dump truck scales?

[imagineero]

Just wondering if any of you guys have something on your truck to tell you how much you've got in the bin? I've looked around at the commercially available stuff but it's mostly $$$ and made for bigger trucks. My truck is 16,000#GVM with a 6500 carry.

The only idea I came across that seemed like it was cheap and workable was only suitable for trucks with air bags. You put a T into the airbags, and a pressure gauge. You can calibrate the gauge at a weigh scale so you know roughly how many PSI is how much weight in your truck. That's a nice cheap solution, but my truck doesn't have airbags.

There's a company out there that makes something that goes on your leaf springs, I'm going to give them a ring tomorrow but I imagine it's not cheap. The only other idea is load cells and a reader of some kind. I imagine you need 4 load cells (?) to go between the chassis and the bin. There's not much info available on the web about this sort of stuff

Shaun

 

[Bearcreek]

Why do you need to know how much it weighs? For rough calculation purposes, I've read that a yard of chips weighs around 500 lbs. (don't know what that translates to in metric:msp_biggrin Obviously that would vary somewhat depending on species but it's good enough for what we do. Or are you hauling something besides chips and logs?

 

[imagineero]

Call me crazy, but I like having a license and keeping my money. The Dept of Transport guys in aus don't have much sense of humor. They're not interested in the why of the amount your overloaded by, just the amount itself so they can calculate the fine and deduct the relevant number of points from your license.

My truck is small, and it's easy to overload. The weight of chip varies by a surprising amount, but logs is where I seem to get caught out. You can guess, sure... and you may be close, or maybe not. It sure would be nice to know. I've been through the scales a few times with palm barrels on and been way over my legal carry, which is freightening. The DOT boys love hanging out at the entrance to the dump. I was once slightly more than double my legal carry (green oak). Never have been caught and I'd like to keep it that way.

At the other end of the spectrum, when I've got a few truck loads to move off site, I sometimes end up taking way less than what I could have, because I was scared of being overloaded. That means more trips. If I had some sort of scales I would save money on underwear too. There's a permanent pucker mark on the seat of my truck from passing DOT and thinking to myself "am I really under?".


I checked out the vanweigh thing, $5k fitted. I'm looking to spend less than a grand and I'm guessing there's something out there.

Shaun

 

[BC WetCoast]

Not sure what you are looking to spend, but a quick web search showed some wheel scales (think bathroom scales on steroids), the kind that you drive each wheel on, for about $1500 Cdn.

Netweigh - Portable Car and Truck Scales

 

[imagineero]

We have those drive on kind too, I guess that would work, but to be honest I couldn't see myself using them very often just because of the extra hassle. I want something in the cab with a display that shows me what I've got on. I'll keep looking around.

Shaun

 

[RAG66]

I say save your money unless you are a frequent trooper, DOT, police target. I went through the weigh station about 4 years back, pulled over twice for inspection. First one was the full list, fire extinguisher, seat belt, first aid kit, light lens. Mostly petty details that do not impact actual vehicular safety. I got a " fix it & prove it" card. The second the officer "advised" me to have my registration signed... I did so in his presence. I told him I felt as if I should paint my truck so it looked better and maybe they wouldn't pull me over as much. He gave me the party line "we do not judge a truck by what it looks like". BS!!! I have not been pulled over since I painted it!!! Stay out of the public eye, make double sure your safety is is taken care of and save your money....