Trucking in the Northland

Not having a way to scale out sucks all the way around. If I worked an area like that there would be a 1000# grace weight for tandems and 2000# for gross.....come on, at 106k what is another grand or so. Heck you can have 2000# of snow and ice stick to your rig at any given time.

I'm lucky to have my own scales on the log truck. I can load within 20 pounds of my target. My only issue is my scales read differently depending on time of day. In the morning, no matter what time of year, my scales read 800 light and by the afternoon they read spot on. My first load every day I load to 800 under what the scales should read. If I happen to load large diameter logs I only try and get close. I will either be 500-800 over or 500-800 under if we don't have enough logs to try.

The trucks I weigh at the scales have all had ample opportunity to weigh. There is no less than five scales south of us they can use. Any over the road driver that does not spend the money for a weight slip knowing they are going through scales is a fool.

We also look at your history. If you have not been busted for weight (or anything else) we usually cut a break on your first one.

I use right-weigh scales and I find I have to move a half mile or so to settle them down. Other than that I find no variation in them. I love my scales, not so much for the money savings, but eliminating the extra trip to the scale. Originally I mounted the trailer scale on the pecker pole but that broke the bracket so I ran the airline up to the landing gear brace and mounted it there.

Trailer scales would be nice, and I would likely have one if I owned a trailer, however up here we mostly run freight for one of the bigger companies, and do a lot of drop and hook and pre loaded trailers. Usually they are loaded good, but every once in awhile you will get a bad one.

Of course, most of the trailers have a drop axle, which is lifted immediately after getting past the scales to give more drive weight during the winter. During the summer I’ll leave the tag down depending on conditions. If the road is dry I’ll keep it down for a smoother ride, but when it’s wet and several inches of mud I lift it for better traction and less drag. Also can’t run the tag down when the road is rough as it will give bad death wobble.

Todays adventures are not nearly as interesting. My company wants me to get my Hazmat endorsement which I have never had. Now days with the new rules, I have to do about 5 hours worth of online classes, so I'm sitting here in my long johns next to the wood stove with a big cup of coffee trying to force myself to pay attention.

In the words of the character in the waterboy, You can doooo it!

Well this last trip was interesting and I had a first for me. Climbing up a steep hill in low gear and something just seemed off. I couldn't quite place it, but my gut told me something wasn't right. Got to the top o the hill and crawled all over under the truck and couldn't quite place it. Got back on the road and I watched my rear drive axle move in the mirror when I shifted. Bingo! Thats what was wrong! I was seeing more rim in the mirror than what I normally see. Took it real easy an finished out the trip keeping a eye on the axle to make sure it wasn't moving more, and I also put chains on it front and back to limit how much it could move. Got it back to the shop and it has a broken center pin so it will be down for a couple of days.