maximum weight per axle?

It cracks me up that a lot of people say the “limit” on the steer axle is 12k. The majority of steer axles are rated at 13 or 14k and even running G rated tires gets you 12,350.

 

Most fleets order the trucks as cheaply as possible. That means most trucks are spec'ed with 12,000 or 12,500 axles and G tires a 12,350. Not all, just most.

Now some states and some weight cops don't care what the axle is rated, some do. Most know what the tire is likely rated to and all care about that.

So know your equipment and choose your poison. If you a couple hundred over 12k on a 12k axle you probably won't go noticed. If your .5k over someone might take the time to check the tire and maybe the sticker on the door.

 

Yeppers!!!!! Is this considered another rude truck?

 

Wouldn't surprise me if lots of truck driving schools are teaching the myth that 12K is the legal maximum.

 

Maybe he just started driving??? No such thing as a stupid question..... that's the whole reason for forums like these.

 

Looks like Western Express might have a legal claim against memecrunch.com. You'd need a trillion people driving trucks for there to be one stupid enough to attempt that. The only way that wasn't Photoshopped was if the driver had an aneurism or something.

 

I don't know anything about that photo, and to be honest I don't really care if it was photoshopped. I DO KNOW HOWEVER a driver for WSE sometime during 2011 did something like this. He got lost then thought he could get turned around in a McDonalds. Damaged the drive through order board then backed up and somehow caught a power pole and put several thousand people in the dark. Oh and one more thing. I will spare you the grief looking at the photos, but some drivers have a history of doing MUCH WORSE!!

 

Yes that is a myth. However because of the weight distribution of the average tractor it is very difficult to have much more then 13 to 14 thousand pounds on those steers and not be a bit over 34K on the drives. I did not say impossible, I said difficult. Also if a rig is loaded so heavy toward the front that the steers and the drives are so heavy to do this and the load overall is at gross it is not loaded right or in some respects safely. So while teaching that 12K is a limit is a myth teaching a driver to stay in that 12K area weight wise is sound.

 

Unfortunately there are probably plenty of lazy (or unaware) trainers who don't get into the specifics of why 12K is good to stay close to but instead, to keep things simple, just say it's the max legal weight. I'm not against keeping things simple for new drivers, but this is one area where I think the full explanation (like the one you just gave) is appropriate.