Load distribution

Discussion in 'Flatbed Trucking Forum' started by allen731, Aug 10, 2016.

  1. Pedigreed Bulldog

    Pedigreed Bulldog Road Train Member

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    People who "load them all of the time" don't necessarily know what they are doing. I don't know how many times I've heard "You're legal to 40K" as their justification for loading it wrong. Just because something is LEGAL doesn't make it RIGHT! Move the load forward, or find another truck. A lot of these "knowledgeable" loaders only THINK they know what they are doing because nobody ever comes back to have their load reworked...but that's more because the drivers are on the clock with a time deadline and don't have time to deal with getting a less-than-ideal (but legal) load redone CORRECTLY, so they just roll with it...especially if it was more than a few miles to the scale, nobody likes to backtrack and delay, not to mention messing with straps, chains, tarps, etc. more than absolutely necessary. So nobody comes back and they think they got it right.

    That's the problem with centering the load on the deck...weight is biased to the rear and you end up stupid heavy on the trailer axles. If your trailer was at or near 40K, and you were tipping the scales at 80K, that leaves 40K for the tractor's 3 axles. If you figure 11-12K for the steer, your drives were extremely light at only 28-29K...which is WHY it rode like crap and pulled like crap.

    By moving the coil forward a little, it would have made that load much easier to pull.
     
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  3. cnsper

    cnsper Road Train Member

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    I like the comments about still having deck space. We dropped a trailer so the customer could load it. ended up with 4 each 1 inch steel plates about 30' long, a bedding box and 6 trench boxes on that thing. The guy that picked it up got a fine for being 56k on the drives and had to drop the trailer. I had to meet a crane the next day to take all the trench boxes off and put them on another trailer then pull those 2 trailers back to the yard.
     
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  4. Espressolane

    Espressolane Road Train Member

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    when ever I hear those words " I load these all the time" etc.
    thats when I tell them they need to find some one else to load me.
     
  5. x1Heavy

    x1Heavy Road Train Member

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    Fair enough. You hit the nail on the heads on all counts. In fact, we wanted to be ### end heavy back there because those volvos would beat you down being loaded on the driver end a touch too heavy on those half bags that they had on them. Remember them? Looks like someone took a nice fat bag for airride and twisted them off top to bottom leaving a pinch in the middle. I never did understood that. If someone can help me understand after all these years why in the world they did that to volvo trucks I would really appreciate it.

    I literally did not know any better and put those coils right smack on that marker.

    Would I load them different today? Certainly because we have much better trucks to load them to. Would not have a problem with that weight being a little forward the next time.

    I will share that my Ravens was taken care of and not too abused. But many drivers who had Fontaines and the Transcrofts I think those are called... whew.. cobwebs from my mind on those old steel trailers with wood decking and steel wheels... (Spelling? on both of them flats...) they were tared heavy and could not handle what I could, without say draining the fuel 2/3 to get legal.

    I don't mind people telling me the gospel truth of what I need to hear from time to time when delivered properly. It's a lesson to both myself and especially to you young ones thinking about flatbedding. I will help you learn here and those like Pedigreed Bulldog along to help with facts, actual facts you should learn and make part of your flatbedding.
     
  6. TripleSix

    TripleSix God of Roads

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    Years ago, every flat I pulled was a 48ft tandem. Easy to load. Center marker light was the center of the trailer. Things are a bit more complicated nowadays.

    There have been discussions on bridge law and California trailers. There are pictures on that thread. 48 ft trailers are generally all the same. But the 53s have 2 completely different wheelbases. Load it like a 48, you're wrong. Load them all the same and half of them will be wrong.

    Being extremely tail heavy is, IMO, dangerous in bad weather. Bulldog is describing what is called the tail wagging the dog. In the rain, you feel it. The rig feels squirrelly. When they first came out with the spread, I was like everyone else...loading heavy to the rear because of 40k available. That's the simple way, the path of least resistance. It can be lethal in bad weather.

    For many of you, you will probably not see more than 80000 GVW. Some of you will. But imagine going 90000, with an overweight permit. Most states will give you 40on the trailer and 40 on the drives. Some more. In fact, you can gross over 100k in some areas with your average 5 axle rig. But your loading is going to have to be precise and you will probably have to know your axle spacing and tire rating. It can be done, but you will have to really know your craft.

    In the doorslammer world and most of the flatbed world, if you get loaded wrong, you go back to the shipper and have them rework the load. In the heavyhaul world, once you get loaded, the shipper packs up and leaves to meet you at the destination. So if you get it wrong, what do you do now? Who pays for the crane(s) now? No clue? Go look in the mirror. Understand how important it is for you to know how to do your job now?
     
  7. Dye Guardian

    Dye Guardian Road Train Member

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    And drivers should be familiar with their air gauges. When someone who's not brand new says "my air gauge on the truck says 80,000 psi and the guy who used to run this truck says I can go that high" there's a problem...

    I know there are trailers (even trucks?) running around without air gauges, I can't imagine not having air gauges but then again, the last time I used a scale was weeks ago just to check gross because I knew the axles were ok. Before that I don't remember the last time, I've never used a Cat Scale.

    I've had loads moved. Before leaving the shipper...

    As for the being tail heavy point... For anyone who runs in snow, you're going to want to be maxing those drives as much as possible.
     
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  8. Riprap

    Riprap Light Load Member

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    Speaking of gauges, why do they turn black? I put this one on a few months ago and it's already trashed image.jpeg
     
  9. cnsper

    cnsper Road Train Member

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    Probably from some dyed or painted material inside the gauge. That is not trashed, you can still easily read it.
     
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  10. DDlighttruck

    DDlighttruck Road Train Member

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    So if a coil weighs 21,000 pounds, and is 5' in diameter, it weighs 4,000 lbs per foot? I'm trying to understand the math a little better.

    I loaded two coils on Friday. Equal weights on the coils. 53' flat, open 10' spread. Center of my tractor drives to center of spread was 40', so measured and marked the trailer at 20'. I set up two coil bunks, the front one was ahead of the 20' mark. The other one was behind.

    Now, the loader was going to try to put both in one bunk. So I moved the front one back 2' so it was more centred on the 20' mark. He placed both coils there, then decided to split them up, one in each bunk.

    So how much weight did I move when I moved the front bunk back?
    image.jpeg

    If I reloaded the front one, one foot ahead, would it move 4-5000 off the trailer group and place it on the truck?
     
  11. haulhand

    haulhand Road Train Member

    A good rule of thumb is about 1k per foot you move either direction. So if you want to move 4k forward you need to move just under 4 feet. Your thinking in the right direction but the diameter of the coil doesn't really matter all that matters is what is touching the dunnage and trailer so if your 5 feet shrinks down to 2 feet where either end meets the dunnage all the weight is sitting in those two feet.
     
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