Veto heavier truck bill

I can't say from a scientific standpoint but I am not sure 8k is really going to make much difference. Besides making guys less likely to get overloaded on accident at shippers.

 

I can say from experimenting with it that it does make a difference, depending on the truck. I wouldn't want that much on a regular fleet truck. A heavy duty truck could handle it without an extra axle but I'd prefer to have the extra anyway.

Then again, Florida? They don't even know what a hill is down there.

 

Are you kidding me? Shippers want to push the limit any chance they get. If they push the limit at 80k why wouldn't they keep trying when the limit is 88k. I can't tell you how often flat drivers run into this. They load some odd ball piece of equipment or strange hunk of steel in the middle of nowhere. Takes an hour or two to chain it down and tarp it and they leave the plant at midnight and the closest cat scale is 50 miles the wrong direction or 100 miles in the general direction of where they have to go.
They get to the scale and find out they are way over on one set of axles or worse over on gross. Dispatch is closed till Monday, they have no permits for OD and/or the shipper is closed so they can't go back and get it moved forward or backward. Oh ya, it's a 1950 mile run to deliver at 0900 Tuesday. Even an O/O can't get permits in most states over the weekend!!
Let's face it if the states start increasing gross and axle weights trucks are going to have to be specked differently from top to bottom. And the shippers will keep on trying to cut it as close as they can and will still keep overloading in hopes they can get away with it.

 

That depends what you are hauling. Some goods maybe the can keep stuffing but others only fit so much in the trailer. Either way, they are looking to give drivers more freedom with weight. Can this be that bad? Florida is flat and straight anyhow.

 

Two words...Onboard scales!
Never had a problem with weight no matter when or where they load me.

I'm licensed and permitted to run between 84,000 and 87,000 on 5 axles in most of the western states and my truck is spec'd to handle it...It's never caused a problem for me.

 

Its not really about the 88,000. Next stop 138,000 and a hundred & something feet long to boot.

Enjoy.

 

Let em. Most places you can't fit a truck that big and heavy into so they'll still have to use regular sized trucks to make deliveries. I'd like to have more weight to play with. More profit for the company per load, less worry for me. I'd love to have onboard scales too. These air gauges are crap.

 

I've heard these mentioned a few times lately, and until recently never even knew they existed.

I assume that these are something built into the suspension, and not those drive on things some of the DOT carry in their trunk?

What I want to know is what kind of cost would you be looking at to get a truck outfitted with them.