Why Didn’t I Get A Ticket?

The only downside to that is you will not make many friends at shippers. A lot of forklift drivers want to do what they were taught. Anything outside that box and they get a bit ornery.

Same with receivers. The first time they try to unload one whole side of your trailer at once and leave 24,000 pounds on the other side, you need to jump out of the truck and tell them to take a bit off each side, not one side at a time.

The guys who do this are either clueless or being ########. Either way, when a lowly driver points out they need to do their job the right way, you'll be on their #### list.

Personally, idgaf because it's my 5th wheel that suffers and my trailer. At the end of the day, I want my equipment to be in good shape.

 

I use that as well, but you have to allow for some variance for any slope you may be on. I usually still scale anything above 35k. As others have said, it gets reimbursed.

 

My truck the opposite . Need load right behind center light about 1ft to even it out

 

Yeah dont be afraid to speak up to the propane jockeys.. Especially if they barely speak english... ive gotton in a couple arguments with some... " well u could either fix it or take all of it off my trailer, and explain to ur boss why ur 1 truck short on ur shipments today"

Thats usually all it takes. Its ur truck and ur trailer.. Remeber.. Them idiots go home at the end of the day and ur the poor sap that has to deal with that bs on ur trailer .. Make sure its loaded the way u need it.

 

Good to know I'm not the only odd ball getting loaded a bit different than most. I need a foot and a half above center light to make anything over 46k work.

 

Quick lesson. You're apparently pulling a spread axle trailer, as the ticket says you're allowed 20k on each axle. That being said, your load is over gross, but could be legal per axle. Though you're heavy on trailer axles, you're under on your steer and drives. If that load was shifted forward, you could lose the ~3000lbs your over on the wagon. For instance, add 1000lbs to your steer (still legal) and 2000lbs to your drives to get close to the 34000 max, and suddenly your trailer axles are both under 20k. Mmmkay?

 

Unless you get restricted to the cab by shipper rules you should be watching. The ones that you can't watch keep sn eye on your mirror.
Your trailer has a welded X at the load center. If the load is equal in front and behind then you will be overweight gross before you get over on an axle. If its something like sheetrock and the load is 4 square first then 3, then 4 and 4....guess what. You're not symmetrical. Theres more loaded back of the center mark than in front. If you know ahead of time the load weight and number of bundles you can sit in the truck and make some sketches on a paper of how you might load it and which side would be heavier.
I get alot from writing down stuff. See what the gauge on the dash says and write it down. When you get to the scale compare the ticket to your notes and the dash guess.

 

This was my figuring from the beginning of this truck. If you are at a shipper with a free scale use it. If it's not busy roll just up to the steers. Write it down. Roll up to the drives. Write it down. Then the back total. That's your light weight or empty weight. Sometimes they ask you for this so you should know it.
Now do the math. Total minus the second number is the weight of the 4 & 5 axle pair. The second number minus the first number is the weight of the drives. That would be lighter if you were bobtail because it includes a little bit of trailer weight.
If you do it 2 or 3 times you'll get a good close number. It will change with fuel and adding stuff like passengers or generators.

 

Compare the scale weight you get to the dash weight. Or dash PSI if that's what your truck has. They might be close or only approximate.
O that for every scale ticket you get for a week or two. You'll get the pattern.
My dash shows a bit too heavy compared to a scale right now because I am parked at a little bit of a slope forward. So more force on the drives than if I was level. But like a couple hundred pounds. No big deal.
Once you have your baseline weights you can actually get the scale weights pretty close just by doing the math but use the cat scale in case your shipper is a lying scumbag lol