Weigh Station

I was over 2000lbs on my trailer 3 years ago in San Bernardino CA NB, totally misled by what the BOL showed (completely off). He told me to adjust it. Because of their bridge law, it meant I had to physically and by hand move the staff (car batteries) forward. No tickets. On the other hand, the SB scale 10 years ago had me do the same thing with paper products, but I was on the 10 th hole at the time, for that I received the ticket, had to move the staff and slide tandems and reweigh. He also said, that technically, he could had me slide, go on a scale and give me overweight ticket too. Illinois at the near St. Louis scale they told me they tolerate up to 1000 lbs, but you need to adjust it. In Minesotta they had me adjust 20 lbs. I guess it all depends who the weigh master is at the scale at the moment. From my experience though, California seems not very forgiving with their bridge law which implicates being overweight. A tip: truckers path is a nice app to have to see a weigh station status. Also when you using Google maps, set the traffic indicator on and if the scale is open its ramps will more often than not be in red.

 

Yikes! On a tandem? That's 8000 lbs! LOL!!!!

I'm laughing with you, friend. I pulled a load out of Fargo grossing 98000lbs. Pulled into the Morehead scale with the OSOW permit in hand, registration and insurance card. Scalemaster checks my registration and wrote me a ticket for 18000 over gross. I almost fell out dead. After that my registration always says GVW 215000.

We did a crane move a few years back, carrying counterweights and boom sections...just a little wide. We were at the Hammond,LA scale. Scalemaster tells a driver in the group that he was a thousand over on the drives and because he doesn't have a way to adjust it, that he will have to write him a ticket. I asked the scalemaster if I could get the weights write, would he not write the ticket. The scalemaster said that he wouldn't write it. The driver turns to me and asks me how I was going to move the counterweight from over the drives. I didn't say a word until we got outside. When we got to his truck, I had him close the spread. He went back around and weighed and his axles were good. The scalemaster let him go.

 

Good question .... I would guess placarded only ...if it's a small enough amount that doesn't require a placard, does that mean still go to the scale? Does the carrier still need the higher insurance and driver need hazmat card for small amount hazmat that doesn't require placard? Good questions for @keitht @Scalemaster

 

As usual, I skipped ahead so forgive any repeat stuff.

The folks at the scales are people. They do not have to give you a second chance but they can if they wish to do so. So be very polite and explain to them that you are new and this is your first time. They might just let you by with it. Be polite and freindly because they know you a du mbass for not scaling your load and adjusting your tandems before hand.

I was 4000 pounds over when I went through a scale in Mississippi. I had picked up in Laredo, Texas. He ticketed me and told me that he was supposed to tell me to go back to Texas and to get my weight back to less the 80000. Then he said that I could do whatever I wanted because I was a grown man and he understood. He said that I could get stopped at the scale on the other side of the state but I was lucky because that scale was closed that night. He also said the I might want to adjust my route to us a US highway going through Alabama instead of the interstate because he was sure there was a scale house opened the way I had planned on going.

Always be kind to the folks out there. They are just doing their jobs.

 

I thought making the length between the trailer axles would add weight to the drives.
Mine is a front sliding axle
.Does it work different with a rear axle slide.

 

Since I been driving about 37 years, I can recall 3 times. One of those times I was over quite a bit can't remember exactly how much but I had to find another truck to remove the weight. When I went back to reweigh, they had a shift change and the old shift didn't write it up and the new shift didn't want to do the old shifts job. So they told me, have a good day and left without the citation.

 

@Chewy352, can you tell answer this one?

 

Ive personally seen driver adjusting his axles @ Idaho scales and he said there would be no ticket for him as long as he adjusted axle weights to be legal.

 

I'd have to say if you move the front axle forward towards the drives it will shift weight to the spreads.

The center of your trailer for weight perposes is based on the distance from your kingpin to the center of your spreads. If the front axle moves forward then so does the center of your spreads.

Not sure how that would affect bridge law though as I know nothing about it. Don't have to worry about it with my fixed spread.