No CAT Scales Between Shipper And Weigh Stations
Topic 32726 | Page 2
In addition to the CAT scale app, a good truck GPS will show the locations of available scales, CAT brand scales and others.
True... But often drivers do not update their GPS. Failing to do so will give you bad results. I have gone to places and found the truck stop closed or moved. One place in PA took the CAT scale out completely.
Roads change names and even restrictions.... So this is a good reminder to up date those GPS especially before entering winter driving areas!
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.
Two things... 1. CAT has an app which shows the locations.of the scales.
2. The tandems are slid all the way back when you pick up the trailer. Does your truck not have an axle weight gauge on the dash? Prime trucks have both an added "Rightweigh" guage installed on all trucks and trailers.... But my last 2 trucks have had the drive axle weight on the digital dash.
When you slide the tandems... Put most of the weight on the drives. Then scale and adjust as needed.
Kearsey, I have the CAT scale app that lets me weigh from my truck at the scale. But I don’t see any feature on that app that shows me the CAT scale locations. Is the one you mentioned a separate app?
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”
Two things... 1. CAT has an app which shows the locations.of the scales.
2. The tandems are slid all the way back when you pick up the trailer. Does your truck not have an axle weight gauge on the dash? Prime trucks have both an added "Rightweigh" guage installed on all trucks and trailers.... But my last 2 trucks have had the drive axle weight on the digital dash.
When you slide the tandems... Put most of the weight on the drives. Then scale and adjust as needed.
Kearsey, I have the CAT scale app that lets me weigh from my truck at the scale. But I don’t see any feature on that app that shows me the CAT scale locations. Is the one you mentioned a separate app?
Yes it is a separate app.
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”
Two things... 1. CAT has an app which shows the locations.of the scales.
2. The tandems are slid all the way back when you pick up the trailer. Does your truck not have an axle weight gauge on the dash? Prime trucks have both an added "Rightweigh" guage installed on all trucks and trailers.... But my last 2 trucks have had the drive axle weight on the digital dash.
When you slide the tandems... Put most of the weight on the drives. Then scale and adjust as needed.
Kearsey, I have the CAT scale app that lets me weigh from my truck at the scale. But I don’t see any feature on that app that shows me the CAT scale locations. Is the one you mentioned a separate app?
Yes it is a separate app.
Thank you!
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”
Out of curiosity, what needs to be done when you find out your tandem is overweight?
Today I picked up a load at the Tyson plant northeast of Amarillo, headed east on I40 towards the Texas/Oklahoma state line. The load is heavy, over 43,000 pounds, so I definitely needed to weigh it before I reached the state weigh stations in Texas and then again just after crossing into Oklahoma. No problem, I was going to weigh out at exit 96 on I40, at the Loves truck stop. But there isn’t a CAT scale there. Back on I40, eastbound, I didn’t find any scales (unless I missed one). Fortunately for me, both weigh stations were closed when I passed by. Finally weighed out at my first fuel stop, exit 20 in Sayre, OK. I was 34,900 lbs. on my trailer tandems. Easy adjustment. But I guess next time I have a pickup at Tyson, I’ll have to backtrack to Amarillo and hit a CAT scale there.
Has anybody else had a similar experience? Did I miss a CAT scale along the way? Lots of Prime trucks at Tyson. Maybe one of the Prime drivers has a comment? Sure made me nervous about getting an overweight citation.
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”
You can normally adjust the trailer axles forward or rearward to adjust the weight that the trailer footprint is applying to the roadway. However, some states have limitations on lengths of the overall unit. Think of this as a wheelbase of the trailer. If either of these limits are exceeded, the load will need to be adjusted, or a portion removed.
A driver may get loaded in WV, but the final delivery is CA, so these weight and lengths must be taken into account BY THE DRIVER before departing. Getting to the NV/CA border is not the time to realize that CA has a maximum length of only 40 feet, whereas WV has no limits. That's not the time to call dispatch or finally research it in your trucker's atlas.
You can normally adjust the trailer axles forward or rearward to adjust the weight that the trailer footprint is applying to the roadway. However, some states have limitations on lengths of the overall unit. Think of this as a wheelbase of the trailer. If either of these limits are exceeded, the load will need to be adjusted, or a portion removed.
I dealt with this type of issue almost a year ago when being loaded in St. Joseph, MO with a destination of Flagstaff, AZ. The trailer was loaded with 23 pallets, 1 in the nose and then 2 pallets all the way back. I was legal weight at 78k+, but I had a tandem weight issue. The states through which I traveled with the load have no regulations on distance from kingpin to tandems , but there is a federal regulation of 46'. I was overweight on the tandems by 800 lbs with tandems at 46'. Shipper wanted to remove last to pallets and send me on my way. After reweigh, still overweight by 300 lbs on tandems. Shipper had to rework the load to put two pallets in the nose so that the odd pallet would be at the tail.
Any company that is worth anything will be paying a driver for all time spent going between a shipper and a scale, when a rework is necessary.
Oh, West Virginia does have a regulation on length between kingpin and tandems. Practically, it is 41'. The actual regulation states 37' from the rearmost tractor axle to the frontmost trailer axle.
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.
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".
Here is the Trucking truth High Road training section on trailer axles:
As far as Kingpin laws by state, every driver should have the Rand McNally Atlas which has a very good chart section telling you the Kingpin laws for each state.
CDL:
Commercial Driver's License (CDL)
A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:
- Any combination of vehicles with a gross combined weight rating (GCWR) of 26,001 or more pounds, providing the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of the vehicle being towed is in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any single vehicle with a GVWR of 26,001 or more pounds, or any such vehicle towing another not in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any vehicle, regardless of size, designed to transport 16 or more persons, including the driver.
- Any vehicle required by federal regulations to be placarded while transporting hazardous materials.
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".
23 CFR 658.13 is also a needed read.
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In addition to the CAT scale app, a good truck GPS will show the locations of available scales, CAT brand scales and others.
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”