simple formula for axel weight

Sometimes, I miss the air actuated pin retactors Prime has. Set the trailer brake, pull the little knob out, push the trailer back gently until you hear the pins release, set the trailer where you want it, push the trailer brake in and then gently pull or push the trailer to set the pins either while holding the johny bar down or after setting the trailer air brake again.

We're still using the mechanical spring loaded ones. Sometimes I have to use a vise grip to hold tension on the handle to pull the pins.

 

Knowing the rough empty weight of your tractor and trailer, and the load weight on the bills - you can check what your right-weigh meter tells you and do a rough sanity check on the ol' trailer meter. Most of them are calibrated. If I end up getting a scale ticket, it WILL be calibrated. LOL!

 

When my spread flatbed is loaded to weight I can dump the rear axle and magically lose 2000lbs off my drives. You just got to have the right valve and plumming or your gonna be hurting when the front trailer axle rolls on the scale

 

I use 250 to calculate how many holes I need to move the tandems to make it legal.
Hasn't failed me yet. Then again I seem to have this weird knack of being able to guess where to put the tandems for it to be legal. I'll go to scale it and find out my load is legal. I've only been wrong a handful of times. I still get the scale ticket just to be safe.

 

We have those on about half of our trailers. They definitely make sliding easier.

The only problem is the guys that don't know you have to get air to the trailer before using them. I pick up trailers loaded by other people a lot and my dispatcher is always telling me before I get there that I need to take the trailer to a shop because Driver Joe said the air pins won't work. I just tell him there's no need and it'll be just fine.

It's always been pretty common sense to me that when something uses air and isn't working, filling the tank with air first just might do the trick.

 

Or they forget to set the air brake and can't figure out why the pull knob won't work. So they get a pair of vice grips and break the ears off it.

 

Now that's just bad lol.

 

Saw it on more than a few occasions at Prime.

 

There we go again.
Picking on the newbies.

 

Actually, I think he was picking on steering wheel holders......(grin)