How far to slide tandems?

Funny how all you guys have a "fixed weight" attached to these holes.

I use 10% of the load weight for 6 inch spaced, and 5% for 4 inch spaced.

aka 35k = 350 lbs --- 40k = 400 lbs per hole on 6 inch spacing

Sliding 5th wheel varies by design. Most the ones I've used, were about 250 lbs per hole.

Back to the tandems, I do make my initial adjustments by load placement in the box.

Because 6 rolls of paper can cause HUGE differences in weight distribution, if not loaded the same every time.

 

Must be that new math Bush was famous for. 10% of 35000 is 3,500.
.006 per 4 inch hole is my experience as a percentage of load on a box trailer.
.008 for 6 inch hole.

0.6% and 0.8% respectively

 

LMAO...okay my bad. And I'm gonna leave it that way...for some additional laughs, for everyone else.

It should be 1% and .5%

But I'm too tired to care right now

 

Lol. Sleep well.

 

Fifth wheels, just as on trailers, depend on spacing of slots/holes and placement of 5th wheel assembly on the frame.

Best advice I can give concerning this: get empty trailer and weigh with it hooked to the tractor. Then move 5th wheel only 1 notch/hole. Reweigh. Then slide tandems 1 hole. Reweigh. Doing this will give you some idea (although not totally accurate) of how much weight shifts per slot/hole on your particular set up.

No, this isn't foolproof.

Yes, it will cost you some money to go this route, but in the long run, probably a lot less than an overweight fine.

 

I drive an 07 Pete 387 and i am on a dedicated Anheuser Busch account for Werner...fully fueled, and with me in the cab, the tractor weight is about 20300 or so...i am usually grossing anywhere from 78500 to 79500...my tandems are usually all the way forward, or between holes 4-8..it just depends on what trailer i have.

 

Since we are getting wonderfully technical, lets go all the way: One weight everyone is forgetting is the weight displacement of fuel. Every truck is different, and I mean EVERY truck.

Lets have some fun, open this up to a question...I know the answer, lets see who else does: How do you determine what percentage of weight applies to the steer axle, and what percentage applies to the drives, when you put fuel in the tanks? And why would anybody be concerned with this information?

Have fun all..it isn't that hard either.

 

It's been a while since I've had a sliding fifth wheel. It depends on if you have forward set tanks or tanks set back with the batterbox in front as a step. Sliding fifth wheels have I think 5 usable holes? With forward set tanks what do you figure.... 70% of the fuel on the steers with a standard wheel base of a fleet truck? I know volvo's had an issue with overweight steer axles right out of the factory at one point and they had to set back the tanks as part of an ooida lawsuit on certain models one year.

 

How far to slide tandems?

I was coming out of chicago one time and seen a guy slide his about 15 feet behind the trailer...... Guess next time he will make sure to check and see if the pins are in the holes....

 

I saw the same on I95 in Ct. The trailer landed on the jersey barrier somehow and the tandems were 300 feet behind him.

I almost had that happen to me too. I was stupid enough to trust a coworker who helped me slide my tandems. He told me they were locked in, I did a tug test and off I went without visually inspecting for myself. Got a few miles down the road, slowed for an on ramp and bang..... the tandems had just enough force to get loose from the half grab they had on the holes. Got lucky on that day for sure! No damage.