Bobtailing and Scales???

sat. evening on my way to the house BT the dang Fl. scales ran me across and STOPPED me on the scale to weigh LOL
think they had it set on autopilot

 

That's happened to me 3 times on the KY scales when the loaded trucks ahead of me got the bypass light . . Yes , I was going the proper speed , kept the proper distance , and was in the center of the lane .

 

Actually it's one of three weights you have to think of. 1) GVWR: Gross vehicle weight rating. Usually on the door, sometimes in the cab. What the vehicle was designed to carry. 2) registered weight. What the vehicle can carry when it is checked for ACTUAL WEIGHT ON THE VEHICLE. i.e. truck registered for 30,000 lbs, but GVWR is 33,000 lbs. Truck can only weigh 30,000 lbs at the time of weight enforcement. And 3) Actual operating weight. For example: A F-350 dual axle is usually 11,500 GVWR. Now sometimes the VIN plate on the door is removed by someone in attempt to circumvent the system. Not like that will ever happen. We take said F-350 and weigh it. If the weight is over 10,000 lbs. it is into the regulations. However it is easy than this now with trucks that have removed the VIN plates you run the VIN number through any number of programs that we have now and you get all of the vehicle's information. You can get the manufacture's GVWR, assembly plant, power plant of the vehicle, transmission type and so forth. I haven't used the 3rd way in quite a while.

For bobtails, most States, not all say on the signs approaching the scale "VEHICLES IN EXCESS OF 5 TONS", " ALL TRUCKS OVER 5 TONS". Now again check with each State as there guidelines will differ.

I have done a few bobtails over the years. Got some pretty good stuff out of them, lot of nose candy in one.

 

Well I can tell you this the scale that is in the area I work is an automatic scale. The WIM, weigh in motion, kicks in which trucks it wants. At times during light truck volume the scale is set to all "static" which means we bring all trucks to the scale. I have seen the WIM let loaded trucks go and kick in a bobtail. The WIM has a % setting on the number of "random" trucks it will kick to the scale. I sometimes see little f-350's getting kicked in as well. Now if it is set to all Static, everything comes in. The biggest problem we have with the automatic scales, "the Static scale" is driver's inching up and stopping and coasting forward rocking the scale. The "Christmas Tree" which is the light that tells you to stop, go, pull on lot ect. is run automatically now. The automatic's won't release a truck that is over weight. It won't release a truck that is in motion. Tankers are the worst. If one of us is not paying attention and manually hit the go light a tanker could sit there until it levels out. But the new systems are better than the old way we did it years ago. We have heard complaints from a few of the empty flatbeds over the years as well. But on the other hand, when they are inspected, these empty flatbeds that get kicked in usually have some log book issues. Seems they thought they wouldn't be checked because they were empty.

 

You might find this interesting . On a certain shipping website a forum member advertised a 3 car wedge for sale . He said he had gotten a new VIN plate from the manufacturer for 10,000 lbs. GVWR . He said this would enable a buyer to operate without a CDL because FMCSA goes by GVWR and not actual weight or registered for CDL requirements . The truck was registered for 30,000 lbs. The post was soon removed because it was a violation of forums rules to advertise items for sale .

 

I do find it interesting. A few years back, 2005 I believe, they changed the way we can enforce the CDL requirement. Like you posted , we now go by VIN (phish)plate weight. But there is a web site that we use or an actual program called VIN edit. It tells you the actual manfactures specifications. But if you take the phish plate as gospel you will nevel catch this. This was my arguement when they changed the way they switched the way we enforce it. Before we would use any of the three ways to bring you into the CDL requirements. 1) GVWR, 2) registered weight, and 3) actual weight. Now I can bring a truck into the guidelines this way but can not enforce the CDL aspect of it. The question I asked was, what is the difference if the truck GVWR is 26,000 lbs and it actually has 30,000 lbs on it? If the truck is empty at 30,000 GVWR the guy needs a CDL. But if if the same guy has a 26,000 lbs GVWR truck (like most panel van boxes that Ryder uses) but weighs 30,000 lbs, no CDL is required. Doesn't make sense to me. But then again somethings never make sense. It is what it is and I have to enforce the regulation the way it was intended.

 

Registered weight is just that...how much weight can the power unit haul. You are confusing registered weight with unladen or tare weight. Makes no difference, you will be in a commercial vehicle and you are required to enter any open state scale unless there is a sign to indicate bobtails may bypass or you have pre-pass when it gives you the green light to bypass.

 

My understanding is if you are not laden and using the truck for personal conveyance you do NOT have to enter scales. Being that the company has you picking up vehicles for them I'm not sure if that falls under personal conveyance. When I am bobtail in any of my trucks I never enter scales.