Split Axle Weight on a 5 Axle?.... Why?

I wrote the check for one. My son came through the SB I-85 Lavonia, GA coop with a maxed out load in the first trailer we bought (it's been sold since). He had come down from VA and thru every scale on the way with no problems. For that matter, he'd been hauling it for 2 yrs without any issues. Hit that one, that time, and had 15k on axle 4, 19k on axle 5, and got a ticket for 2k over on the rear axle. About $170 if I recall.

It was a crappy old 2000 Trailmobile 53 reefer with a regular sliding tandem. Not long before that happened, I had replaced the leveling valve and knew the air system was right. However, that trailer had always had one oddball air spring on the left rear. Two or three shops had told me it was ok like that. It was bigger diameter, but fit in the mounts fine. It was the only thing I could imagine to cause it - more surface area on that corner was bearing more weight on the rear axle, or taking it off the front depending on how you look at it. I changed it out for a match to the other three and verified by weighing, then re-weighing with one trailer axle off the platform. I had no more issues with it, and finally got rid of that one anyway.

Another potential for this sort of violation would be an older trailer with bad suspension bushings. You've surely seen some old trailers rolling down the road with a lean? That would be another potential axle weight problem on a closed tandem. Anything that would cause the entire suspension not to be equalized properly could do that more often than you might think.

 

It is 34k on the group and no more than 20k per axle. You can have a single 14k drop axle and a normal 20k axle if you want and there isn't a #### thing they can do about it as long as you're on the national network.

Many trailers only come with axles rated to 18k though so it is possible someone got an over axle ticket for being a bit uneven

 

This is a link to the Federal Highway Administration's weight limit page; http://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/Freight/sw/permit_report/index.htm It clearly says that tandems are 34,000, not that each axle in the tandem is limited to 17,000. I believe that Illinois's requirement to split the tandem has more to do with placement of the whole as opposed to actually getting a split weight. As far as I remember, and I live in IL, that the scale for the drives is one piece, but not long enough to be able to weigh every truck, long or short, if all trucks stop based on bumper location.

Regarding Melton, they are one of the worst bottom feeder, inc flatbed carriers. Many of their drivers wouldn't know how to load legally. It would not surprise me that they also wouldn't know how to get a split weight on a CAT Scale, and they wouldn't need to, if they would do a little calculation.

 

Thanks for the tip...I'll have to remember this. Doubt I'll ever care to split the drives but there are spread axle flats that are not supposed to weigh more than 1,000 pounds difference between the axles, .......unless the trailer's broken. Many states still have bathroom scales and weigh each axle separately. They also weigh super-singles differently than duals in some states. There are also bridge law calculations that only a nuclear physicist understands.

 

I would fight it and win.

 

I'm not going to continue to sit here and argue a mute point, I got a ticket on I-16, fought it and lost.

 

There's that one scale in IL south of Monee that has you split the drives when you scale I believe. I remember because I drove past the white line not realizing they were splitting the drive axles. He made me back up a smidge.

 

I believe that all scales in Illinois have you stop splitting the drivers, but I don't think it is to get a split weight, it is because the drivers' scale is short, and if they had you stop bumper, shorter trucks wouldn't get the drivers on the scale correctly.

 

You keep fighting. The law states 34k for a tandem axle on the interstate system, not 17k per axle. They do this crap because nobody calls them on it.

 

IF it is a spread--then it is 20k per axle--not 34 per set--and while most states do not enforce--Georgia does...got pulled around for 22k and 15 when doin drops--####HEAD dot guy tells me---I am welcome to go in trl and re hand stack to move enuff weight--ok I said--changed the smug look on his face--when i went out and about 1 minute later--pulled back on scale legal--sourse it helps to have an electric jack on wagon--lol