5th Wheel location

First off, my steers were probably way under 12k when i started.

We used to run 12,500 all the time in the 387 petes at tmc. They were always nose heavy even slid all the way back. DOT never cared. In some states over 12 is legal and in most others in my experience they dont care. That was a compnay truck so I wasnt so concerned about damage to the truck since there wasn't much we could do and it wasn't mine.

Now, owning my own rig, I was only concerned about suspension, not DOT.

 

Slide tandems forward....unfortunately on this particular load my trailer is maxed out so were talking about only drives and steers.

 

My concern was steering components and suspension. As for tires, there are inflation tables for every tire that gives you the correct inflation based on the weight. The tires are well within spec to hold the additional weight. For my tires 108 psi holds 6000 pounds and 110 holds 6250. Max psi for the tire and max weight is 120.

Once i got off the doubles account I ran it 3 the same route 3 days with very similar mpg. (fith back). Yesterday I moved it and saw immediate gains. The question im asking is not how much MPG boost will i get. The question is, how much if at all is an extra 500 gonna damage the truck.

 

I'm comparing 53 van to 53 van on mpg....my mpg wasn't horrible pulling doubles, but weight wasn't any concern and i had to have the fifth back for clearance reasons. I do have the front mounted tanks, not the side box with batts and rear tanks.

 

I do have airtabs, but i'm looking to improve as much as possible.