Weight And Distribution
Topic 27208 | Page 2
Drivers have enough to worry about as it is, just seems like this is something that could be eliminated. Hope someone is working on this so its a non issue in the future
Dave, that information is there because it's something that nobody will ever teach you. It's valuable stuff. You can be glad Brett wants to help you understand all the little nuances involved in this career.
I've been out here a good many years, but it's an issue that I only remember facing twice in my career. You're way overthinking it as a problem you'll be encountering often. It's only going to affect you on an extremely heavy load. Don't sweat it, and just be glad someone had the foresight to help you understand how to deal with the issue.
If you are nailed for being overweight, do you pay for the ticket or does the company?
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.
The driver pays the ticket... he chose to drive the truck illegally.
I scale on a CAT scale every load over 41k. if you are over weight on a tandem , the shipper usually wont rework it without a scale ticket.
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.
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".
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”
HOS:
Hours Of Service
HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.
Yep our load out tomorrow to Texas says 44k on our QC, so we WILL be scaling this load. wow 40 pallets of PVC fittings lol must be some big boogers And see how this FL hauls this 1 our heaviest yet (broker load) Since I had our governor bumped up to 67 at pedal, 68 on cruise....Feels better to not be so slow, and passed by Swiftees or Crenglanders,,,,Sorry Primates,... having to pass you too now....(only in good weather, I slow down in bad stuff)
Even though if you way your truck and trailer fully fueled and an empty trailer, and if you know you will max out at say 44k, I would take a weight from a shipper I have know experience with of anything over 35k as being close to being near my max weight, because like others have said, the shipper weight may only be product weight without packaging. If the BOL's showed me anything over 30k lbs, from an unfamiliar shipper, I would scale at a CAT scale , just for my own piece of mind... The only shipper I would feel 100% confident with the eight and distribution would be a load from an Budweiser load, since they load the trailer based on the weight of your tractor when you arrive at their plant, and they scale you on site so if you are overweight, or can't get the distribution right, they will rework the load to make the load legal.
The only times (other than a Budweiser load) I trusted the weight on a BOL and distribution, were the 2 dedicated accounts I was on, and they were 99.999999999% spot on with both, and had no problem taking a 45k load without question. And even when I first started on each of those accounts I followed the same rule and went to a CAT scale (if I passed one) for the 1st few loads on those accounts just for my piece of mind if the weight was listed as 30k or more.
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”
HOS:
Hours Of Service
HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.
I've picked up several beer loads from both Annheuser Bush and Miller-Coors that had to be re-worked and/or pallets removed because these were overweight. These were all preloaded trailers, supposedly weighed after leaving the docks, so I don't trust their scales either. All they are looking at is gross weight, not how it's loaded in the trailer.
Turns out its the pellets they use to make the grey pvc pipes etc...We got 2nd load out of only 2 lol scaled out ok but driving tractor bounced more than i liked with tandems in 4th hole so slid to 7th n worked fine....weigh stations given us green lights thru (73k total) Finally outta FL. Whewwww 1st time there hope the last !!! Lol
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".
One of our shippers lists every load as 40,000 pounds. I can tell by how I go up 6 mile hill that they are just making it up.
I rarely scale it, as I can see by my airbags I am legal, but I have scaled a couple at 44k or so.
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.
At Prime we are spoiled by some of the tools they provide to help us. The in-cab drive-tire weight gauge and the tandem weight gauge on our trailers. Of course they aren't 100% accurate but they give you a pretty good idea about how heavy you are on the tandems and drives. Furthermore, when making your loaded call, the rep on the phone will ask your gauge weights. This serves as a reminder that you might want to take it to a CAT scale if either of your gauge weights are close to 34,000.
On a side note, Delco Dave. There is only one Delco that I know of. I was born in Collingdale.
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".
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”
RealDiehl wrote:
On a side note, Delco Dave. There is only one Delco that I know of. I was born in Collingdale.
Learn something new every day... R-D I was born in Ridley Park (Michelle St.), Dad and Mom grew up in Springfield. Small world.
Steve, Grumpy, Et. All...
I am very picky about weigh distribution and I do not guess. Facts are facts, and details matter.
Although it's first & foremost "to-be legal" on all axle sets, balance is also important for safety, ride quality and protecting your load. My preference is to be within a 700 lb. weight difference between drives and tandem; if possible the drives carrying the slightly higher weight amount. Although I can make a judgement call based on the amount of pressure on the airbag gauge, I always scale any outbound store delivery before leaving the DC. Although it's rare we are over 80k total GVWC, it's common the weight balance is lacking. Every outbound load I deliver is different from front-to-back in terms of how the weight is positioned. I scale everything and adjust if necessary.
In Steve's example where he moved the tandems 3 holes; I encourage everyone to consider performing this after running over a Cat scale or equivalent, adjust accordingly "before" passing over a WIM scale (Weigh-In-Motion) on the Interstate. I "get-it", it's not always practical and may require you to go out of your way...but anything is better than paying a hefty fine. And Steve highlights an important point; if there is a significant % of the weight over or behind the tandems (toward the rear of the trailer), it will cause the trailer to bounce around, at time lifting weight off the tractor driver.
Strive to be legal "first", good weight balance "second".
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).
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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Weight and Scales
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Thanks Packrat, that is very good to know as well. Too bad the shippers aren’t required to give you an accurate total load weight to make the drivers job a little easier
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.