Kingpin Laws
Topic 25937 | Page 1
You can SEE THEM on this site, or they will be happy to sell you a downloadable pdf for the $5 you speak of.
You should ALWAYS HAVE a current Rand McNally Motor Carrier Atlas. What if your GPS breaks, or your QC goes down - or you need to look up trucking-specific laws for a particular state you need to travel to?
Even if you're drops are close to Interstate Highways - if you're traveling multiple states, you need to know the laws for those states. WI - 43' to center, tandems all the way back - you're ILLEGAL. MN too.
Rick
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".
Interstate:
Commercial trade, business, movement of goods or money, or transportation from one state to another, regulated by the Federal Department Of Transportation (DOT).
HOS:
Hours Of Service
HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.
I can't get the link to work from my phone, but G_town posted one in the topic CWT weight issues
You do know that the position of the trailer tandems can change the turning radius of your rig and cause you to hit something you would normally miss.. I have seen it way too many times when some driver does not swing wide enough the runs over a car hood or worse. Take the extra effort and do it right the first time. Its the little things that separate the professional from the rest.
After I unload (assuming I'm empty or couple pallet backhaul) I'll slide my tandems all the way to the rear to save time back at the yard. Well then I'm not abiding kingpin laws. I guess I've been lucky to not get ticketed.
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".
Thats is a good general site but Virginia is wrong.. Virginia per their DOT is 41' to center of rear axle. https://www.dmv.virginia.gov/webdoc/pdf/dmv109.pdf
You can SEE THEM on this site, or they will be happy to sell you a downloadable pdf for the $5 you speak of.
You should ALWAYS HAVE a current Rand McNally Motor Carrier Atlas. What if your GPS breaks, or your QC goes down - or you need to look up trucking-specific laws for a particular state you need to travel to?
Even if you're drops are close to Interstate Highways - if you're traveling multiple states, you need to know the laws for those states. WI - 43' to center, tandems all the way back - you're ILLEGAL. MN too.
Rick
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.
Interstate:
Commercial trade, business, movement of goods or money, or transportation from one state to another, regulated by the Federal Department Of Transportation (DOT).
Dm:
Dispatcher, Fleet Manager, Driver Manager
The primary person a driver communicates with at his/her company. A dispatcher can play many roles, depending on the company's structure. Dispatchers may assign freight, file requests for home time, relay messages between the driver and management, inform customer service of any delays, change appointment times, and report information to the load planners.DMV:
Department of Motor Vehicles, Bureau of Motor Vehicles
The state agency that handles everything related to your driver's licences, including testing, issuance, transfers, and revocation.
HOS:
Hours Of Service
HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.
You do know that the position of the trailer tandems can change the turning radius of your rig and cause you to hit something you would normally miss
Yes. The job i have I typically go to the same few stores so I'm familiar with the space needed. Our new stores are where I tend to go and have plenty of space to maneuver. After I get off the interstate its 2 turns to get into the terminal both of which have plenty of room. If its somewhere I've not been before (like today in Olathe KS) I roll with the tandems forward further than normal (and scale to ensure its legal) and keep them there until I take my 30 on the way back. I was sliding them before getting to the yard just because of how busy it gets, but I'll probably just do it there from now on due to kingpin laws that I'm aware of. Unfortunately I didn't need to deal with it for the job in my rookie year, and the trainers I had when I came to this company didn't mention it because one mainly does Iowa while other does Nebraska both of which dont have kingpin laws.
Terminal:
A facility where trucking companies operate out of, or their "home base" if you will. A lot of major companies have multiple terminals around the country which usually consist of the main office building, a drop lot for trailers, and sometimes a repair shop and wash facilities.
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".
Interstate:
Commercial trade, business, movement of goods or money, or transportation from one state to another, regulated by the Federal Department Of Transportation (DOT).
NOOB QUESTION...
So is anyone (besides LEO's) actually measuring this? Besides the obvious (tandems all the way back on a 53' is clearly illegal in many?/most?/all? states) and with moveable "5th wheels" how does one know without actually putting a tape to it? And if so... what is a good tape or other measuring device (laser? Bluetooth? WiFi?)?
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".
Some companies have their trailers marked for different positions. LEO does check them and they are looked at by the scale house people. I just measure with a tape measure.
Majority of newer trailers have a 3" from the trailer nose to the center of the kingpin. So with a tap measure.. 9' from the rear of the trailer is 41' from kingpin. Use a thick sharpy and mark it. And yes the scale house computers take pictures and determine your measurements.
Majority of newer trailers have a 3" from the trailer nose to the center of the kingpin. So with a tap measure.. 9' from the rear of the trailer is 41' from kingpin. Use a thick sharpy and mark it. And yes the scale house computers take pictures and determine your measurements.
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I got thinking on my drive today about kingpin laws for some reason. I always hear about the northeast and California having really strict laws regarding it so never gave it any thought. Turns out I've not been compliant when I'm in WI and MN. After I unload (assuming I'm empty or couple pallet backhaul) I'll slide my tandems all the way to the rear to save time back at the yard. Well then I'm not abiding kingpin laws. I guess I've been lucky to not get ticketed. Can somebody(perhaps G-town as he is typically very involved in kingpin/bridge convos) post a chart or maybe even an article that we can use as a resource? I don't have an Atlas due to 99% of my runs are interstate and stores I'm delivering to are on average a mile off interstate. I didn't see anything with a quick search here and other sites that popped up on Google want $5 to view their charts.
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".
Interstate:
Commercial trade, business, movement of goods or money, or transportation from one state to another, regulated by the Federal Department Of Transportation (DOT).