Trailer wheelbase

You are correct, 41 ft is the legal max. under the R.T.A.C. rules adopted by western Canada in 1988, kingpin to middle of rear axle group. That makes a lot of 29 ft well lowbeds and drop decks too long, and sometimes a scalemaster will issue a warning or ticket.,less so in recent years. Manitoba and B.C. are the most stringent on this, other provinces less concerned. A 24' well is about the longest you can build and still be within the 41 ft kingpin max. A trucking association in Canada has lobbied for an exemption for lowbeds, not sure how that turned out...

 

I don't think you have much to worry about as long as your total length from bumper to bumper does not exceed 75.5 feet and your trrdem is equally spaced.
The depth of the kingpin on drop trailer depends on how much frame you have behind the 5th wheel, so your mud flaps or frame don't hit the trailer.
Back in the day most deck haulers had removable flaps for this reason.

Tridem Axle: Three equally spaced consecutive axles, having an axle spread of not less than 2.4 m but not more than 3.7 m, which are designed to automatically distribute the load.
https://www.gov.mb.ca/mit/mcd/mce/pdf/mb_vehicle_weights_and_dimensions_guide.pdf

If you ever noticed, a lot of 53' tandem trailers have a vertical line painted over the trailer tandems.
That line is the legal WB marker to line up with the centre of the tandems.
The legal WB for a 53' trailer is the same WB as a 48' trailer.

More reading material, start with this, should give you a good idea.

https://www.nap.edu/read/10382/chapter/9

http://www.transportation.alberta.ca/Content/docType276/Production/Module4.pdf

https://www.trucking.org/ATA Docs/What We Do/Trucking Issues/Documents/Highway Infrastructure and Funding/Report to Congress on the Compilation of Size and Weight Laws.pdf

Weights and Dimensions of Vehicles Regulations - Motor Vehicle Act (Nova Scotia)

Truck Weight Classifications and Restrictions in Saskatchewan | Information for Truckers and Commercial Trucking Companies | Government of Saskatchewan

 

Never heard of MOT getting hot about kingpin wheelbase, but in Manitoba, you better hope your truck is 244" or shorter pulling a 53'.

 

False. I ran a 265" wheelbase pete pulling 53' tridems through there all the time. Not ever did I have 5 min trouble.

That or they just aren't enforcing anything.

 

You got lucky then. I'm sure it would have been brought up on a Level 1.

My company bought three 265" 389's a year ago, the owner not realizing the wheelbase issue with 53-footers (tandem or tridem), only found out after the ink dried. They require a $3000 per year permit to operate within Manitoba.

48's and Super-B? Not a problem. Manitoba needs to harmonize with the rest of Canada already.

 

They did when they signed on to the R.T.A.C. agreement with the rest of western Canada in 1988. But they have always seemed to be much more to-the-letter-of- the- law enforcement than the other western provinces. A scalemaster at West Hawk told me years ago they see themselves as the gateway to western Canada, since they are located on the only east-west route, and feel they should act accordingly. Many stories of problems at West Hawk of a technical nature, but usually they seemed to have a good attitude generally...