Do tanker drivers need to scale out?

Yes. You're checking for "gross weight."

 

Most places you load get an empty and loaded weight on site. It's how he bill the load.

 

You're right, I should've mentioned that.

 

I've only seen fixed 5th wheels on trucks that pull tanks.
On interstate scales, you'll usually get the green light because of the liquid surging when you stop on the scales. On a windy day it won't ever settle down enough to get an accurate weight.

 

Most company tankers are set up to pull the trailers they own. Tankers are shorter than vans so setup is critical.

Slop used to work for us; PA had drive over portables that were a good 5 - 6 inches high so the weight would shift towards the tandem not on the scales then back as the unit moved so we were never overweight yet the chassis was set up tail heavy and NJ nailed us when they were open despite the movement.

I had owner operators so in tune with the motion that they were disappointed when they got on the PA pike and didn't end up a class low by timing the motion...the entrance booth is a scale.

 

It depends on the product, density of product and weight by measure. Sometimes tankers are just as heavy as regular vans, reefers and flatbed. Gasoline comes to mind. 8800 gallons of the stuff comes out to alot of weight in a gas tanker. And they can literally load more or less according to season as the density changes a little bit according to heat and cold.

When I ran milk farms with that tanker, I had to keep weight of milk to the pound because all the farmers were paid by that weight picked up. Therefore I had a license to weigh the milk and grade it as good to be put into the trailer with the rest of the milk. If the milk at the farm is not good or contaminated or otherwise with problems, it gets dumped and not put into the tanker with the good milk. Farmers who run milk farm are paid down to the pound what comes out into the tanker going to the dairy.

The Diary runs it's own tests on the whole load and hold the final yes or no unload or dump it somewhere else depending on quality of the entire load. There are also samples from each farm by numbered containers the Coop tracks that type of information to know everything about the milk from each farm as well as checking for contamination etc. Believe it or not, many farms if not all involved in this work are kept cleaner than most of our homes.

By the end of my route Im pretty loaded in pretty heavy. That becomes a issue versus two bridges that are not rated for that weight excepting the fire department rating for their tandem and steer axle weights. So that is one reason the bridge does not fall down when I use it.

I forget the amount of weight at the tanker going downtown but varied around 31000 pounds on up depending how well the cows are producing. (That depends on how well they are doing. Including being happy. If they are not happy, they don't produce)

As far as the 5th wheel, if I remember right, the edge of the plate in the front is up and down equal to the vertical line matching the front end of a first set of driving wheels and tires. The middle of the 5th wheel where it attaches to the rack (Sliding rack for weight) is usually between the tandems and somewhat closer to the first axle than the second. (You generally avoided having that plate and weight too far back, it messes with your ability to steer safely in the rain or snow etc.)

Nothing is a stupid question in trucking. It is big enough of a tanker to make weight sometimes a real necessary to scale to axle limits and gross weight depending on what is in it and how much of it.

 

But there are stupid answers!

 

If you're hauling the same product every time with the same truck at a set gallonage...like gasoline or diesel... you usually don't weigh each load.
Chemical tankers, food grade tankers, and dry bulk tankers almost always weigh every load.