Weight limits

Dye is an old time driver reincarnated as a young driver but kept his knowledge and wisdom.

 

I appreciate the kind words.

 

Where are you at? You're full of wisdom.

 

Hahah. Here ya go:

(will not link to a YouTube video without embedding, sorry everyone else!)

 

He's a solid driver. I like to see a young gun know his craft. The other is @ColoradoGreen.

 

Every axle has a job. You can have 32 axles in groups of 3 or 6 pulling something like a 150 ton electrical transformer as happens several times a week near where I am on a bridge that is a ordinary freeway crossing that can take the weight, but not the pressure if there was too few axles.

An examination of your rand motor carrier's atlas will give you a education to start off.

Flatbedding with a 10 foot spread gives you 40,000 pounds back there meaning you can disregard the normal tandem limit of 34 thousand. But due to practical problems of hauling drives light and ### end heavy does dictate you want to have your weight as if you were 34, 34 and 12 instead of 40, 24 and 12 or whatever it works out to.

Vans, reefers etc have holes on rails to slide tandems to take the weight off your drives or add weight to the drives usually 500 or 750 pounds a hole.

Always cat your load for weight where possible. You do not want to get caught with over gross, over axle or even over individual wheels.

 

Mid 20's

 

It's not the age of the bottle that makes the difference, it's what is in the bottle.

 

The Frost Law also determines the running of multiple axles. The time periods vary along with the roads that are affected by it. This is where the 8 ton,7 ton and 6 ton roads will change.

 

In Iowa a third axle on the trailer gives you another 10,000 pounds and a third drive would bump the max gross to 96,000 or 97,000. Mostly hopper trailers at this point because it's only legal on state and U.S. highways