Tankers and scales?

Wait till you cross the scales in Springfield, Va on 95.. They will hold you there till everything settles and they can get a weight - not exaggerating when I say they held me on the platform for two minutes which is an eternity only to give me the green light. They waited for the totes to settle all the way before they cut me loose..

 

As far as the brakes never get out of any truck tanker or not that is not secured by brakes or tire blocks.

We load liquid into our pneumatics, very rare for dot scales to mess with us, but once in a while they will let you sit till it settles. Normally they just want us out of the way. I'm goos with that.

 

If your truck is moving with the brakes set you fail a DOT inspection. Actually if your wheel rotate at all because I suppose the tires could skid forward if there is enough force.

 

My truck is stopped but the liquid in the totes keeps moving - brakes set and truck stays still but my drive axle fluctuates by a few thousand every second as the liquid moves.. No failed DOT inspection, just a real long time on the scales dude..

 

-The question on spring brakes (parking brakes) is it's a spec'ed thing. Cheap companies will only order one set on a tractor but 2 on a trailer. I'll order 2. Why take a chance?
-Setting brakes on a tanker or actually a liquid load (500 gal totes) on a scale. Set the trailer first and let it settle down then the tractor to be secure!
BUT when you get on any split axle scale(CAT) because you are NOT getting out of the truck just sit there for a minute till it settles down because as soon as you hit the button the weights are taken. This includes all loads! Or just set the trailer brakes and the tractor will settle down along with the trailer. But, I never just reach out and punch the call button until the scale has stopped rocking!
And NEVER get out of a truck without the brakes set. EVER! Those brakes could be out of adjustment! Chasing a truck on foot has to be way down on the fun scale but high on the stress scale!

 

I've never been held up at a scale so they could get my axle weight. It would be the most asinine experience of my life. I know a driver that went through that with a smooth bore for a half hour before they finaly let him go out of frustration. It takes me about 15 minutes to get a somewhat accurate axle weight on a cat scale and thats sitting still. If they want me to weigh each axle separatly they might as well close the scale behind me.

 

I'm glad I hauled gasoline. Believe it or not we hardly ever felt any surge. Of course our tanks have compartments with baffles in them but even a half loaded compartment is barely felt. But it doesn't matter to us where we are if we get away from the controls of the truck the brakes are set NO MATTER WHAT.

Phroziac you talk about seals and samples. It's that way for us when we haul jet fuel. Especially for the Air Force or Navy. If the seals are broken you might just as well take the load back because it will be rejected. Where I was at we didn't have to do any of that because there was a pipeline that went straight to the places it needed to go. But in San Diego there's a driver that bids that shift that does nothing but haul jet fuel to the airport. He makes about 8 to 9 loads a day and he won't give it up because he likes it so well. You guys can have those tanks that you have to washout and gear up to load and unload. In my opinion you're not paid enough.

 

If slamming on the brakes on a set of scales throws them out of calibration, the scales are junk. I've got a 80' Mettler Toldeo platform scale at my shop and the load cells are not affected by the truck stopping. There are blocks and spacers on the ends of the platform to keep the scale from moving more than what's allowed. Regardless of what the shipper tells you the load cells are VERY tough (which is why the scale cost almost $30k) and stopping hard isn't going to kill a scale. They make scales that can weigh a trucks axle weight up to 50k each, up to 75mph and measure the axle spacing all without stopping, so don't believe stopping hard is an issue. Also if a shipper is getting a gross weight on a moving load they should have had the scales set up for it. Ours has an option for "moving loads" such as livestock that will NEVER stop moving.

 

Seems like they would just grab a steer axle and a gross weight and send you on the way.