Scales & Uhauls

How lucky I must be! Between Cincinnati and Vancouver, how many scales were there? Ten? Twelve? I passed by all of them and not a word said......maybe they could tell I couldn't make right hand turns or back it up and was an accident waiting to happen, and they didn't want me in their scales!
Next move I make, I'll know.....

 

Most scales on I-80 (I'm assuming that's your route) don't care about anything less than semis (broadly speaking).

I drove a 24-ft Penske from Seattle to western Il - I hit every scale - but before I even hit the pad, somebody from inside was telling me to head out back on the highway.

So, what the folks here are saying isn't that you HAVE to hit the scales in a rental, but that it's generally a good idea - you never know if the Gatekeeper is going to be a jerk.

 

New York simply sais "All Trucks". So if in doubt, pull in. Most likley you'll either be waved through or ignored.

 

MD is getting to be the nastiest state around. I live in N VA and hear they are puling over pickup trucks pulling a boat and checking who owns the boat. VA is nearly as bad, doing DOT checks on farmers pulling LS trailers to market marked w/farm use tags.

 

The reason for that is from all of the illegal transporting that is done via uship and others. Alot of those haulers have no signs, insurance, med card or log books.

It is not just limited to that area. I have seen Iowa pull over a pickup with a long white trailer. Pickup no signs, but was from Louisiana coming from Minnesota.

 

Why not just go into scale? It's simple and less hassle. Blow by in Florida even uhaul and they will chase u. They have netted stolen property via checking uhaul trucks.

 

When I drove for Fastenal we used Penske box trucks on some of the routes. The ones that were registered under 13 tons I never stopped at the scales (ran MD PA NJ mostly) especially if it was one that didn't have a company sticker on the door. Id get away with it even in the ones registered over 13 ton.

 

I got put out of service in Maryland driving my bosses dually with a 26 foot flat bed trailer.I was emty coming back from Atlantic City delivered to an expo.They were pulling over all small trucks that were used for buisness.The electric brakes breakaway systems battery was dead. They put me out of service for that and I was in complete shock. He told me to go out and act like I fixed it but I better hadnt go thru another scale after being out of service or I would be in huge trouble.

On the Rental truck subject. I would be scared to death it would be put out of service if I took it across the scales.

 

You mean that scale was actually open? Now that's a rare sighting. LOL I drive past it a few times a day and haven't seen it open even once in the past two months.

 

I've been coast to coast 4 times, 3 while I was in the Navy and the last when I moved on my own in 2001. I have never stopped at any scale even pulling a full trailer with my car on it. I've been to Californis twice and the only stop I made was at the Bug Stop. The key word here is commerical. A self move id not commerical and they know it.

SubSailor; we'd like to have you join the social group of military drivers and you can tell us some sea stories.