Last week I had a run to Tete Du Fromage, Wisconsin. Just down the road from my delivery was a driving school owned by a major trucking company. In the short distance from my delivery back to the highway, I saw FOUR of that company's vehicles with the tandems (trailer axles) slid all the way back.
For those of you not involved in trucking, the legal maximum wheelbase is 41 feet from the kingpin (engages the 5th wheel) to the center of the trailer axle group (except for California, where the maximum is 40 feet from the kingpin to the last axle - as the Gatlin Brothers said, "It don't matter at all where you've played before, California's a brand new game"). On a 53 foot trailer, having the axles all the way back puts you WELL over the limit. Even with a 48 (i.e. they had passed older equipment on to the school), you're pushing things. For a DRIVING SCHOOL to be operating equipment with an illegal wheelbase is ridiculous. Considering the reputation of the company involved, however, it's sort of to be expected.
As for the title, they were operating Freightshakers, not Petes. Still, if you know your comic books, you'll probably get the (bad) pun on the name of the trucking company.
Note that my post from roughly a week ago (driver not knowing how to slide tandems) didn't involve the same company as this one.
For those of you not involved in trucking, the legal maximum wheelbase is 41 feet from the kingpin (engages the 5th wheel) to the center of the trailer axle group (except for California, where the maximum is 40 feet from the kingpin to the last axle - as the Gatlin Brothers said, "It don't matter at all where you've played before, California's a brand new game"). On a 53 foot trailer, having the axles all the way back puts you WELL over the limit. Even with a 48 (i.e. they had passed older equipment on to the school), you're pushing things. For a DRIVING SCHOOL to be operating equipment with an illegal wheelbase is ridiculous. Considering the reputation of the company involved, however, it's sort of to be expected.
As for the title, they were operating Freightshakers, not Petes. Still, if you know your comic books, you'll probably get the (bad) pun on the name of the trucking company.

Note that my post from roughly a week ago (driver not knowing how to slide tandems) didn't involve the same company as this one.
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