Formula for sliding tandems

There is a variation for some older trailers:

1(vice grips) + x(4 lb.sledge/#whacks)/your normal BP + your weight in kilograms= approx. # of words you have the potential of inventing

 

Agree with much. The worst is when you pu a ldd heavy trailer, and it is sealed. Off to a scale you go. I have always pretty much used 400lb per hole. One to look out for is Costco. You just never know how they are going to load.

 

Well all this just confuses me. much easier just to run with it and hope the scales are closed....



When you are on the truck you will learn everything you need to know about sliding the tandems,what hole for what weight and so on. How and where to slide the fifth wheel and what to look for when you close the doors.


You will have plenty of practice.....

 

Goldminer,seriously...do you want to take a chance! your allready at the scale,just do yourself a favor and reweigh it.it only takes a few more minutes........seriously!

 

General rule of thumb I followed at swift was, when picking up loaded trailer set the tandems at the 8th hole from the front, and drive to the nearest scale. For most swift trailers I used 250 lbs per hole, and for the older ms carriers trailers 400 per hole. your results may vary, but this is what worked for me while there. Plus what fr8monkey said, its only a buck to reweigh, and you get it back anyway when you turn in your reciepts

 

Back when I used to pull heavy van loads I would carry a big rubber mallet just for occasions like this. Just start thumping from the back side of the trailer and move forward. It didn't work every time, but if the freight was touching the sides of the trailer, the noise would change.

 

You can "feel" how heavy a load is by the gear you can take off in. The gross weight i mean...and not accurate estimate. The the feel of it.

 

One day they'll have a switch on our dash we flip that releases the tandems, and a digital read out that tells us which hole were in, then we move slowly forward or reverse and the digital guage tells us which hole we stopped at... be nice.. I mean hell, they have cars that can parallel park now days, right....

 

You don't always have to reweigh it unless your tcalling it. Most of the time your just a couple hundred off and just moving it a few holes will fix this. Depending on the other axles...

For students I will always suggest to reweigh..The more experience you get the ;less re-----weigh....I don't have the time to waste going through it more than once...

 

Ohhhhh ok,guess! great advice,and that couple hundred will still get you a ticket.....don't have time? lol......right