Distributing weight properly

The question was if he adds fuel does the weight go to the steers or the drives. 5th wheel placement is not part of the question.
The weight is distributed between the steers and the drives depending on if your tanks are forward or rearward. The long forward to steer axle tanks for me were 5 pounds steer 2 pounds drives. My rear tanks now are about 1 up front and 6 on drives - I haven't taken an accurate calculation yet.

 

Both, adding weight will always increase proportionately. If you add 500lbs you'll see the weight on both increase if you weigh it before and after. Now, getting that weight to redistribute and be legal is the fun part.

My experience is it depends on the truck, the tank capacity and placement as well as the position of the fore and aft sliders. Trailer type and load distribution can complicate this too. Won't get into all that just now though.

With Cali and Idaho there are dimension specifications and bridge laws. Idaho dimension specs depend on the distance between the drives and steers while Cali has the bridge law no more than 40' from kingpin to center of rear axles on tandems.


Here's a way to keep it simple:

Stay under half to a quarter of a tank when picking up a load or getting loaded.

Before leaving the dock look at the tires. If any of them are bulging you have too much weight. Make sure the pressure is DOT spec though.

Take it straight to a scale with the proper destination reqs for slider settings like the 40' bridge law of bound for Cali.

Most OTR shippers are well within range of a public or CAT/J scale without hitting a chicken coop. Unfortunately, there are some with DOT scales down the street but they know this and have a scale either there or somewhere in the vicinity before hitting the DOT one.

As long as gross is below 80,000, good, but now look at the axle weights. The drives and rear should be about even but if the drives are heavier it is better (matter of opinion). Also the drives should be looking a-ok.

Max:
Steer 12,500
Drives 34,000
Rears 34,000
Gross 80,000

Now since the new DEF and retro filters are required the old 12,000 On the steers is now 12,500 to account for the extra equipment and liquid. You still don't want to be over 80,000 gross though.

I used to use an overestimated ratio of 5lbs per gallon and it kept me legal. Also know how much your House weighs with all your junk on it. In the route planning I'd account for where I would actually need to fuel up to maintain a good drive. Fueling every 500 miles ain't bad since you can find diesel in that range. If you have to run it like you got a tiny bladder make them take off what's making you over-weight. They gripe and drag feet but they'll get it done, eventually.

Yes, I have redistributed two loads before because I'm a SupaMuthaTrucker. You don't have to cause it's dumb and none of us should be signing an overweight ticket. This job is stressful enough as it is.

 

I'm not trying to be a dick, but I don't want new guys getting the wrong information. There's enough of it floating around already!

You must misinterpreted what was going on, because there is no physical way that 5th wheel position effected fuel weight distribution. The 5th wheel adds the kingpin weight to the frame, and fuel weight changes occur on the frame itself below the 5th wheel, and thus are totally independent of any change to 5th wheel weight and/or position.

 

I get what you're saying. And you're right, but only to a point. My last tractor I usually ran in the 3rd hole of the 5th wheel. When I did added fuel about 2/3 went on the steers and 1/3 on the drive. If I moved up to the 2nd hole it would be 3/4 and 1/4. If I went back to the 4th hole it was closer to 50/50.

It also appeared to distribute differently based on how much fuel was in the tank. The first 50 gallons added seemed to end up more on the drives. Maybe my tanks weren't level or something else was going on. All I know is in my experience there's no hard answer to the question.

 

I'd post some CAT tickets but I don't have pics to back it up.