Overweight??

Discussion in 'Questions To Truckers From The General Public' started by confused??, Dec 6, 2010.

  1. confused??

    confused?? Bobtail Member

    5
    1
    Dec 6, 2010
    Hong Kong
    0
    Hi There,
    We have recently received fines with containers being overweight on axle points. Our containers are always loaded evenly and below 43000lbs cargo weight.
    I understand that it is possible to change the weight on axle points by sliding the trailer axles (sorry if my terminology is wrong).
    Anyhow, these are the some of the reported weights we have received
    120401156019060348403666036080289202668027040
    What I would like to know is if it would have been possible to adjust the trailer axles to distribute weights between steer, driver and trailer axles to make them legal?
    Appreciate any advice.
     
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  3. confused??

    confused?? Bobtail Member

    5
    1
    Dec 6, 2010
    Hong Kong
    0
    ah, just noticed the weights don't read clearly, should be
    12040
    34840
    28920

    11560
    36660
    26680

    10960
    36080
    27040

    Cheers
     
  4. chainbreaker

    chainbreaker Light Load Member

    55
    24
    Nov 12, 2010
    Burnside, Ky
    0
    What axles are the fines for?
    Generally your weight ratio for axles is 12000 on the steer, 34000 on the drives and 34000 trailer.
    OH wait I see what you did with the weights.
    On the first weight your 40 over on the steers and 840 over on the drives. You could have slid the trailer axle forward to absorb the weight. The slide holes on each trailer are different, the wider apart the holes are the more weight is moved. Some holes are around 300#'s each.
    What rail yards do for stability is slide the trailers axles all the way to the rear, so with 43000#'s your weights will be off and this will require you to weigh your wagon. Once you have more experience you will be better able to judge holes vs weight.
    On each of your weights the trailer axle is too far back.
    Sliding the fifth wheel moves weight around on the steers. works as the same as the trailer axle. To get weight off the steers slide the fifth wheel back one hole and reweigh if sliding the trailer tandems don't work by getting the weight off the steers.
    Hope that helps.
     
    DJ4wd Thanks this.
  5. DJ4wd

    DJ4wd Light Load Member

    116
    27
    Nov 18, 2010
    Central Ohio
    0
    Thats good advice, but to be honest I have never had to move my 5th wheel. I know how and know why, just havent
     
  6. rockee

    rockee Road Train Member

    1,393
    673
    Apr 17, 2007
    Pacific Northwest
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    What Chainbreaker said. Also it depends on how heavy the tractor and chassis is that the container get dropped on to. Most chassis are generally about the same weight but tractors can vary by thousands of pounds. You say they are always loaded below 43,000 pounds but how long is the container? I assume you are shipping from Hong Kong. Are you the shipper or the broker? There should be no reason for you to be fined if you are shipping them with legal weights in the first place. Its possible when they are landed they are getting put on chassis that have no sliding tandems, but not likely. My guess is that the drivers that are taking the loads are not scaling them out and if that is the case, you should not be paying any fines, they should. You dont really say who the fines are from, or where the loads are going to so it's pretty hard to tell.
     
  7. Jim Scarlott

    Jim Scarlott Bobtail Member

    depends on tractor model & fuel capacity on most Volvo's I have driven I have had twin 150 GAL. tanks for a total of 300 GAL on a 43,000LB load I would need 5th wheel slid to rear hole just to keep steer axle under 12,000, the newer Volvo's have the catalytic converter just behind the passenger steer tire so even though the fuel tank's are slightly smaller they still carry a lot of forward weight.
     
    Last edited: Dec 6, 2010
  8. Prairie Boy

    Prairie Boy Road Train Member

    3,258
    1,911
    Nov 18, 2010
    Edmonton, AB
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    You are loading the containers with even weight at the front and rear. The problem is that the drive axles are a lot heavier than trailer axles therefore the drives are always overweight. There should be more weight loaded at the DOOR end (rear) of the container. Not many container trailers have axles that slide.
     
  9. 123456

    123456 Road Train Member

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    Oct 22, 2010
    32179
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    You need to learn to run with them.................

    Go around the scalehouse if necessary.
     
  10. confused??

    confused?? Bobtail Member

    5
    1
    Dec 6, 2010
    Hong Kong
    0
    Thanks all,
    Prairie Boy, you say "not many container trailers have axles that slide", does that mean our only option is to load more at the door end of the container?
    Rockee, we are a broker. Fines are from Indiana state police. We have had feedback to say
    "Believe me, our drivers are making every effort to avoid overweight situations. If they can make any adjustments to their trucks (fifth wheel or otherwise) they do that automatically. These tickets reflect on their personal driving records and they are not happy about this happening to them constantly".
    This seems like a very fair arguement. I am a little concerned though that the haulier mentions " If they can make any adjustments to their trucks (fifth wheel or otherwise)" . Perhaps this then means that their equipment doesn't have the option to re-distribute weights? Any thoughts?
    So, other than loading more weight at the doors do we have any other options?

     
    jbatmick Thanks this.
  11. jbatmick

    jbatmick Road Train Member

    2,184
    2,441
    Dec 1, 2009
    hastings, Fl
    0
    Thanks for considering the problems of the trucker, if you are the shipper/broker. Perhaps purchase a blanket over - weight permit if possible. Sure looks like if you moved some of the product from the nose to the rear, you could be legal.
     
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