Tandem Stoppers

I sure am glad I only pull a low boy and drive a tri axle dump. All the tandem shifting and such seems confusing.

 

Just go to the hardware store and get some short pieces of pipe that is a little smaller that the hole for the pins or get one that is long enough to reach both sides and your are set for less than 30 bucks in my neighborhood .

 

That's BS! Years ago I pulled a load out of a mill and they tried the same thing about not weighting each axle. All 9 of them. Told them either they print out my axles or I will unload the (chip truck). They threw a big fit and then printed out the weights. Do you know how many inside bridges there are on 9 axles? It's a lot easier to pack the weight than pull it. Better mileage/traction and you can gain a few miles/hr pulling grades.

 

Not BS. Their scale has two plates. Please tell me how two plates are going to give you all 3 axle weights. Their not required to give you anything as long as your under 80.

I can't exactly unload 33 bails of scrap paper by myself. Nearest scale was 40 miles away. If its under 80k gross than they won't take anything off. If there was a chicken coop between me and that cat scale then I would have refused to leave. But there wasn't so i wasn't worried about it. I'm at 34,060 on my drives with half tanks. I'm down to an 1/8th of a tank now. I know i burned around off 35 gallons from when I picked up to here. So when i get fuel.in a few minutes I can only get 30-35 gallons to remain legal on this load. There's a pilot where I'm dropping off. So ill just fill up when i get there.



Ethan

 

IF a axle fits on the plate you can get each axle weight then add/subtract them for GVW/bridge not rocket science. Just because there are no scales does not mean you are legal. An accident,flat tire an excuse for a cop for a DOT. If it's under 40ton and loaded evenly then stretch out and no worries.

 

You can easily get your axle weights on a scale like that. What okiedokie said was spot on.

You prevented an overweight ticket, but now you've set yourself up for a bridge law ticket. Make no mistake, they do write those, and they write them often. Plus, its a total pain in the butt to drag that trailer around when they are slid back like that. You're also setting yourself up for a preventable accident...

Just because a shipper "normally" doesn't weigh like that, doesn't mean they can or wont. Maybe you know your route, and you were willing to take the risk? Or, maybe in the next situation you'll need to stand your ground.

Remember one thing, its your CDL. And they absolutely do not give a #### what happens to you.

 

They will not give you individual axle weights or o would have asked. They had a sign posted that gross was all they'd give you. Not each axle. You can't see the readout screen or I would have done that.

Also, its NOT bridge law. Its kingpin law. Bridge law has to do with weight, kingpin law is how far back your rear axle on the trailer can go. The atlas will tell you this.

And like I said before, the states I ran in ALLOW you to run your tandems all the way back on the national network. In Oklahoma you can have a 59'6" trailer and run the tandems all the way back. Their are no kingpin laws there.

If it was such an issue than I would have been stopped by dot, I passed several.

I know its my cdl, but I knew i would be fine with my tandems all the way back and watching how much fuel I put on.



Ethan

 

It is actually the "king pin" rule, but is normally called the "Bridge Law". I stand corrected. also if you know the few states that don't them ,good. ALOT of drivers don't know what it is !!!!
there is a thread in here with a list ,like you said.

 

Kingpin rule, not law, I apologize. But yes. I did the research and made a thread about it. Listed all that allow it. Figured it'd be easy to see which ones don't lol

Ethan