5th Wheel location

then you've got too much on the back.

you don't HAVE to have 34 on the drives. unless it's a pallet load. i've hardly ever had over 31 on the drives. mostly it's 28 to 30. all the weight is on the back which can be anywhere from 35 to 38. but you tandem pullers don't have that luxury.

keep your 5th wheel at 12 on the steers. cuz your never going to need or want to go lighter on the steers. that allows you to have wiggle room for the drives. and since your drives can max out at 34 and your tandem at 34. that's 68. if you can't make the numbers work. then you obviously weigh more then 68. or, the load needs to be reworked if your going through a kingpin state.

this time of year. you defenitly want the weight on steers for traction.

my last truck had a drop. and every time i used that. it lifted the steers to 9.7 and put the weight on the drives. having the steers that light SUCKED. it literally felt like you were on ice. even though the roads were dry. to compensate. i had to slide the 5th all the way forward. making the steers 11.8. and giving me more room for the drives which could pack 42.5 with the drop.

 

Shaking my head. Seriously you guys.

Richter, somewhere on the drivers door frame is the data sticker for the truck. It will show you the ratings of all the components of the axles, and I know you know how to find your tire rating. It's not going to hurt anything to run 12.5K up there as long as you have enough pressure in the tires to get the load rating you need.

And guys, please, take out your Rand McNally and turn to the page the shows weight limits on the National Network. Notice there is no 'steer' column, only a single axle column? You get on back roads off the NN you have to pay attention, as some states have more restrictive steer axle limitations, but for most of our travels those are not an issue.

 

Yep... I've never had a scale cop give me hassle for 12,400 (usually as much as I'm over) on my steer axle. FWIW, Colorado lists 20k on the steer column, and 40k on the drive/tandem column with a GCVW of 80k. Rolled over the Ft Morgan scale off I76 at 36,500 on the drives and went my merry way with not even a bat of the eye by the scale lady. Monument Hill might be a different story, as the gal there doesn't really like life.

Even if you are over on your gross a bit, there is a 400lb exemption for anti-idling devices... aka an APU. It does help if you have a letter from the manufacturer stating what the weight of your APU is.

 

Colorado and Wyoming both give you 36K on a tandem anyways, and 40K in Colorado off the interstate.

 

But but but 12/34/34 was what my trainer told me

 

Why the big concern with steer weight? I routinely run 13K+ up front, but use the correctly rated tires. Never a ticket for over on steers... Run 48 states...