Went through the scales

[Curlycherry1]

Eventually you will figure it out that there is never anything to be gained by willingly going into a weigh station. As long as the go-around does not add more than an hour to your trip you will be time and money ahead to find a way around and use it. They will educate you on the wisdom of what I am saying if you keep going in there.

People do that crossing over from WI to MN on 94 by going about 10 miles North to Stillwater and crossing the river there. That is far worse because they are double dinging folks that cross the Stillwater bridge thus avoiding the scales. I see trucks pulled over in Stillwater all the time and they go over EVERYTHING on the truck in addition to scaling it.

I can second that they are getting nasty in MN on all manner of commercial pickup trucks. I see at least 2-3 per week stopped and the state commercial police going over the trucks. Lights, brakes, plates, you name it they go over it and the fines add up fast.

 

[Curlycherry1]

Another thing about hauling firewood and trucks is don't make the truck look overloaded. I had a F800 with a 16' stake rack on it. I hauled 10 face cords of 16" wood on that truck (stacked) and I still had about 8"-10" at the back of the truck where the bed was exposed. I needed it to put the last wood on the truck and then stand on the back and pile it all up nice and neat.

Well that extra space saved my bacon a bunch of times. Staties in NY would pull me over and want to scale me and I would tell them if I was going to go overloaded, don't ya think I would use that last foot of the truck? Then I would pull out a stack of weigh slips all of them under the axel limit for the truck and every one of them said "firewood" for the load and the weight was below the limit. They would let me go without scaling me every time. I was over every time but they did not find that out because they did not scale me. The image you show can make a big difference.

 

[CaseyForrest]

A lesser known law, in MI anyway....

If you are driving to earn money, and your trailer is rated over 10,000, you must have a Class A. Doesnt matter what the truck is.

 

[Valkyrie Rider]

... Now I just wish the truck had a cummins in it to pull it.


Scott

http://www.destroked.com/
I know a few guys who put a Cummins under the hood of their Ford!

 

[cuznguido]

Okay, you believe the guys in the scale house if you want. Believe the local smokey if you want. Suit yourself, because i really do do mean no offense. I was just trying to make a point. A point that I am absolutely certain that I am 100% correct about. Been doing this stuff for longer than I really care to remember. You might go through those scales, or any others, a thousand times and have no trouble whatsoever, but one day, somebody is gonna be in need of some pocket money, or be in a bad mood or what ever is the case. You are gonna roll in there with a vehicle that you think is as good as new, and it may be. You may think you are 100% legal, and you may be. And when it all dries out you are be be bankrupt, right then, right there. I will say no more about this, but my conscience is clear. I have tried to warn you. It is not a matter of if it happens, it is a matter of when. No experienced trucker will dispute anything I have said, and very few will willingly pull into a scale if there is a reasonably good way around it. There is not a truck in the United States of America that cannot be red tagged and grounded at any inspection those clowns pull. And I guarantee you that the DOT officers are almost unanimously barely better than an ATF agent or pond scum.

PS: And NEVER, EVER, let them inside your truck. They love to act all friendly and stuff and want to get in and sit in the passenger seat while they look over your paperwork. Do not ever let that happen. I always either removed the seat entirely and put my refrigerator in its spot, or if the seat was in there, I sat a cooler or refrigerator in the seat and strapped it in good. Really pisses em off when they fling that door open and can't get in, but it is WAAAAY safer than having them in your truck.

 

[Curlycherry1]

PS: And NEVER, EVER, let them inside your truck. I always either removed the seat entirely and put my refrigerator in its spot, or if the seat was in there, I sat a cooler or refrigerator in the seat and strapped it in good. Really pisses em off when they fling that door open and can't get in, but it is WAAAAY safer than having them in your truck.

That is what a dog is for. Had a lab that could be all snarly at a moment's notice and she went with me everywhere. State trooper wanted to look inside one time and I told him the dog would eat him and I could not control her out of the truck. He let it pass. Dog really was a softie, but if I gave her "the look" she would growl and snarl up a storm. Very handy.

 

[Grace Tree]

Eventually you will figure it out that there is never anything to be gained by willingly going into a weigh station. As long as the go-around does not add more than an hour to your trip you will be time and money ahead to find a way around and use it. They will educate you on the wisdom of what I am saying if you keep going in there.

AMEN brother

 

[biggenius29]

A lesser known law, in MI anyway....

If you are driving to earn money, and your trailer is rated over 10,000, you must have a Class A. Doesnt matter what the truck is.

You must also have a name on the truck if I remember right.

 

[Circle B MN]

That is what a dog is for. Had a lab that could be all snarly at a moment's notice and she went with me everywhere. State trooper wanted to look inside one time and I told him the dog would eat him and I could not control her out of the truck. He let it pass. Dog really was a softie, but if I gave her "the look" she would growl and snarl up a storm. Very handy.

I have a boxer that rides with me every day. He looks a little mean and can bark up a storm on cue, but more than likely his smell and accumilation of shedded hair will keep even to most gungho DOT away.

 

[STLfirewood]

You might want to check with your insurance company also about insuring a class A truck. Just one of those things that some people never think about until it's too late. If you're seriously thinking about hauling that kind of weight, you might want to start looking into larger medium duty trucks like the F750, C6500, smaller Internationals, Kenworth T300. Freightliners are flooding the market. These trucks are pretty reasonable on the used market and will hold up a lot better for the long term. While the F550 fills the much needed gap between light duty and medium duty trucks, they just aren't built for a continuous 30k load. I spent quiet a few years as a mechanic in a Kenworth dealership that was also an Allrig shop (worked on anything) that was beside an interstate. I've seen just about everything come through there. Medium duty trucks are a pain to work on but not nearly as bad as F350-F550 and C3500-C4500's that people think are big trucks. My theory has always been "big weight - big truck". The biggest concern should always be steering and BRAKES!!!! If you can move it, you'd better be able to stop it and nothing works better and is more simple than air brakes with huge drums.

I will call the insurance company in the morning thanks for the heads up. I will have to make the 550 work for a while. Once I am up and going I do plan on getting a heavier truck. I am pretty easy on my truck. Even though load it heavy I don't run the snot out of it. Thank you for all your help.

Scott

 

[CaseyForrest]

You must also have a name on the truck if I remember right.

Could be...

I know the state is hammering on the new DOT numbers on trucks.

 

[Bret4207]

Okay, you believe the guys in the scale house if you want. Believe the local smokey if you want. Suit yourself, because i really do do mean no offense. I was just trying to make a point. A point that I am absolutely certain that I am 100% correct about. Been doing this stuff for longer than I really care to remember. You might go through those scales, or any others, a thousand times and have no trouble whatsoever, but one day, somebody is gonna be in need of some pocket money, or be in a bad mood or what ever is the case. You are gonna roll in there with a vehicle that you think is as good as new, and it may be. You may think you are 100% legal, and you may be. And when it all dries out you are be be bankrupt, right then, right there. I will say no more about this, but my conscience is clear. I have tried to warn you. It is not a matter of if it happens, it is a matter of when. No experienced trucker will dispute anything I have said, and very few will willingly pull into a scale if there is a reasonably good way around it. There is not a truck in the United States of America that cannot be red tagged and grounded at any inspection those clowns pull. And I guarantee you that the DOT officers are almost unanimously barely better than an ATF agent or pond scum.

PS: And NEVER, EVER, let them inside your truck. They love to act all friendly and stuff and want to get in and sit in the passenger seat while they look over your paperwork. Do not ever let that happen. I always either removed the seat entirely and put my refrigerator in its spot, or if the seat was in there, I sat a cooler or refrigerator in the seat and strapped it in good. Really pisses em off when they fling that door open and can't get in, but it is WAAAAY safer than having them in your truck.

Huh. That's funny. I was a DOT inspector for the last 5 years of my career. I always thought truckers were a much nicer class of people than normal. Guess I shouldn't have tried so hard to give the benefit of the doubt.

Now where did I put the numbers to the guys, whoops!. CLOWNS that are still on the job? I'll have to let them know I was wrong.

 

[blackdogon57]

Most guys who do firewood as a business have no choice but to comply with DOT regulations - at least in this area. Blowing by the scales or making long detours is not an option. Sure its a pain in the butt to comply with the rules, but it keeps me honest when it comes to maintaining equipment. I know my truck an trailer are safe. I have been doing firewood semi -full time for a few years and have had no problems with the law. When I see guys hauling wood with overloaded unsafe rigs it makes me uncomfortable knowing that I have to share the road with them.