No Cat scale before State scale

Cat scales aren't the only public scales . Look for gravel plants , scrap metal yards , feed mills , household movers , etc . They won't give you the guarantee the CAT scales will but they will give you some documentation .

 

moving companies have really accurate scales. Used them when i drove flat bed.

 

Ask the shipper where the closest scale of any kind is. They know whether or not they load heavy and if they do where to go and weight it. As you go along learn where you set the tandems on different loads and you will learn to be close most of the time. I know how much gross weight I can carry and whether or not they have loaded it right or not by looking at the load and the way it fills when I move it. But I also have haul a few thousand loads.

 

Err on the side of caution.
Load light.

 

I know youre probably inquiring about doorslammers, but I think I can still help.


When you get your rig, fill up the tanks and get the net weight. Write this number down in your permit book somewhere.

Hopefully, your truck has a suspension gauge. It may take some time to figure out, but eventually, you should be able to figure out where 34000 lbs is on your suspension gauge.

Slide your trailer tandems before you load. Its much easier to do. From the front of the trailer, 4th hole on the sliders.

Load carefully

 

Suspension gauges are only reliable when the truck is on level ground . It doesn't take much of an incline to throw them off .

 

Asking the shipper where a close by scale is that isn't on your map or software is the best course of action like the other poster stated. There might be another company right down the road that has one you can use or something like that.

Most counties have a landfill and or recycling center that has scales that weigh steer, drives, tandems, and gross that have trucks rolling in and out all day long. I chose this option twice when I was OTR when in your situation.

Once, for example, was go 40 miles out of route to go south and scale at the truck stop when load was going north across a state scale. I found out from the shipper the landfill was 1/2 mile away and only charged $7 for a scale ticket. This worked out beautifully!!! Saved a lot of time and got headed in the right direction without much of a delay or going the wrong way just to find out I had everything set the right way and was legal anyway.

It's just another option to keep in mind and I hope this helps out any drivers that come across this pretty common problem in the day to day of it. This was just another one of those little lessons or things I learned while being a "newb" out there OTR.