I hate math....

You'll get good at it. Is this more a problem with preloaded trailers or live loads?

 

I set my 5th wheel so I had 12k on the steers and never moved it. Saved a lot of forgetting when you have to back up and make a tight turn with the tractor... no body damage.

As far a Tandems - usually in front of the 48' mark you are on hole 13 or less... in back of the 48' mark you slide them back. Watch Bridge laws...

Tandems are usually 250-300 per hole.

 

There is a cat scale app

 

Look at your weight... if less than 35k = 13th hole is good. If in doubt put on the 13th hole and get weighted

 

Yep 250 per hole. I assume you know the directions to slide them.

 

http://www.thetruckersreport.com/truckingindustryforum/threads/tandem-setting-formula.256651/

post 1 --

Google is our friend...

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=how...ractor+trailer+weight+distribution+calculator


some links to different apps...

 

When you weigh the truck and get your scale ticket write on it the current tandem position, however you normally count it, from the first hole, that is blocked by some stop bar or the first accessible hole behind the stop bar.

Then find the axle that is over the allowable and subtract the maximum allowable. 35,500 -34,000, for example.

This equals 1,500 divide by whatever you have determined each tandem position hole means on your trailers. Each hole on my OTR trailers moved between 350-500 pounds.

Divide 1,500 (example overage) by 350 (in this example). That will tell you how many holes you must slide. If you aren't over gross and one axle is well under max while another is over max, add one more hole to slide so you can move it once and not have to re-weigh/slide more than once.

1,500 / 350 = 4.28 so call it 5. Slide tandems toward the weight.

Reweigh and write the tandem hole position on your ticket so you can remember it next time.

After a while you will see a pattern. When YOU see the pattern it becomes second nature. Each tandem hole will have a differing result depending on the freight and how it's loaded, so you will have to track this over time.

Lastly, make it a point to sometimes weigh the combination when you are low on fuel and after topping off with fuel so you can see the effect on your drives & steer. My Peterbilt carried fuel exactly 50% on drives & 50% on steers. Also, I noticed CAT scales could be about 250 pounds off from moment to moment. So I could weight my empty truck & trailer, drive around a re-weigh and the scale could read 250 pounds higher or lower. Don't sweat the 250 variation. After you fuel, divide the gross weight increase by the gallons you added to get your fuel weight per gallon. If you ever need to manage fuel weight to stay under Gross, you'll want to know weight of fuel per gallon.