Sliding a trailer tandems the best way to do it. . .

Oh lawd! I pulleded a spread axle drop deck around at Prime one time and that was really funky feeling the way it pulled and being able to look out the mirror and see both sides of the trailer.

otherhalftw: Yea, the weight is only approx. not exact. But will get you where you need to be. However making your load slide around in the back of the trailer will change thing's also from slamming on the brakes or making turns up sharp high angle driveways. My step dad and I have been using that method of calculating either 250-500 pound difference ever sense he started out driving back in 99'. A friend of mine (old CDL instructor) also use's this method. Work's like a charm every time. Never had a problem with it.

Another thing is never go by the weight a dispatcher send's you via QC. I've noticed that 90% of the time, it's not right. Dispatch send's you a load assignment weight but the bill's say different. Beside's if you have been driving long enough you should know about how heavy a load is by the customer. Most of the time I can look and see who the shipper is and tell right off weather the load is going to be light, medium or heavy in weight.

 

I know, usually you do know when the load will be heavy or light...we deal in food service supply...so a "light" would mean in our average under 40k, rarely less. but when the dispatch sends a weight, it usually is correct...this time the second shipper added 2k to the order and didn't notify us before the p/u so i got stuck with the fun of the finagling.

It all worked out in the end...I got the extra 80 miles on the trip since they decided they wanted it in Sacramento, there was another L.A. driver needed to get home, so they diverted me in SLC back to Sac...no problems here.

What exactly aare the differences in pulling a spread axle...never done that??

 

Well from experience I can say trailers come with any king pin setting the customer request, I have owned van and reefers with 24" 30" 36" and 42" pin settings. Putting the "tape" to the trailer and knowing for sure is the key.
DOT officials love to educate the driver and offer helpful hints as they are writing out the ticket,
FSA 2010 makes all these violations Hang with the driver now.

 

The big companies will never do that because of the added expense of tire wear from scrubbing,not to mention to many drivers doing tight U turns at shippers and truck stops that would start to cause suspension problems along with tearing up tires.

 

Other than the weight caring capacity IMHO they ride and track down the road much better. In town and tight turns you should take corners as wide as possible to keep from tearing up tires or putting extra wear and pressure on the suspension components. They will also pull you down (feel heaver) when cornering from the scrub. And if at all possible never pull a U turn. Some people believe you must dump a axle on turns (let air out) IMHO and from pulling them for many years I think it just puts more stress on the axle with air if loaded heavy, when light I would dump the axles to save tires. I even had my flats set up to lift a axle if light enough or empty.

 

Good info, guys.

They pretty much taught us in school that the general rule of thumb for calculating how far the tandems need to slide in either direction to make'em legal is 250 to 275 pounds per hole. I was just curious which states actually care other than California cuz I have had a few loads where it was either set the tandems further back than what the most restrictive state's law says or take the load back to the shipper and have'em re-load the trailer.

Also, since Im on the subject, Im just courious what you guys have to say about it; do you set the tandems for the state you call "point B" or the most restrictive state you travel tthrough?

 

Thats what I figured.....

 

This is what I do. Remember each brand of trailer is a little different, as well as some models of the same brand. My example; '53 Wabash, spring suspension. I try to keep the tandems in the 10th to the 13th hole from the front. I can usually scale about any load I have. Now on that particular trailer, the 13th hole is the max allowed bridge in Michigan, which is the most restrictive state I'm usually in. A rule of thumb I use, depending on how much weight I have loaded, is to slide the rear wheels of the trailer slightly behind the end of the load. This doesn't always work, but it at least gets me close enough that when I do get to the scale, I don't have to slide very far.
The weight per hole that gets bantered around, 250-350# per hole is basically a guestimate at best. It is some sort of a starting point though.
Once you get out and start hauling all kinds of different weights and loadings, you'll develope a feel for what should be in the ballpark, but, when in doubt, scale the thing, why give any more money to whatever states coffers.
Myself, I've gotten to where I can get legal most times just by eyeballing, but when I'm not reasonably comfortable, it's to the Cat scale go I.
And, there's no sense in getting anal about equalizing the tandem and drive weights. It is nice to have them within 1000# of each other, you may get a little nicer ride, but it's your drivetime and frustration, one decreases, and the other increases

 

Rides 100% better, no need to scale out ever. You're allowed 40k on the spread, 34 on the drives and you don't need 12 on the steering to be legal at 80k.

There are a few companies that run spreads. I know Purdue farms have a lot of spread reefers. There is a local company here that has them with front lift axles, they haul their own products and always return empty.

Tire scrub is trivial. Think about a 1000mile trip, how many of those miles are spent turning? Take the cash saved from bypassing the CAT scales and add it to the tire fund. (not the mention the saved time and effort) Dump valves help by making the trailer act 5ft shorter by flipping a switch but aren't needed. Most of my trailers have lift axles, lift kit only weights 65# costs ~$500 and is a huge help with tire and brake wear.