Scaling with Spread axle trailer

yep. that one slipped me.

 

Steer Axel 12000 LB Max
2 Drive Axle's "your truck tandems" Total 34000 Lb or less
2 Trailer Axle's Total 34000 LB Max or 40000 LB on 10 ft spreads "Spreads are not legal in Ca"Or Canada they allow you to use spreads in Ca. as long as you don't exceed 34000LB on your spreads.
But if you add it up this way you will end up over gross 80,000
12000+34000+34000 = 80,000 LB Good "Regular Trailers"
12000+34000+40000= 86,000 LB BAD " 10 ft. Spreads"
Just because they allow you to Haul More weight on the spread axle trailer does not mean that you can go over the 80,000 LB gross weight limit. It only means that you can take some of the weight of you truck axles 34000LB & Let the spreads carry the excess weight if you are over on your truck axles up to 40,000LB on spreads but no more than 80,000 LB on the total gross weight of the vehicle.

 

Everyone assumes that because you can have 34,000 on the drives and trailer tandems you can only have 12,000 on your steers. Most trucks can handle 14,000 on the steers and as long as you are not over 34 on your drives and 80 total its perfectly legal in most states.

 

i always look at it as 34 + 34 = 68. what the steers weigh is meaningless. as long as they are not over 12. when i have to take into consideration a closed axle state for the load. i also have a permanent 5th wheel that puts me 11.2 to 10.7. depening on the fuel tanks.

be nice if i had a slider 5th wheel. i would like to haul tanks at some point in the future.

 

If your steer tires are rated for 14K, my Michelin's aren't.

Its worth doing a split weigh on a spread, while 40 K is legal more than 20K on 1axle isn't, last year I pulled one of our step decks that I very rarely pull I hit a scale with 24K on the front axle needles to say I got yanked around back and got a level 1 too.
At first the scale master and I thought that the valve was bad, but since our trailers are not set up identically this one had a dump valve on the rear axle that was set to dump, I thought that the front tires looked squatted but didn't know why since I usually refuse to pull the step decks. It took a service call and a while to figure that out...but lesson learned. DOH...

I scaled it but didn't split the spread... since then if I pull one when I weigh it I tell the scale operator that first I need a normal scale ticket then I need to split my spread on the back 2 scales. I've had to go inside to explain what I need to do more than once but pitch a fit if they try to charge me for a scale and rescale, I always get off with paying for 1 weigh though.
Even w/o the dump valve like my fiasco how do you know if the equalization valve is working?

 

Really, I'd love to see that/those rule books.

More truck driver drivel as spreads are legal in California AND Canada.

 

That's funny. The easiest fix for places that have strict rules is to stay out of those places.

 

i know of a guy that hauls 60 ft. rebar into cali quite a bit.

the trailer always comes in at 37,ooo give or take.

 

If you reweigh and pull on the scale backwards you can get separate axle weights. I've done this once just to make sure the trailer air valve want broken, something looked a lil off.

 

I frequently run 38-39,000 on my spreads hauling between LA and Seattle. Never had a problem, even when Cottonwood was pulling in all trucks.