Load distribution

Could you be running with too much fuel in the tanks?

 

There you go! 7-8lbs per gal.

 

Never be afraid to ask the loader for help. They load trailers all day everyday and will know how to place it if you explain to them that you are not sure. If you have a weight gauge in your tractor or on the trailer, leaving the trailer brake off, you can get a pretty accurate real time determination of how your trailer is doing on weight distribution. Knowing the empty weight resting on your drives can also be a big help when you are dealing with say multiple light coils or as you had it a coil and a machine (weight dependent of course).

 

I wouldn't put a huge amount of stock in what the "loader" says many of them have no idea and more don't care. To use your in cab gauge stop at a scale and get a weight when your close to 34,000 on your drives, see what the gauge says you have on the suspension and remember it.

 

There's

I do too. Never do that 'run on fumes until you load' crap. That cuts into your money, even as a company driver. Your dispatcher may even tell you to go into a shipper as light as possible. But every time you have to stop and fuel up, that cuts into your drive time. They pay you by the mile or by the load...not by the fuel stop. So don't do it.

That air gauge in your truck, the next time you get a heavy load and scale it, check that air gauge too. You will eventually figure out what PSI the suspension gauge is at when you have 34000 lbs on the drive axles. It differs per truck.