As a scrap dealer, Claude Richard spends every day working with metal and machines. But his success depends on a human element: how effectively he and his workers manage their time and effort in the loading area.

“Most of our work involves scrap metal we crush on site, bail into 700 KG blocks, and haul to a shredder where it’s sold,” says Richard, owner of Limar Enterprises. “It’s our manpower running the loader and driving the truck. The more efficient we can be in the loading area, the faster we can get on the road to the metal buyer.”

It’s no simple feat. Limar hauls scrap metal in eight-axle B-train doubles: a three-axle lead trailer followed by a two-axle tag trailer. At 25 meters long and a maximum weight of 62,500 kilograms (approximately 137,000 pounds), it’s an efficient combination. But getting the weight balanced can be tricky. “Eighty percent of the places we load have a scale in the ground.

But that’s not the place to learn that we’re overweight on an axle group or have less payload than we’re allowed to carry,” Richard says.

Richard’s solution is to put axle weight readings in the hand of the loader operator. Last year, he installed Smart Scale, an inexpensive, accurate, wireless onboard scale for trucks, tractors and trailers with air suspensions.

Made by TruckWeight Smart Scale includes a sensor with an integrated antenna, and a handheld receiver. The sensor measures temperature and pressure changes in the air suspension or the strain in the axle and relays the data to the handheld receiver using a low-powered radio transmitter. 

A small computer in the receiver interprets the information and provides an axle weight and gross vehicle weight measurement that’s accurate to within 1% of gross vehicle weight. It produces readings once per minute, and every three seconds when the sensors detect the truck being loaded. The wireless receiver has a range of 150 metres.

“When the person running the loader can check the weight of the vehicle with the push of a button from the seat of his machine, he doesn’t need a second person there to check the weight on a gauge in the cab or on the side of the trailer,” says Richard. “With the handheld reader, he can check the weights himself and make adjustments as he’s doing the work while the driver is performing other jobs.”

Richard installed and calibrated the scale on each combination in about an hour with no special skills or tools. The weatherproof, shock resistant, and non-corrosive housing requires no regular maintenance, and the sensors are accurate in temperature extremes ranging from -40 C to 60 C  (-40 F to 158 F). For power, they use common AA Lithium batteries.

Onboard scales are gaining in popularity for two reasons, says Peter Panagapko, president of TruckWeight.  “To protect their infrastructure investments, jurisdictions are supplementing roadside scale houses with portable scales they can put anywhere. Enforcement is strict and the fines are steep,” he explains. “The second reason is the migration from mechanical suspensions to air-ride suspensions on vans, flat decks, logging trailers, and other trailers. Using the air system allows us to make reliable, highly accurate calculations of the weight on the axle.”

Unfortunately, the complexity and downtime associated with hardwiring onboard scales have made them expensive.

“That’s why we’re wireless,” Panagapko says. “The cost to equip a tractor and trailer with a Smart Scale is about half the cost of a hardwired scale when you factor in installation costs and downtime.” The simple, do-it-yourself installation lowers the cost of ownership and speeds up the return on investment.

For Richard, the real benefits are speed and efficiency in the loading zone.

Whether you haul scrap, general freight, asphalt, aggregates, steel, farm products, or lumber, the guy running the loader or lift-truck may know approximately how much freight to put on the trailer. But gut-feel, air gauges, and lift-truck scales are no assurance that the truck is within a couple hundred kilos of its rated capacity every time.

Richard says the TruckWeight Smart Scale helps his crew load with precision and maximum efficiency. Says Richard: “We used to get to a point during loading and say, ‘I think you’re OK.’

Now the loader operator can check his handheld unit and say, ‘I have room for another ton’ and put it on with confidence.”

At a time when the average highway tractor has more computing power than an Apollo-vintage lunar module, Dave Bicheno will remind you that trucking still is about moving the most payload over the road effciently and within the bounds of local weight laws.

Bicheno, of White Swan, Wash., hauls lumber and other flatbed loads throughout the Pacfic Northwest on a 40-foot and 22-foot maxi-set, topping out at 105,500 pounds GCW across seven axles.

"I make my profit in loading those thats right up to capacity," he says. "Eighty-five percent isn’t good enough. Ninety percent isn’t good enough. I’m looking for a 100-percent solution."

So is the mill where Bicheno picks up his lumber. Trucks aren’t allowed out of the gates unless the vehicle is close to capacity. 

At first, Jake Ubil didn’t believe it when a California Highway Patrol officer ordered his new 40-ton rotator out of service. “It’s the only rotator within a 60-mile radius of Sacramento,” Ubil says. “When there’s a big job to do around here, I’m ready to help. I want to be the first call.”

Ubil’s five-axle truck is a highly specialized piece of equipment, with the capacity to lift most any commercial truck, trailer, bus, or recreational vehicle. But six weeks after acquiring it, a misunderstanding with California Dept. of Transportation (Caltrans) officials threatened to put his company out of business.

California requires a permit to carry more than the state’s allowable gross weight limit, which Ubil’s wrecker does routinely when it moves a heavy truck or tractor-trailer. The state also requires a permit to operate a vehicle with a tare weight exceeding 62,000 pounds. Ubil’s wrecker weighs 68,000 pounds.

“I was told by a Caltrans official that one permit would cover both conditions,” Ubil says.

In fact, Ubil needed two separate permits or he could be fined up to $30,000. Furthermore, qualifying for the second permit would require an onboard scale that can accurately measure the weights on the truck’s two drive axles and two liftable axles.

Ubil considered a hardwired scale, but the scale’s manufacturer couldn’t guarantee that it would accurately measure the weights on the truck’s lift axles. “I had just started with the truck six weeks earlier,” he says. “I couldn’t afford to be uncertain about my weights. I had truck payments to make and a family to support.”

Ubil found another option: Smart Scale, an inexpensive, accurate, wireless onboard scale designed for trucks, tractors, and trailers equipped with an air suspension. Made by TruckWeight Smart Scale includes a sensor with an integrated antenna, DOT fittings for the vehicle’s air line, and a handheld receiver.

The sensor measures temperature and pressure changes in the air suspension and relays the data to the handheld unit using a low-powered radio transmitter. A small computer in the receiver interprets the information and provides an axle weight and gross vehicle weight measurement

that’s accurate to within 150 pounds. It produces readings once per minute, and every three seconds when the sensors detect the truck being loaded. The wireless receiver has a range of up to 500 feet.

Ubil installed three sensors and calibrated the Smart Scale himself in less than an hour with no special skills or tools. The weatherproof, shock resistant, and non-corrosive housing requires no regular maintenance and the sensors are accurate in temperature extremes ranging from -40 F to 158 F and use common AA batteries.

“I was worried about installing a scale that would put the truck in the shop for a long time or would require electrical connections that are vulnerable in a rough environment,” Ubil says.

“The Smart Scale was easy to get up and running and calibrate.”

When Ubil met with Caltrans officers to qualify for his special permit, the Smart Scale was within 20 to 40 pounds of the state’s scale. “They were impressed with the accuracy of the scale, and with the fact that I really want to run legal,” Ubil says. Inspectors approved his permit and the wrecker was back on the road.

Serious about compliance

“Jurisdictions are serious about compliance with weight laws, and rightly so. They’re trying to protect infrastructure from the effects of overweight vehicles,” says Peter Panagapko, president of TruckWeight. “The fines are steep enough to take away your profit margin or even put you out of business.”

He says the wireless Smart Scale is an accurate, affordable way to make sure you’re not violating weight rules. The cost to equip a typical tractor and trailer with a Smart Scale is about half the cost of a hardwired scale when you factor in installation costs and downtime.

The wireless feature also can keep towing and recovery equipment operators out of the line of traffic or other hazards. “Drivers can monitor their weights from a safe vantage point,” Panagapko says. “They don’t have to put themselves in harm’s way trying to view a gauge.”

Ubil says the Smart Scale saved him from having to make expensive modifications to his truck in order to accommodate a hardwired onboard scale.

“The downtime alone would have cost me a boatload of money,” he says. “Now I know I’m legal. I can focus on helping other people get their equipment out of a jam and back on the road.”