Can Heavier Axles/susp. Be Installed To Legally Increse Weight Rating?

[kentuckydiesel]

If someone buys a truck with axles lighter than what they need, can you install heavier axles and susension to legally increase the weight rating? What is the procedure for weight rating stickers to show the modification?

Thanks, Phillip

[Bollweevil]

A manufacturers GVW or axle rating is useful when spec-ing a vehicle for your particular purpose. Some truck owners over spec. to gain reliability. But an axle rating, or spring rating, has little or nothing to do with what you can legally carry. Example. On a 5 axle semi, You can legally gross 80,000 on the Interstate in the State of Ga. That"s 12,000 on the steer 34,000 0n the drive and 34,000 on the trailer. That's assuming that the rig is long enough to comply with the federal bridge law. We don't run tri axles in Ga, because the third axle is not recognized as a load bearing axle. with a tandem, we can legally gross 61,000, on state or county roads, if we can bridge it. You can run a tri-axle, if you don"t gross over 61,000. Now don"t turn around and tell me that that doesn't make any sense. The state doesn't want tri-axles tearing up the highway, and thats that. So, operators here spec their trucks as light as they can and still maintain reliability. Example, many, spec 34,000 rear axles with 38,000 hubs. Another Issue here, which is becoming more of an issue, is tire ratings. To go back a little bit, That 61.000 is broken down to 23,000 per axle. I don't know who would want to run 23,000 on the steering axle, but that's how it is figured. Federal law stipulates that you can not exceed the tire rating, so if you have 2 steer tires rated at 7,000, that gives you 14,000, and you still have to bridge it. You can find more than you want to know about the federal bridge law by doing a google search. If this isn't confusing enough, every state is not the same, every one is a little different

[Bollweevil]

Phillip, I got a little carried away, our 61.000 breaks down to 20,320 per axle instead of 23,000. a more recent development is this, when hauling aggregates, the gross weight can increase to 64,000 when delivery is made in the same county as you loaded in, or in the adjoining county. But you can't cross 2 county lines. thats where the 23,000 per axle on the tandem comes in, and you still have to bridge it. Figure that out. James

[David]

Did you know Georgia was orginally an English Penal Colony?

[mudslut28]

With those regs it sounds it...lmao.