Beginner Question: Weigh Station/CAT Scale

CAT Scales are $10.
$2 for Reweigh.

 

Cat scale in Dixon, IL charged me $10 (first weigh, no re-weigh needed). So I suppose they went up from $9 the last time. Not sure if the $1 re-weighs went up any.
Not sure if it's nationwide or I'm a magnet for gettin screwed. Possibly the latter, as my company & paycheck often reflects!

Edit: Ooops, didn't refresh page before posting. Now saw that Balakov100 had posted current (new) Cat Scale rates.

 

Ok Dude a weigh station is a state controlled office that checks trucks going in and out of each state " each State you cross will have a weigh station at the state line" Their job is to make sure that your weight is legal and your papers like a log book & permits are in good order also they inspect your truck every so often to make sure your truck/trailer is in good shape"Safe" If you are a good driver meaning that you do everything by the book then you will have no problem with the weigh station some times these cops in the weigh station will treat you better than some of these drivers treat you in the truck stop If you choose to be a bad driver and you don't do your job right the weigh station will be your worst nightmare you will get a ticket after another until you loose All your points on your CDL "License" How do you know how to do your job right? you will learn most of that when you start training for the job The Cat Scale is a weight platform that most truck stops have they let you use it to weigh your truck/trailer to see if your weight is legal and they charge $10 to weigh your rig. Why do you have to use a Cat Scale? To Make sure that your weight is legal so when you cross the weigh station you are legal on your weight,and when you start training for the job they will teach you more about how to know if your weight is legal or not and how to adjust your weight. Hope that helps you out & "don't sweat the small stuff" Remember if you do things right you never have to worry about tickets or anything else But if you like short cuts then be ready to pay for them

 

The way everything else in this world has increased I had a good suspicion they did too!

 

I just got pulled over with one of those portable scales in colorado the other day, 2 troopers sitting on the side with some ramp type scales I had to drive over.

I usually scale out at a CAT scale with loads over 35k since you never know how they put the product in the trailer, if its all in one spot, spread out like it should be etc. Like others said once you get experience its much easier to scale your loads, I am getting a little better adjusting my tandems guessing the weights based on the total weight of the load, doesnt always work but a lot of the time it does.

 

last scale ticket i bought was $13.

$2 is the reweight these days.

showers have gone up in price too. along with food.

i know don't why people iunsist on thinking we actually make money to support there business.

 

CondoCruiser did an excellent job describing Cat scales & weigh stations in his first post.

Here's a Cat Scale video to put a "visual" to help newcomers.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/embed/TrIz9tlDiQQ[/video]

 

Weigh stations do more than weigh . If you have Prepass they know your carrier and safety rating . A poor rating will give an INSPECT notice on the screen in the scalehouse . The ramps also have sensors to measure brake heat to check for defects . Some scales have license plate readers that give a history on the tractor .
There are often used routes drivers use to avoid scales . These routes are often patroled by state troopers looking for trucks avoiding the scales .

 

I heard a rumor that the ones that can read a license plate can also tell the driver it is assigned to. I have a hard time believing that. Is it true?

 

This is the area where it gets tricky for a driver. As a nationwide rule of thumb, you want to keep your weights around 12000 for the steers, 34000 on the drive axles (17000 per axle) and 34000 on the trailer. But each state is different. Florida, for example enforces the bridge law, BUT will allow you 44000 on the trailer ( still can't gross more than 80000). What difference does that make? Well, the average produce driver from Florida will know this and won't sweat being heavy on the trailer as long as his droves are legal and he's not over gross.
Point is this: if you put forth the effort to learn the law, the law can actually work for your benefit.

I picked up a tugboat on a lowboy trailer. The shipper removed the house and laid it on the top deck of my trailer. I asked the crane operator the weights of the tugboat and of the house. The tugboat was 39000 and the house was 2000. I am 40000 empty.

I told the shipper that we may have a problem. The shipper pulled the house off the top of the boat to get the load down to legal height...otherwise it would have been over 20 ft tall, making it a superload. Think BIG BUCKS to move this. The house on the top deck made the load 13'6 (legal limit east of the Mississippi.). However, now this is a divisible load and if I am over the legal limit in weight, I cannot get an oversize/overweight permit for a divisible load. With an overweight permit on a non divisible load, the average is 20000 lbs per axle ( there are exceptions, like in Tennessee of course), or 100000 lbs for the average 5 axle, 18 wheeler.
The shipper couldn't understand that detaching the house from off the top of the boat makes it TWO pieces instead of one. The other piece would now have to be placed on another trailer.

The crane operator walked up and told the shipper that I was correct, it's a divisible load and no longer legal to pull. The shipper had his guys come and drain 500 gallons of diesel out (great, I was pulling a hazmat load and didn't even know it.) and that got the weight down.legal.

anyways, it's always a plus in your favor to research the legal weights in the states you are going to travel, especially if you are an owner OP and book your own loads.