Mobile Truck Scales

[Gadrock]

At a recent logging event here in Mississippi I saw two sets of electronic scales for trucks, to be used in the woods or on a loading ramp.

We have had too many events of variation in wood weights that resulted in being severely overloaded. Have any of you any advice or experience in load cell technology or experiences like this?

David G


Carry on

[Grizzly]

I've run trucks that had load cells under the fifth wheel as well as under the log bunks. I don't remember brand name but after 2 or 3 loads of dialing in and getting fully calibrated we could load within a couple hundred pounds GVW and legal on all axles. On one unit I had just tractor and triaxle trailer, on another unit I had jeep and pole trailer behind tractor, and another one was what we call a Super-B up here. Two trailers behind one tractor all hook-ups are fifth wheel. All scales worked well once dialed in. And that is a key point. Get the empty unit on the scale and dial in your weights and then once loaded get on the scale again and dial in. The system needs to know those two reference points to gain any accuracy. That's my experience.

[CCC4]

I dont know much about them other than our drivers use them and really like them. They have the remote in the loader and when they are loaded they stop loading. One mill buys our pine and hardwood saw logs, sometimes when a unit is finished and not a load of anything left, they can split load by using their scales. The former Weyerhauser now owned by Canadian outfit will not set aside pine anymore if trucks come in overloaded...ya just lose it! Scales on the trucks eliminate this from happening. They are well worth the money from what I can see.

[treeslayer2003]

if you have air ride you can install a gauge in the plumbing. after some expeirementing you will know whats on your drive tandem.

[Gadrock]

Some of out truckers have air guage thingys that display a relative number to approximate a weight for a bogey. None of our guys have the same for rear bogeys.

What I am really wanting is some good info on an aparatus on the ground that the loader guy can use as he loads the trailer truck. Of course this is a relative thing as he would only be seeing what is on the main set of axles. The info on the rears set of axles will become evident when the truck pulls forward.

On most of our trucks the most weight is on the pull axles (2) and not the trailer axles (2). In other parts of the USA yall may have more exotic axle rigs than we do.

When our trucks are overweight the trucks must go elsewhere to offload some material and that vehicle cannot return for 12 hours. Recently the company has resorted to painting the trailer of wood with paint to make it obvious there has been a problem with that load.

David G


carry on

[Grizzly]

http://www.onboardscales.com/onboard-Logging-truck-Vulcan.html

http://www.farmtronics.com/products.php?cat=92

http://www.air-weighscales.com/Product/Display/loadmaxx-truck/

The three products listed above are the ones I have experience with. Possibly not exact brand names but method and mounting are the same.

With "Onboard scales" you mount the load cell in most appropriate position in regards to suspension type and must be calibrated. I had very good experience with this type as we were often loading on block road which was not very level and could still load to legal and max out payload. Through a whole winter of ice and salt only one minor wiring problem had to be fixed.

The other two products take a reading off of the air suspension and convert it to a numerical reading. Again it must be calibrated to be useful and I didn't find it to be quite as exact as the load cells but on a two trailer 8 axle outfit I could load within a couple hundred lbs.

I highly recommend you use a product of your choosing and make them save you time and money. One thing you mentioned is that the loader could know. In our situation all trucks were on a fm radio on haul channel and it was the driver who indicated to the loader where they wanted weight and when they were full. Driver stayed comfortably and safely within his cab and loader just did his job. Part of the reason for that is that as a commercial driver I am fully responsible for load weight and securement and us drivers needed to know where our weight was and then we could not throw blame on anyone else. We called for and received what we requested. Hope this is of some value.

I'm also Canajian and also from Saskaberia and some folks think we're frozen and a little behind the times!!   :D

[Gadrock]

Without a whole lot of experience I rely on what is going on around me. But to be a better logger I learn from others, many a far distance from me.
    Last week I got caught with a situation that ended up costing me about 1000 dollars. It has happened before. The prices I have seen on the internet had kits in the 8000.00 dollar range. That is a lot of money but repeated offenses can be costly. One main advantage is to max out loads for the trucks.

Thanks,
David Gaddis

Carry on