Weight distribution

oops ,sorry. thought this was an advise thread for my mother in law.




just some humor. no offense. just just feeling goofy this morn.

 

Does your truck have load suspension gauge, the turn signal light on the side of the trailer is still center of trailer

 

Install a set of Rite-Weigh Scales......pretty much a neccesity for platform work.

 

not really, it's a learning still a learning thing

 

The center of the trailer is still the center of the trailer. It doesn't matter what your axle spacing is nor does it matter what the kingpin placement is. The center is measured from the center of the kingpin to the center of the rear axle group. It doesn't matter if you have duals, a spread or a tri-axle. When you take that measurement, divide it by two and you will have the exact center of your trailer. Mark it for future reference. Don't go by the turn signal in the center of the trailer, unless you took your measurements and it is at the true center. Every trailer is different. It might be used as a general rule, but you better know for sure if you are close to your maximum weight. Another general rule, is under your maximum weight place the center of the load one foot behind the center point of your trailer, if you have a spread axle. To place your load accurately, find the center of your load, both front to back and side to side. If you place the center of the load on the center of the axle, your load is balanced. This works great if it is a single item. If not, that is where experience starts to come in. From the center of the load, you can calculate what moving it one foot in any direction will do to the weights on your drives and rear axle groups. You can further divide this into smaller increments, while your calculations may be accurate, it is increasingly more difficult to accurately place your load if you have figured it to the inch. An example is if the load weighs 40,000 lbs. and is 10 feet long, each foot weighs 4,000 lbs. When placed on the center line, you have 20,000 lbs. on the drives and 20,000 on the rear axle group. That you just added! Don't forget to weigh you tractor and trailer to find out what they weigh, you have to add that into the equation. If you move my example to the rear one foot, you are taking 4,000 lbs. off the drives and adding 4,000 lbs. to the trailer's rear axle group. Now you have a 16,000/24,000 split. If you have multiple items to load, now it becomes increasingly more difficult to get the balance correct. This is where onboard scales become really handy. Otherwise, you will have to SWAG it and confirm it by going to a scale. Also, know how much weight your trailer is rated for in how many feet. Sorry, this is all one paragraph, I can't paragraph for some reason.

 

Kingpin placememt does matter, my stepdeck had an 18" pin location, my flatbed has a 24" pin placement, this flat transfers weight to the drives a heck of alot sooner than the step did.

 

I should have added, if your fifth wheel is positioned so your kingpin is centered between the two drive axles, it doesn't matter. Only the load placement on the trailer matters.