How do you know when your vehicle is overloaded

Hi, what kind of macherny you buying new or old, the old would be heavy cast iron, like a iron man machine, thats old and made of cast iron, that would be heavy, were as a new machine like it is made of stamp steel, which be lighter, im just wondering like they do in Iowa, have portable scales you can buy, mayby not , but i would weigh the empty truck-trl first , post that too your dashboard , then get loaded and see how far off you are, if you buy a trl, make sure you get a slider type trl, with air ride, so you can move the weight if need be.

 

okay i just check a web site, yes you can buy portables scales, but start at $3456 , so i dont think this gonna work for you.

 

Portables are never going to be cost effective, or practical to use. You need solid ground that is level for them to be half accurate. Not going to happen at most auction houses I have been to.
On board is the only way to go in my experiences.
If you are going to buy a trailer anyways, either get the load gauge installed at the dealer, or factor it in. Either way, air ride is the only way to go.

Martin

 

check for tags on equipment. i run into this daily and thats a good place to start. or the manual for the piece if it has one. tha or google each machine and if its something you are commonly bying, make a cheet sheet for loads

 

OK, first let me say that I have not ever tried this......HOWEVER, this idea may work...? Get a length of chain, scale your truck as close to Max weight, hang the chain down from your trailer to the ground and count the links. Do this on your drivers and your trailer. Once you know that xx number of links equals whatever weight (like say 34,000) then you'll know roughly if you're legal or not. It won't be exact, but I don't see why it wouldn't work as long as you are on a flat surface to do your measuring.

 

Yep, most machinery will have a tag with serial #, model # and in many cases the weight if it was made by a manufacturer. ASTM standards.

It's common physics the non-airbag trailer will squat more with the weight. You can look at tire bulge, tire to trailer clearance or even mark the shocks with a max load. You still have to balance the load.

Get in the habit of scaling out at the nearest scale. Go to a truckstop and usually near the bathrooms you'll see a yellow/white Catscale pamphlet directory or go online to Catscale.com or even InterstateScale. You can also buy at a truckstop a RandMcNally Truckers Atlas to know the locations of the DOT scalehouses. Sometimes a man has to do what a man has to do!

The more you haul, the better you will get at it.

 

Maybe because air ride will keep the ride height the same no matter what?

Martin

 

The price of scaling a load is nothing compared to the worry and fines.

Mikeeee

 

Do you mean, since you do not have much option to remove an item and make a second trip for it?

Mikeeee