Federal Way, Washington I-5 DOT Scale Out of Business??

Northbound is still in use. Southbound is/or has been torn out.

WA state is low on commercial enforcement since they dismissed so many troopers due to vaccine requirements during covid. If and when they have the staff they will open it up

 

Well, you've given me a chance to shake my fist and yell for the peeps to get off my lawn!

Back around 2012 ish I was hauling my steady backhaul of Corona beer from Auburn back down to Portland. Federal Way southbound was open and I rolled over the scales at 32,000 lbs on my trailer tandems and got the red light. Pull over and bring in your paperwork! Upon entering the scale house I was greeted by a grinning young man who introduced himself to me as officer XYZ in training and he wanted to inform me that my tandem weight of 32,000 lbs was illegal as he had split out my axles and clocked me at 26,000 lbs and 6,000 lbs. I gave him the side eye and asked why am I inside the coop being taught basic math?

I then explained to him two things. First it was legal and second there's no need to split tandems; ergo the term tandem axles. He explained it was within his rights to split tandem axles. I asked for a supervisor, instead we walked out to the slanted truck parking where he got underneath the trailer and pointed out with a pen light that my airbag suspension wasn't even. I pointed out that I was on uneven terrain. He wrote me a fix it ticket.

When I returned to the yard I presented that fix it to the shop manager. He scratched his head and signed off as fixed and faxed it in immediately and included a three page statement as to how this was impossible with an Hendrix suspension air ride system and why they would hold up a legal load for such nonsense!

Until they closed that scale I would always have a special salute reserved just for them every time I went by...

 

Southbound hasn’t been open for years. They have the ramps barricaded off to keep people from parking in there.

 

Or the "your gladhands cant both be blue" oos ticket for "unsafe airlines"....####ing davenport

 

Or the "your gladhands cant both be blue" oos ticket for "unsafe airlines"....####ing davenport

 

Sorry to break it to you, but he should have put you out of service and gave you 4 out of service tickets.

1) 26,000 on any one axle is out of service, 20,000 axle is max in WA state and most states.

2) You were likely running G rated 295/75r22.5 which is max tandem capacity of 5,675lbs x 4 = 22,700 meaning you were over tire capacity

3) 295 is a 12" wide tire and you are only allowed 500lbs an inch on tires: 12" x 4 tires x 500lbs = 24,000 over tire ground pressure capacity

4)Tandem axles sets are designed to run equal pressure on the ground to distribute the load evenly. If you have two axles with wildly different weights you have something seriously defective with your suspension.

This shop manager is an incompetent idiot. Likely, a nepotistic paper pusher who has never worked on anything. This is actually a very common failure in an air ride system. You got a suspension component binding, bottoming out, air line blocked, air bag failure, leveling valve issue......... I have seen and fixed a lot of out of service tickets with these issues.

Yeh, you should have been pulled off the road and your junk put out of service.

 

Who pissed in your Wheaties?

 

Do you mean those suddenly worn air lines with razor smooth cuts nearly down to the core?
In an area the lines don't actually contact anything? 8-12 inches from the glad hand is just right for a quick repair.

You could be put OOS and wait for a repair truck, or let them escort you back to the truck stop at that previous exit to get it fixed.