Trailer axle overweight--Going to CA

That's hilarious!

 

@JC1971, where are you today? I'm going to LA today, you could stop by my warehouse in Phx and we could take a couple pallets off.
Let me know if you want to do that.

 

Nope, think it through. The only way to move weight on the trailer axles by moving the fifth wheel would be if you could move the kingpin with it as well. Since the kingpin remains stationary on 99 percent of all trailers, moving the fifth wheel does nothing for your trailer axle weights.

Think of it as a seesaw. Move your trailer tandems, and it affects your trailer vs drives weights. (and possibly your steers a little bit, depending on fifth wheel position.) But moving your fifth wheel only affects drive vs steer weights.

 

All tape measures have a dumb end and a smart end

 

That's how I got out of a ticket hauling a cement bin to a drilling rig... except I had to make it wider because I had my beacons going. Afterwards he says, "Huh. It didn't look that wide, must be the fog." (really foggy which is why I had my beacons on so I was easier to see)

 

Have you left Phx?

 

I pulled a 52ft spread axle cattle trailer out there for 2 years. I was out in CA at least once a week for two years, crossed about every scale except the one on I-8 and the one at Chowchilla. I got one ticket at Truckee for kpra violation. It was $137 and I had to go back to NV. So the. I just started going around the Truckee scale. It's not some huge ticket like some make it out to be. Either of the two tickets you could get won't go against your license. If I were in your shoes I'd split the difference, maybe get the trailer to 34200 or so and roll

 

If you are a company driver you pay the ticket for being overweight if you decide to roll a scale overweight. You risk earning less than minimum wages to pull an illegal load.

If you are an owner operator a $170 ticket might just be the cost of doing business, if you also have time issues to get another high paying load.

Bottom line: don't #### with California overweight or bridge laws. If you pick up a load and you KNOW you can legally roll a scale, then either have your company rework the load (as a company driver) or plan on expensive rerouting to bypass scales (if you are an owner operator on a tight schedule).

Another two words of advice: Trucker's Path.

Download the app.