How far to slide tandems?

SO what's this mysterious anwer already-
I don't know this great formula really ends up equaling a hill of beans- after a few laps around the CAT scale you wind up just memorizing how to set up your truck. As I stated before, once the 5th wheel is set up, almost never need to move it. Fuel before you scale, and you have no worries. Don't need to know what fuel does, non-issue because I'm full and legal.

Here's the prime example my truck anything 25000-35000 in the box tandems in the 12th hole wabash spacing, and I'm all set. No muss no fuss, everyother load I use a trick y father-in-law taught me. Line up the mud flaps to the back of the last pallet in the load-99 times out of a 100 your good to go.

K.I.S.S. (keep it simple stupid)

 

Keeping it simple means never fueling before you scale. Otherwise you might be searching the parking lot for a siphon hose, and another driver to give/sell the fuel to.

I've hauled too many loads in the coarse of my career, where you would be told the weight BEFORE you loaded. There wasn't going to be any debate as to whether or not you could scale it. Your company had been hauling identical loads for years, in identical trucks and trailers. If you were full of fuel upon arrival, the over weight ticket was yours to keep. But you're going to get that load, like it or not.

If you topped off before you scaled. The ticket was yours to keep.

Yes, there are simple tricks that work quite often. But the truth of the matter is, there is always a load somewhere that will need some form of calculation to scale.

Whether it is projected amount of fuel, and the projected fueling locations. Or a distribution/location of weight that requires multiple tandem settings, depending on what state you're in.

Some even require you to reroute to avoid scales. You're legal on the weight. But can't meet bridge law (CA/GA). And the load (by design), can't be moved around in the box.

There's always an over weight ticket out there waiting on you.

A light load for me, is 42,000 lbs. Once in a blue moon they give me a load of furniture, just to torture me.

 

Alright since I have waited so long here it is:

To know where the weight is going when you put on fuel (whether it be 1 gallon, or 200 gallons) you first scale your truck (bobtail is best) to know your axle weights. The truck needs to be less than 1/2 full (so you can put on 100 gallons for the reweigh), lets assign weights now; Steer-11,300 and drives-10,500, gross being 21,800.

Now put on 100 gallons of fuel, (take the general weight of diesel at 7.5 lbs per gallon) you have added 750 lbs to the gross. Re-weigh the truck getting the axle weights. Where the weight goes will always be constant, no mater what trailer, no mater what load weight is. Out of this 750 pounds on my truck (2001 Century) I got 22% forward and 78% rear. So 165 lbs to the steers and 585 lbs to the drives.

Now if I get a heavy forward load, I know that for every gallon of fuel I put on it will add 5.85 pounds to the drives. I make a mental note, or can use a post it on the dash, where the fuel gauge is when I scale the load, especially if the drives when I scale are close to the 34,000 limit. With this information I can know right away if I can top off the tanks at each fuel stop, or If I need to limit my fueling to a specific limit of gallons.

You know what your trucks MPG average is, so from the scaling of the load, you know how many gallons you will consume to get to the next fuel point. Also, you can estimate how many gallons/ weight you lose each mile, so that when figuring scale locations in your trip, you can be assured your fuel weight will not put your drive weight over 34,000 (drives) when you cross the scale.

i.e., I get 7 MPG avg, the scale is 70 miles ahead of me, I will lose 58.5 lbs from the drives when I reach the scale. (I consumed 10 gallons to get to the scale, I knew each gallon to be 5.85 lbs on the drives) Simple arithmatic.

 

All I can say is you guys have made this complicated.

The truck company I drove for allowed you only to fuel after 700 miles. It is an act of congress to get fuel in the middle of this.

When delivering a load, I would fill up when needed. I never knew where the reload was, and what the weight was until dispatched.

I would examine where the loading is. If the weight was under 42,000 and the scale around 55 to 60, I would run with it.

In 4 months I only scaled 4 times at a Catscale. Normally, 12-14 hole. If I loaded beer at Anheuser, the load was scaled there before leaving the property.

Fuel put on I calculated at 8 lbs per gallon. Fuel burned off checking mpg driven, at 7 lbs per gallon.

 

Shhhhhhhh. We're entertaining ourselves by scaring newbs out of their minds. And making them wonder if they need a scientific calculator to drive a truck

 

Is it working? All the schools are closed today, so no Fire/Medic personnel going to the yards?

 

Who me?

I haven't decided when I want to go back out. Might be Wednesday or Thursday. Was out for 2 weeks and delivered in Yellowknife last Tuesday.

 

That may work for 46 of the lower 48, but for me (CA) and others driving thru GA, we have to worry about 40 ft kingpin setting...we don't have the luxury of sending the tandems all the way back. It is a completely different story when there are bridge laws to deal with.

When I was with Swift, I can't count how many times I picked up a trailer in NV, UT, AZ, or WY that was bound for CA, and the load was done in such a way that I could not get it drive legal, or tandem legal if set at 40' or less to get it into CA. Why? Because the driver that loaded it in the midwest didn't care about the weight issue for CA, maybe not care, but didn't know how to get it set right.

 

No doubt. When I used to run California years ago, I always knew when I loaded it was going there and it had to be CA legal. Always a pain.

 

Bridge laws are the issue in a lot of states. I never run with the axles back. The 12th hole is just a little off the standard on the CA holes.