Cargo & Freight · Driver Training VideoAxle Weights & Scaling Loads

The three numbers that matter: eighty thousand pounds gross for the whole combination, twenty thousand pounds on any single axle, and thirty-four thousand pounds on a tandem axle group — steer axle, drive tandem, trailer tandem.

Here's the part drivers miss: the bridge formula can drop that tandem number even lower depending on axle spacing. Axles bunched close together carry less weight, legally, than axles spread further apart — the formula protects the bridge, not your invoice.

Scaling is not optional and it is not a guess. A CAT scale or platform scale reads three numbers, not one: steer, drive tandem, trailer tandem. Read all three before you pull back onto the highway.

Your steer axle has its own real limit, and it's usually lower than the twenty-thousand-pound legal max — check your tire rating, because that number is what actually fails first.

If a scale reading comes back wrong, fix it before you leave the lot: slide the tandems, slide the fifth wheel, or reposition the freight. Don't estimate and don't round in your favor.

Oversize and overweight freight has its own path: state permits, approved routes, and escorts where required. That process exists so a legitimately heavy load moves legally — it is never a shortcut around the axle limits on a normal load.

Your company standard: scale every load before it leaves the yard. Read all three axle groups every time — never just the total. Re-scale after any tandem slide or freight shift. And never guess a number you haven't seen printed on a ticket.