Steer/Axle Weight Question

it is possible that he rolled to far forward on the scale and had his steer and just a little of his forward drive axle on the front scale.

I would reweigh it and be sure I had the axles on the right scales- especially if he has a short wheelbase truck

 

The scale is level, you won’t roll. Setting truck and trailer brakes will put everything in a bind, especially if your trailer dumps the air suspension when you set your brakes. Let us know how the reweigh goes. Good luck!

 

That trailer looks shorter than 48' but could be the picture.

 

I have handled mack superliner 500 boom tractors with like a 24 foot boom from back of cab extended over the "Travel cradle" above the front end. They are always front end heavy but not really here or there to this subject.

The feeling of the steering wheel going loose or your tractor not "Minding" to use a old Baltimore term meaning to respond to your input, command or whatever it is you want truck to do. Is sometimes a sign of excessive weight on the front end. (Never mind the rest of the rig, story of my life...)

When I get onto a scale, I have to trust that it's level. With that in mind I crawl the rig onto it (Usually a big CAT scale) and as soon as the trailer tandems reach the rear plate and the forward steer is on it's plate alone I pull a few pounds on the trolley only that usually stops her.

SHE WILL SETTLE. Use that time to get the rod out of the cab and pass through window to push the button. But wait for the scale to settle. it only takes a moment. I usually feel the thing jiggle like jello. When jello goes away then it's time to get a nice weight via button.

IF you are confronted with a BIG old scale that is ALL one platform. Get up there.

Thats your total gross weight.

Pull forward until steer is off it.

write down that weight

Pull forward again until your entire tractor is off it.

Write down that weight and you are finished.

Your trailer weight should be 34000 or less on standard trailer tandems.

Your total tractor and trailer sets you subtract trailer tandem from that number. Thats your drive weight. It also needs to be 34000 or less. IF your total drives and tandem comes up to around 68000 or less you can generally make the assumption that both sets are legal but don't bet the farm on it, check on it.

The remaining 12000 should be what your steers were. Give or take a little bit.

 

Yeah something isnt right. Youre way heavy at the front AND the back. Reweigh and take some real pics of your truck with your load visible.

If its still a funky weight make sure we can see where your trailer axles and hitch are in the pics. You, the driver, need to know where to put the hitch, any sliding axles, and to make the loaders put the load where it needs to go for legal weight on every axle. 12/34/34 or 12/34/40 for most of us.

 

If you have a ten foot spread axle under the flatbed the 39000 is perfect. Otherwise you will need to put 5000 onto the drives. Im not sure you have enough holes for that.