Switching from flatbed to van

You won't need to slide your tandems if you have 38K or less for a load, in other words, it's not possible to be heavy on your tandems unless you are heavier.

If you go pickup a heavy load (say 44-46K) make sure you show up with 1/2 tank or less. THEN scale your load after you are loaded. This way you won't have too much weight over your drives, and you can fuel as you go. But if you show up with a full tank you may have big problems scaling.

Try to always stay within bridge law with the tandems. If you're loaded all the way back towards the doors, you may need to slide your tandems a little farther back than that. From what I understand, only Maryland is a stickler for the bridge law and if they catch you farther back they will fine you.

When the load is heavy, I try to set my tandems further back the further back the load is. Adjusting the tandems correctly will affect your ride. If you've got them set right you'll have a good ride. If not you'll be bouncing around and your trailer will be tugging and pushing you.

For city driving you may want your tandems far forward (for light loads) but beware of tail swing.

Freight is secured with straps or load locks. Many times the shipper will do this but many times not. They'll let you know if YOU need to strap or use load locks. Be prepared to lose the strap on a drop and hook.

As far as I know, "load checks" are only required when you are carrying HAZMAT.

 

A bridge law, is a law that designates how far the sliding axles can be from the fifth wheel. And it varies from state to state.

In order to balance the load to have it around: Steers-12,000/drives-34,000/trailer-34,000 (most states allow you to go over on the steers, but only if you're under gross. You can't be 13,000/34,000/34,000 ect ect. Check the front of a RandMcnally atlas.) You need to push the axles forward and backwards.
Why?

Each hole you slide will remove, or add 250 lb's (generally) forward, or backward.
So if you take on, say...41,000 lb'ss. And your gross is...80,000 on the nose. your axle weights are 12,000 (steers) 34,500 (drives) 33,500 (trailer). You need to move the trailer tandems FORWARD (TOWARDS THE TRUCK/FIFTHWHEEL) TWO holes, in order to take 500 lb's off the drive axles and shift it onto the trailer axles. It works the same way, in reverse.

How does this affect bridge law? Sometimes, loads aren't properly loaded. Sometimes their volumes wont allow equal distribution throughout the van. The solution? Pull the trailer axles back as far as you need to (hell, bring em back 53 feet if you really need to. Getting a load re-worked is a major pain in the ### 99% of the time.) But first You'll need to check the bridge law for the state you're in, and the states you plan on driving through. The North East is a real pain in the neck for bridge laws. As is California.

I've had to pull loads from Chicago all the way to Dallas with the tandems pulled all the way back, due to weight issues and getting it balanced to legal axle weights. But every state on the trip down allowed me to do so, because IL, MO, OK and TX allow 53' bridge laws (or they're just plain not listed by the individual state. which means 53'.)

OH! and just in case you didn't know, you need to check how much weight your steer tires and axles can handle before you go putting extra weight on them. The 12,000 I referenced is just an example. 12/34/34 is a general term on the whole. It's the legal weight balance and rule of thumb. I'm not saying you don't know this, but I don't wanna get a PM about a poped steer from you.

 

Why would you want to do that? Swinging doors sucks, cheaper freight, blah

 

(I agree, if you wanna do something different, you might consider auto hauling or tanking. reefer/dry van suck.)

 

I run my tandems set so I have 7 open holes in front. I rarely have to move them and I am legal bridge unless I get out west into some crazy roads like US95 south of Lewiston. Your off-track MUST be short to run a 53' box. As a general rule, you want the rear axle to be about even with the very back of the load. GENERALLY. That's not set in stone.

I rarely move my tandems when I back up to a dock. I do always dump my truck and trailer bags when I am being loaded.

Load bars are your friend. If you have Logistic rails, those are nicer to work.

Mark 48' on the inside. Try to keep anything over 35K in front of that line. Past it, you'll have issues with bridge and scaling out.

Here is a "REFERENCE" for how some places will load your pallets. When it's offset and || it means two pallets to that side of the trailer. It was posted up on a dock I loaded at and I just took a picture of it. It's rather accurate in my experience.

 

bridge law is the amount of weight you can gross between the drive tires and the trailer tires. determined by your spacing from the front drive axle to the rear most trailer axle.

doesn't mean much for the typical 2 axle truck and trailer. but when you do heavy hauls. you need to know that stuff.

for instance. you know your drives can haul 34k. and you know your trailer can haul 40k.(assuming your spread is 10 feet) but when you combine the 2 numbers. that equals 74k. but bridge only allows 72. unless you have enough room on your 5th to slide back far enough. then you might be able to hit that 74 mark.but your steers are going to be really light. and the scale has the option to radio highway patrol to tell them your driving an unsafe vehicle becuase you don't have enough weight on the steers.

least that's what oregon told me when he was making my wallet lighter.

the atlas has that information in the front of the book. but if you roll through oregon. the weight is actually less.

i had a 2 axle drive with a drop. making 3 axles. and pulling a 53 foot trailer with 4 axles. my spacing was 57 feet from very front axle to rear most axle. so the drives could pack 42,500 and the trailer could pack 52,500. making my weight 95,000. but the bridge is 92,500 for 57 feet. 7 axles. in oregon it's 90,000. less then national bridge.

very important to read the permits. LOL.

 

tired of flatbed work huh.I have to admit flatbedding you do work hard..A van is a cake walk compared to flatbedding.Tandems you have to slide if you load is too heavy on a certain axle and CALIF has the bridge law.Also many of the customers require you slide the tandems all the way back.We have load locks and straps to secure loads but only if the customer requires it like soda and beer loads.I very rarely secure loads but I do check the trailer before closing and sealing it to make sure the ppl on the dock didnt just load the trl any ole way.Some get lazy and could care less how they load the trailers.Vans are 13"6" so make sure watch your low clearence signs.Trucker atlases has a list of low bridges but with your exp you already know that.