It's a Team's Life
Teeter Totter
For those of you who have been doing this awhile you all ready know the following and you are able to slide weight without thinking about it. There are a lot more things to consider when sliding weight in a trailer than I have listed. I am just hitting the tip of the ice burg.
We often stop when a solo driver is sliding their trailer axles to shift weight. It is surprising how often drivers are confused on which way to slide the axles to shift weight. I have always memorized which way to go and always take a second to think about it such as I would to unthread a hose. You know righty tighty lefty loosey.
Well when talking with a flat bed driver about this issue he said think of a teeter-totter. The light bulb when off in my head; "duh" why had I not thought of this simple concept? What an easy way to remember which way to slide the tandems.
Then we moved on to adjusting the 5th wheel to move weight. Note the 5th wheel does not move weight on the trailer tandems. The 5th wheel only moves weight from the drives to the steers. Forward, more weight on steers back more weight on drives.
Same principle on a straight truck moves the freight to the front of the box and the weight goes to the steering axle. Our truck has a very heavy front end so we always load our freight to the back of the truck. Sometimes we have a problem with forklift drivers wanting to set freight to the front of the box, so Bob leaves a load bar set up in the middle of the box to stop this.
We very seldom haul much weight; we are usually hauling a LOT of sailboat fuel. As long as the load is at the back of the truck there is no worries when crossing a scale.
We will continue to stop and help a driver when sliding the
tandems on the trailer as it is sure a lot easier when someone is moving the
truck and another is watching the pin holes.
It is up to the driver of the truck to say how much they want to slide
as it is their load but for a new driver the teeter-totter reminder will come in useful.
Bob & Linda Caffee
TeamCaffee

Saint Louis MO
Expediters 8 years been out here on the road 13 years
Expediting isn't just trucking, it's a lifestyle; 

Expediting isn't just a lifestyle, it's an adventure;

Expediting isn't just an adventure, it's a job;

Expediting isn't just a job, it's a business.