Dodge The Scale Game

Topic 8847 | Page 1

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The Dude's Comment
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So I made a big rookie mistake yesterday. I set up my coil racks a little bit too far back and got myself loaded a little bit too heavy on my rears. I found out that I messed up when the Ohio Turnpike wouldn't let me on.

So, now I'm running this load from Cleveland to Omaha on state highways routing myself with the good old atlas book, playing dodge the scale the whole way. It's incredibly stressful and at each of the five million red lights I come up to, I reflect on the error on my ways.

I've found the scale buddy app for my phone which tells me which scales are opened or closed and it has allowed me to run on interstates a little bit if I see a scale I have to pass is closed, so that has helped a little.

Spent nine and a half hours of drive time today to cover only 407 miles.

If you flatbed, and your going to pull coils, REALLY be sure you know where you're placing them because driving while being afraid of coops is really not an enjoyable day.

Interstate:

Commercial trade, business, movement of goods or money, or transportation from one state to another, regulated by the Federal Department Of Transportation (DOT).

Pat M.'s Comment
member avatar

Do you not have a load gauge on the trailer? A lot of times they are under the rub rails or on the rear of the trailer.

Ernie S. (AKA Old Salty D's Comment
member avatar

If memory serves me correctly, Prime did not have the Right Weigh system on the flatbed trailers. And if they do, you as the driver have to calibrate it or you have to trust that it is right (most of the time it was not). They do have the Right Weigh scales on all the reefer trailers.

Ernie

Reefer:

A refrigerated trailer.

Lawrence H.'s Comment
member avatar

I hauled steel and galvenized coils for 25 years. They wouldn't reload it. Or no scale close by and you already had the coils rub rail tarped.

Chris L.'s Comment
member avatar

Do you center load using the side light as center? You should be fine if you do that. And always start your truck and release the brakes letting the air build up and check your drive Guage before securement.

The Dude's Comment
member avatar

Do you center load using the side light as center? You should be fine if you do that. And always start your truck and release the brakes letting the air build up and check your drive Guage before securement.

I had been splitting two coils slightly behind the light, thought that was the right way to do it. Went a little too far back this time. I will start using the light as dead center from now on if that's what you would advise.

Sitting at the 90 right now, made it without issue.

Chris L.'s Comment
member avatar

Did you have a 57 trailer? The tandems are closer up than the newer trailers, they have a better turning radius but more weight gets put on them because of it. Just something to keep in mind if you get those older trailers.

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".

HOS:

Hours Of Service

HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.
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