The Cellar - View Single Post

BrianR · 10-09-2009, 10:22 AM

Glatt, what Bruce said. On many trailers (but not all), the driver can slide the axles fore and aft to move 3500 lbs or s from the trailer to the drive axles and vice versa. Some trucks also have a sliding fifth wheel (the black, greasy plate on the back) to allow the weight to be further distributed from the drive axles to the steers and back.

Moving more weight than that requires a trip back to the shipper with weigh tickets in hand. Usually, shippers with very heavy loads know how to load the trailer to get the weight pretty close.

The trailer tandems cam also be slid aft to make unloading heavy product safer by reducing the jumping (like a teeter totter) caused by a 10,000 lb forklift and, say, a 6,000 lb roll of paper. Trailers have been known to "walk" away from a dock that way, causing an unsafe condition.

10-09-2009, 10:22 AM	#7
BrianR Cleverly disguised as a responsible adult Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Dallas, TX Posts: 3,338	Glatt, what Bruce said. On many trailers (but not all), the driver can slide the axles fore and aft to move 3500 lbs or s from the trailer to the drive axles and vice versa. Some trucks also have a sliding fifth wheel (the black, greasy plate on the back) to allow the weight to be further distributed from the drive axles to the steers and back. Moving more weight than that requires a trip back to the shipper with weigh tickets in hand. Usually, shippers with very heavy loads know how to load the trailer to get the weight pretty close. The trailer tandems cam also be slid aft to make unloading heavy product safer by reducing the jumping (like a teeter totter) caused by a 10,000 lb forklift and, say, a 6,000 lb roll of paper. Trailers have been known to "walk" away from a dock that way, causing an unsafe condition. __________________ Never be afraid to tell the world who you are. -- Anonymous