Adjusting Tandems

If you pick up a loaded trailer you should scale it asap.

 

do you have a pressure gauge on your dash? depending on the model of truck you can use that as a reference.
ive a KW t600 and at 50psi ive got approx 40k to 46k weight in the trailer.

remember this as well when you slid them toward the front of the trailer more wgt will be in the back and sliding them to the rear will put the wgt to the drives. does that make sense?

 

I doubt the mega fleets put pressure guages in their trucks. They don't typically hire drivers that are astute enough to figure them out.

 

before you slide the tandems, you need to axle scale to get your weights first. At first, and even for old timers, it can be trial and error. But as an example, I had one today that was 81,240 gross. 10,850 on the steers, 33,800 on the drives and 36,600 on the tandems. Now, I do have a suspension guage (as well as a digital psi guage), I know that anything over 61 psi is overwieght. I was at 56, I carefully slid it until the guage settled and held at 60 psi. About 5 holes, I didn't go back and scale it, but it was legal for the route I was taking (backroads which allow 85,000. Now, if I was running the interstate I would have scaled it. On this load, I'm guessing each hole was 300 lbs. There are a couple of things to keep in mind, where your pins are set also depends on the states you are going to and thru, some have different pin settings and you may also have to move your 5th wheel.

 

(not telling you what I'm about to say haha just quoting a piece of your comment)

Keep in mind some carriers have fixed fifth wheels that can't slide. So you might be learning in school on how to adjust weight using both methods, well when you get out there and you only have sliding tandems you will learn real quick on what hole is legal for the weight you hauling.

Some times shippers load the trailer and don't really distribute weight evenly. I had one load with all the heavy paper rolls up front and all the small light ones in the back. One HELL of a time scaling that one.. (And just to be clear, no paper roll is light... ever)

 

That's funny as hell.....


If you pick up a load,,,,,,,,, any load, sealed or a live load, i guess a rule of thumb is anything over 38,000 needs to be scaled out asap. If you have to cross scales ........always try and avoid them at all cost. no matter what. I have driven 40 miles out of route just to bypass a weigh station, it's always cheaper and safer to bypass if you are unsure of the load, the longer you are in this business you can get a "feel" sometimes for different types of loads. If you are a company driver, that has to drive a certain route, well then my suggestion is to make up an excuse to avoid a certain route ,untill you make for sure you are legal.

 

Never hit a scale overweight on any axle yet. Or atleast that I know of. I wouldn't think they be happy with you pulling in with a extra 1500 on your steers.. And you will ALWAYS be sliding tandems. Shippers and receivers require you to slide them to the back before you dock most of the time. Readjusting them properly will become easy. As you start to understand how these weights and loads types are it will become easier to know how far forward / backward to set it to make you legal.

Trust me. It's easy. Toughest part is getting in and out of the truck so many times your first couple of times sliding them.

 

Hornet, I asked my instructor the same question...He said he always cracks the seal open to check his load and make sure it's loaded properly and matches his paperwork...then he reseals it with his own seal..surprised me because I did not think we were allowed to do that, but it makes sense.