First load into California. Where to set the tandems?

What manufacturer of trailer are you pulling??.. Are you pulling a Wabash trailer or great Dane trailer?.. Reason I ask is because both of those trailer manufacturers have different pin settings for the California bridge.

 

Measure 10 feet from the rear of the trailer.
Or, 40 feet from the kingpin.

Then set your tandems so the center of the rear axle is at that point, or forward of it

 

Wooping, I do hope you set you tandom right and get it weighed right BEFORE you leave the shipper... If you leave and later try to adjust them near CA and your overweight your gonna get a BIG boot from your DM/fleet manager. Like Moosetek said is the best way. Measure 10 feet from the rear of the trailor to the center of the 5th axle (California LAW) Usually on Wabash its the 6th hole from the front of the rails. Do count the covered holes.

 

Many times, I will just move them all the way up and then weigh. If legal, then good to go.

 

Picked one off the Phoenix yard last week came from Virginia with tandems to the rear to make it legal, destination CA but dropped at Phoenix. I counted about 7 scale receipts, still had to take it to have some product removed before delivering into CA. Weigh that load set at 40 right from the get go. I was able to read all the notes from the dispatch screen, all sorts of excuses even from terminal gates along the way who let the load go in and out knowing it was over weight for CA.

 

I would certainly weigh it for your axles to be balanced, if you roll a scale and are over on a axle, your fine may not make you worry about getting it to Ca. But like they said, I would measure it from the back of the trailer to the 5th or very rear axle. Good Luck!. To get you set up correctly find a driver that has time to help you move the pins. Good Luck.

 

Somebody screwed up and someone is going to get a stern talking to, including PHX who let the driver drop it without weighing it there. If it was inspected in the fuel lanes in PHX, they should have seen the tandems all the way back, made him move them right there, then get it weighed.

 

What they should do (really shouldn't have to with professional drivers) is any load going to California will not accept a Macro 2 without first a Macro 50 much like HazMat loads will not accept Macro 2 until the driver calls the HazMat Hotline.

 

Ummm, 9' 6" pulled from the back of the trailer is the 41' mark.
So 40 ' would be.... 10' 6" - not 10'.
And yes, you should have a tape measure in your tool box