Re: Towing 5th Wheel vs Travel Trailer



"William Boyd" <williamboyd@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:12ah1ejsajik24a@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Frank Tabor wrote:

On Fri, 30 Jun 2006 21:00:50 -0400 "Norman D. Crow" <Ravens@xxxxxxxxxx>
wrote in article <e84hg30b59@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:


In fact, some states won't let you run a 53' stretched to maximum.


The Bridge Law won't allow you to run stretched out in any state.

I don't think you have that stretch going in the right direction. If you
have to much load on the rear axles of the trailer you stretch it out and
move your king pin plate forward so as to allow more weight to be placed
on the front tires of the tractor.
This also moves some weight up to the duals on the tractor.
Of course so long as you do not have an overall excessive amount of
weight. We called this dollying the load.

A bit from a truck drivers journal;
" So. With the beauty of the sunset fresh in our minds and stomachs
clamoring for good, solid food, we land for the night at the Petro truck
stop in southeast Amarillo. We weigh the truck (heavy on the trailer
tandems, but we can crank them back to put more weight on the drive
axles ? we?ll handle that particular problem in the morning) and head
inside for bathrooms, solid food, and showers."

Actually this journal is interesting to read.
http://www.powerbear.com/otr.htm


The Bridge Law doesn't have anything to do with the weight in the trailer.
The only reason I remembered was one of our drivers got ticketed @ a NY
State DOT check. He only had about 16K of new plastic bottles(full load) in
a 53' trailer, but for some reason it was stretched all the way out, and he
was ticketed for that.

If you've got a 53' loaded so heavy in the tail that you've got to stretch
it to get "legal", then no one knew what they were doing when they loaded
it! I've sneaked through PA scales a couple times when pulling a 48',
grossing about 79,500, but had about 35K+ on drive tandems, not good. For
the un-knowing, conventional limits are 12K steer, 34K drive, 34K trailer
tandem, totaling 80K. Both times I picked up loads of "pulp" that were nose
heavy and no way to get them reloaded. Had trailer tandems slid all the way
forward, still couldn't get that extra 1K+ off the drive. PA scales on I80
had weight in motion scales, but flagged me over on platform. They could see
I'd done everything I could to balance the load, and let me go. Sometimes
they let you get lucky with extra 1 or 2K as long as you're under gross.

Powerbear tells a cute little story, and some of it is like that. They
probably weren't too concerned about TX scales, but needed to get scaled up
before crossing state lines. I'd also bet they weren't pulling a 53'
trailer. You can still haul close to 45K in a 53', but they were designed to
haul high bulk items like the bottles I spoke of. IIRC, a full load was 24
skids with layers of bottles over 8' high, nearly to trailer roof, but not
that much weight. Their corn meal was probably bagged, 100lb bags, 25 bags+
per pallet around 3 to 4' high, and the pallets in the trailer
2,2,1,1,2,2,1,1,2,2 or some variation to spread it out.

Tom J, you mean you didn't have the newer style sliders(LOL)? We had some,
worked great. Pull the pin handle, you're just loading a spring. The handle
latches "out", then you go back to the cab, lock the trailer brakes and
"jug" the trailer back & forth until you hear the spring pop the pins loose.
Now slide it, then release the handle & "jug" it to let the pins back in.
This, of course, providing the garage has kept the maintenance up to date &
greased all the slider parts, otherwise you get out your BFH and pound the
pins out of the holes(the same one you use to hammer the trailer brake drums
when the shoes are frozen to the drums after running in snow & slush).

People ask me if I miss the road . . I miss taking a rig down the highway. I
do NOT miss the hassles with bears, DOT, scales, idiot 4 wheelers, etc. etc.

I'll get off my soapbox now.

--
Nahmie
The only road to success is always under construction.


.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: OT: how much weight in a semi
    ... How much total weight can I put in the typical 48' semi trailer without ... Another limit is the weight of each axle over the scale one at a ... meant for spreading or limiting the load on bridges. ...
    (rec.crafts.metalworking)
  • Re: OT: how much weight in a semi
    ... How much total weight can I put in the typical 48' semi trailer without ... Another limit is the weight of each axle over the scale one at a ... meant for spreading or limiting the load on bridges. ...
    (rec.crafts.metalworking)
  • Re: Towing 5th Wheel vs Travel Trailer
    ... If you have to much load on the rear axles of the trailer you stretch it out and move your king pin plate forward so as to allow more weight to be placed on the front tires of the tractor. ...
    (rec.outdoors.rv-travel)
  • Re: Towing 5th Wheel vs Travel Trailer
    ... If you have to much load on the rear axles of the trailer you stretch it out and move your king pin plate forward so as to allow more weight to be placed on the front tires of the tractor. ... With the beauty of the sunset fresh in our minds and stomachs clamoring for good, solid food, we land for the night at the Petro truck stop in southeast Amarillo. ...
    (rec.outdoors.rv-travel)
  • Re: Towing 5th Wheel vs Travel Trailer
    ... He only had about 16K of new plastic bottles(full load) in a 53' trailer, but for some reason it was stretched all the way out, and he was ticketed for that. ... I've sneaked through PA scales a couple times when pulling a 48', grossing about 79,500, but had about 35K+ on drive tandems, not good. ... PA scales on I80 had weight in motion scales, but flagged me over on platform. ...
    (rec.outdoors.rv-travel)
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