Front axle weight

Like I said, try it and see. Let us know how it works out. In 34 years of doing this, I have yet to see anyone get away with more than 1000 lb over the steer rating, in all 48 states, Canada, and Alaska. One cannot run even 15,000 on a steer axle and tires rated for no more than 13K. It is inherently unsafe for everyone and the DOT of every state knows it. Many states, they will bust a pickup driver for being over the rated limit. Charts and graphs and data on a web page are one thing. The real world is quite another tale.

 

I did it in Alabama in 2011. My load of near 65,000 was all up front and my steers was right at 18,000. I weighed the load at the flying J on I 20 in Ga. I was directed to the static scale on I 20 and the officer checked my log book and I drove away. This is the reason I used Alabama in my example.

 

Then be forthcoming and let us know what truck, company, etc you are with so we can stay the hell away from you. Unless you are not disclosing all the information, to put that kind of weight up front on a typical 13K steer axle is not only unsafe to everyone including yourself, but about as brain dead as they come. For one, you were not nearly at any kind of gross, to not slide the 5th and get the weight off the front was stupid enough. There would be no reasonable way to have that kind of weight up front unless you did not have the load on correctly or had the 5th all the way forward. Both dumb moves. And folks wonder why so many regulations get tossed out at us.

 

I was driving for Willis Shaw and had picked up a repower that another driver made a mess with. It was sealed and I could not fix it. My 5th wheel slide had been disabled and my tandems were as far forward as I could go. Thankfully it only went to Birmingham and I delivered it.
If you have the experience you say you have there is no way you have not been placed in this situation and if you even try to say otherwise you will get a large BS from me. Every OTR driver with any time that has driven for most any size carrier has been in these situations. It is not something I like but sometimes you put your big boy pants on and do it. So next time you want to call someone dumb look in your own mirror.

 

Well, lets see.... started in 1982. Drove 10 full years in Alaska to start with. Have done flats, vans, lowboys, doubles (pups, 48's, and 53's) and triples, and tanks. Have 6 million miles under my seat. No. there is no way I would pull anything that resembled the situation you describe. It still stands... only an idiot would do it. Can you even begin to fathom the lawsuit and jail time that would come about if there would have been a mishap? Not putting my butt in a situation like that. No load or job is worth taking those kinds of risks.

 

Like I said, BS I don't believe you.

 

Truth is an absolute defense.

 

I think you have the picture right.

 

It was 65,000 gross. Most of you should know by now Willis Shaw does not exist today. Comcar their parent company merged them into another Comcar company. At the time I drove for them their turnover was horrible and the company had a habit of not backing their drivers with shippers that did not load properly and these new drivers sometime would drop loads like that one in drop yards or terminals for other drivers to clean up. This one was dropped in their Atlanta yard. Add to this I had just fueled up with a full load of fuel. I was preplanned on that load around 4 PM with a delivery time in Birmingham of 7AM the next day. I did not see this improper load till I scaled it at the flying J on I 20 a few minutes west of Atlanta. It was very late no parking available and I did try to get the night dispatch guy to let me return the load to Atlanta. I was asked if the load was over gross anywhere. If my memory is correct I was around 18,000 on my steers around 42,000 on the drives and around 6,000 on the trailer tandems. I did not want to move that load but because of the attitude of the night dispatch guy I was trapped. So as much as I hated it against my better judgement I took the load on to Birmingham hoping that dang scale would not be open or I would get a Green prepass light. It was and I did not. How I got by with my drives I don't know. The biggest reason I was forced to deliver was it was only going about 100 Miles. If you take the time to reread some of my old posts on this issue of getting other drivers messes dropped on you you will see I got to where I would not pickup a repower until I saw a weight ticket. Lesson Learned the hard way.