on them again, so better to leave them alone." So I go merrily on my way and before too long, I get pulled into a weigh station in Virginia. Guess what? Tandems at 44'. Virginia violation. Stupid rookie mistake. Lesson learned. And, yes Virginia, there is a weigh station.

Hey, here's something I wondered about ever since my Virginia incident. While I was there, another driver had his rig put out of service for some reason, and he was sent to some underground bunker, down some stairs, and I never found out what those bunkers are for. I think I've seen them at other weight stations. I hope the poor guy wasn't executed down there. Anybody know about these underground things?

It's not a bunker containing torture equipment. It's merely a tunnel going under the interstate. On one side of the interstate in Virginia there's only the scale, but no officers in an office. If you are on that side you take the walk of shame through the tunnel so you can have a face to face meeting with an officer who is patiently waiting for you on the other side of the highway. Don't ask how I know this to be true.

Splitter wrote:

The furthest back we can slide our tandems is the 12th hole, where he was positioned, in order to be legal in most states except CA & state routes in IN.

A bit more to it than just that...

It’s all based on state KingPin law; distance from the KingPin to either center of the tandem or rear axle center (using either diagram 1 or 2). Some states do not have any law; others do and many are different. If RealDiel was passing through states with no KingPin law, he could have set his tandems to the far rear of his trailer and possibly been legal at that point, but possibly a Prime policy violation.

States that tend to be more strict are in the Northeast; NJ, PA, MD, & CT. Odd that NJ wasn’t represented on the Prime tandem setting placard.

Per Susan’s statement; “not understanding hole counting”, is relevant. Two variables affect this and support her point, there are two hole spacings; standard (more common) is on 6” centers, micro is on 4” spacing. Spacing has a direct effect on the amount of weight that can be moved with each hole setting and has little to do with the type of trailer. A rule of thumb is 350 pounds per hole for 6” on-center and 250 per hole for 3” on-center. Second variable, due to lack of any standardization; when length of the slide rail is taken into consideration (it differs greatly) hole counting is not an accurate way to align with any KingPin law except where one doesn’t exist. Susan’s statement is not nonsense and was intended to be serious.

That said many companies will have some standards; but at least in my experience, lacking consistency.

I suggest investing some time reviewing the KingPin law (shown below) in order to understand how it applies within each state you are routed through, company guidance and the equipment you happen to be under. In the end, use of a tape measure or “pacing it off”, then scaling is the only thing close to a surefire way to be compliant.

Bruce wrote:

I earned Mr. Schneider a $270 fine in Virginia because of a weight and tandem positioning issue. (I may have posted this previously, but if I did, I'm going to play the old man card). Anywho, I picked up a very fragrant load from Unilever and went about 5 miles to weigh it. Overweight! Adjusted tandems , re-weigh, still overweight. Back to Unilever to have product removed. Then back to the scale. Weight was legal, but just barely. Weight on rear tandems very close to the limit. So, I said to myself: "Self, if you move those tandems up, you will be overweight on them again, so better to leave them alone." So I go merrily on my way and before too long, I get pulled into a weigh station in Virginia. Guess what? Tandems at 44'. Virginia violation. Stupid rookie mistake. Lesson learned. And, yes Virginia, there is a weigh station.

Interesting, you paid the fine, not Schneider.

44’ to where?

G-Town, once we know where the 43' position is (most, but not all of our trailers have the labels with arrows on the trailer) can we simply measure from the back of our 53' trailer to the 43' location, make a mental record of that and then just use a small tape measure to mark the correct position on trailers that don't have the label? Then if we need to be set at 41', for example, we just add two more feet. I hope my question makes sense. I've wanted to get that measurement for sometime, but have kept forgetting. Is that practical?

G-Town, once we know where the 43' position is (most, but not all of our trailers have the labels with arrows on the trailer) can we simply measure from the back of our 53' trailer to the 43' location, make a mental record of that and then just use a small tape measure to mark the correct position on trailers that don't have the label? Then if we need to be set at 41', for example, we just add two more feet. I hope my question makes sense. I've wanted to get that measurement for sometime, but have kept forgetting. Is that practical?

Refer to my post before the reply to you.

You need to use the diagrams when figuring out where to place the tandems. That is why I worded the question the way I did.

GT, Schneider paid the fine. The DOT guys told me that was Virginia law that the company couldn't make the driver pay. I don't know if that is across the board or not. When I first called Schneider to report the citation, I was told that it was "a driver borne fine". However, I repeated what I was told, sent the citation in to the Fines & Citations dept. via transflo, and never heard anything about it at all. And I kept checking my pay statement. No deductions for that citation.

Also, the two DOT guys that checked out my trailer, (I watched them in action), measured with a 50' tape from the king pin to the center of my rear axle. They also advised me to re-position my tandems to 43' before I got back on the road again.

GT, Schneider paid the fine. The DOT guys told me that was Virginia law that the company couldn't make the driver pay. I don't know if that is across the board or not. When I first called Schneider to report the citation, I was told that it was "a driver borne fine". However, I repeated what I was told, sent the citation in to the Fines & Citations dept. via transflo, and never heard anything about it at all. And I kept checking my pay statement. No deductions for that citation.

Also, the two DOT guys that checked out my trailer, (I watched them in action), measured with a 50' tape from the king pin to the center of my rear axle. They also advised me to re-position my tandems to 43' before I got back on the road again.

Again, please refer to the two images I replied with.

GT, ok I think I get your point now. I was wrong about the 43' setting. It was at 44' but VA is 41' I was 3' too far back.

Am I getting warm?