Overweight at the State Scales Question

if its milk, go to the back of the truck stop and let about 20 gallons out of the tank, seen it done before. But, then again, dont load so close to gross weight.

 

If you're that much over and get caught then it's your fault for not weighing the load before a scale house.Or if you're over weight you call your company right away and ask them if they'll pay the over weight ticket,if no answer or they say no,then park it till they give in.You mentioned 100 lbs over,I don't think the DOT would say anything about that.I don't know much about tankers but when it comes to a DOT a semi is a semi.But that's what I would do with van and reefer.

 

you can't haul 8ok gross without being over on the axles. tanker wise

just so you all know. trailer will be light. truck will be HEAVY. hope your fifth wheel is slid to the front as far as possible without putting your steers over there rated weight. cuz that's what you'll have to do to keep your drives under.

last time i was over. i called montama. they allowed 1000 over. wyoming usually registers trucks for 117 provided you abide by the axle weights. colorado allows 85 on the back roads. just don't roll through the scales on the highway. all i had to do was detour around the idaho scale. but load got delivered.

if your in florida. your allowed up to 44 on tandems. so all you gotta worry about is 80k

as long as there's no sign that says ALL TRUCKS MUST WEIGHT. you can detour. just don't get pulled over. cuz a cop might harras you about your route.

next time only pack enough fuel for your journey. companies will push you to the limit weight wise. and tanker companies DOOOOOOOOOOOOO have scales. USUALLY.

 

Thanks Snowwy. However, hypothetically, let's say you are overweight with a flatbed, refer or dry van. My point here is, if your company does NOT have scales and you are overweight on the State scales, and you are far away from the home company or your destination, how does one handle the problem? Also, it must be illegal to avoid the scales at State lines if it is mandatory that all rigs get weighed at the scales. However, if it is NOT mandatory, and the police pull you over. What excuse do you give the kind officer? I had to pee? I was hungry? I got lost? I was taking a break and wanted to sight-see in your fine city?

Thanks, Shadow.

 

It's wrong only if you get caught.....

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i just told you how i handled it. i CALLED the scales. and explained the situation.

you only have 300 miles and one scale to cross was your statement.

i was 200 miles from shipper before i had a cat scale to use. BEFORE hitting a dot scale. i still had 1000 miles and 7 scales to cross. and i was 800 pounds over. you may find that your panicking over nothing.

course, i had a flatbed with spread axles. my axles were fine. just over on gross. and the scales were nice enough to tell me what i could do. so i panicked over nothing.

 

This is why you don't want to run overweight; just like having a light out, it opens the door to all sorts of problems. It's an excuse to look you over very closely.

 

Calling ahead to other truckers who have passed the scale can help you avoid getting scaled but it's always better to know your load going in. A lot of shippers don't take into account pallet weights but that can put you well over. Ask about it.
I'm a tanker driver now so my loads are 'live' scaled. I can remember the aggravation of doing Reefer loads and having problems with a shipper that thinks they are driving on my license.
I refuse to deliver loads over 52k with my tractor now unless they can find a driver that is weightless.

 

Thanks GAIanFink. As a newbie here, still going to CDL school, is 52K the legal limit at most DOT scales for gross weight? Shadow.

 

many many years ago before DOT was more then just a bother it was a game to get one over on them
running fish from Outer Banks of NC to Fulton market in NY 5 nights a week overweight by 10000 lbs some nights
we would get a Perdue truck to run the back road get caught and pulled back to the scale
while that was going on 5 fish trucks snuck around then we would all meet up later give the chicken hauler a $20 per truck