Larry said:
30,000 gal seems a bit high for any state to allow. You're looking at
180,000 pounds of fuel ! Generally, 80,000 pounds gross is the highway
limit. With the rig (semi tanker) at 27 to 30K that leaves you with the
7500 gal +/- capacity, depending on temp and load balance. You have to
distribute the weight correctly across all axles.
Larry,
When I lived in the Detroit area, over that 12 year span there were
several accidents on the freeways involving the double tankers that
reportedly carried 30-40k gallons of fuel. When they lit off it made a
very big fire for a long time. You can see that these tankers are much
larger than those used in other states, they are more of a vertical
oval, like so " 0 ", using the added height to carry more. I was amazed
the first time that I saw one, there are 42 tires on the ground, with
only the steering axle having 2 tires, with 10 axles of 4 tires each.
They look like a caterpillar worm with wheels. I've seen the same axle
setup on lowboy trailers that carried steel and I saw one that had the
center section of a M1-A1 tank. Even with all that support those
trailers were bowed in the middle.
Another innovation of such a heavy industrialized state was the longer
length. There were semi trucks with 3 full sized trailers on behind
them. They would only run the interstate with the long rigs. UPS was
one company that used them a lot.
add up these weights...
the Mich statutes say:
MVC 257.722
Maximum loads shall not exceed the number of pounds in the following
provisions:
* 18,000 pounds on an axle with at least 9 feet of spacing on each side
NOTE: Weight can not exceed 700 pounds per inch of the width of
the tire ("width" means as published by the manufacturer)
* 13,000 pounds per axle when axle spacing is less than 9 feet
between two axles but more than 3.5 feet
* Axles less than 3.5 feet apart shall not exceed 9,000 pounds per axle
Kevin
