overweight on steer

You knew your weight evidently from a scale out. I would of put 50 gallons on until I could get to the next stop instead of filling it up. If there was another chicken house ahead after that I would still keep the tanks light.

 

Sometimes you win, you got lucky. Don't be foolish and make a habit of it, it's like playing with a loaded gun. If you get caught in a similar situation next time, minimize the risk by picking an appropriate route but be ready to get caught and face the punishment. Comes with the job.

 

Next time go scale and take that back to shipper and tell them to cut weight. Stupid shippers and receivers are greedy they like to get the most bang for their buck.

 

12K on the steers.... 34K on the drives....34K on the trailer....Do the math.....

 

That's typically what the word "AND" means. BOTH the axle AND the tires have to be rated for the weight. If EITHER is rated lower, you are limited to the weakest link...the lowest weight rating.

You should really consult the federal bridge weight table. Your statement would be true if you only had 14 feet between your steer axle and your rear drive axle. Longer wheelbase = heavier allowable weights. Most road tractors have a wheelbase long enough to legally run 53K-54K on the tractor IF the steer axle and tires are rated heavy enough to support anything over the 34K you have on the drives.

All you could ever want to know about the bridge formula can be found here: http://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/freight/publications/brdg_frm_wghts/bridge_formula_all.pdf

 

Now you have done put 95% of the posters here in a tail spin takin about wheelbase and bridge laws.

 

Good. If they are driving a truck, they ought to know about 'em already, and if not, it's a good time to learn.

 

I pu a png load 45425. scaled out full tank of fuel 200gallons. trl was 32500 or about drives where rougly 33500 and steers was 11300 no issues on any scales I went across

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I usually fill the tanks before any pickup... look at the qualcomm and see what they say you are going to loaded with.

You should get full tanks, be empty in the trailer,stocked up on your stuff in the truck and then get your self weighted. Now you have a base line of what you weigh.

When I was at 75k I adjusted my 5th wheel so I weighed 11.5k on the steers and never moved the 5th wheel again.

Fuel is about 8lbs per gallon so you may have to do some math if you forget to fill up. Let your dispatch know you cannot fill up without going overweigh and request another fuel stop. They cannot force you to go over 80k as any ticket would be on you.



Thanks,
Mark