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Hammerhead

(08-08-2019 )Chamberpains Wrote: I'll be making a copy of that for quick access in the truck. I've always hated using the center lights as the center point of a trailer. Sliding axles and tandems move the center point. So that light is useless.

Here's another question. How do you figure the center of gravity of a drive on piece of machinery or non crane loaded piece? That has always been a huge guessing game to me. I use measuring the center of lifting hooks if they are available. But do you have any tricks on non conventional pieces? Any crane operators that may have a trick or 2?

For RORO (Roll On-Roll Off) equipmenot, if it's tracked and you're loading it on an RGN, watch where it breaks over back to level, that's it's C/G. If you're self loading, stop as soon as it breaks and get out and Mark it with a sharpie. I do this ALL the time on unknown stuff. If it's something with a boom (excavator), try and have the boom/stick in the approximate transport position for more accurate results.

For wheeled equipment, some mfgrs list the tare axle weights of machines on their websites. From there, it's just the same math backwards. The heavy axle is how much % of the machine and that percentage measurement of the w/b will give you it's C/G.
If it's a machine you will haul regularly, knowing you're tare axle weights, your loaded axle weights and using the formula you can actually find it that way, it's a little longer, but if you do a lot of them, it may be worth knowing.

For crane stuff, if it's a single crane that's easy. The C/G ALWAYS runs through the cable line of the crane. Doesn't matter if they're using different length of slings or a spreader bar, the C/G by the Laws of Physics MUST be in line with the cranes cable line.
If it's dual crane lifts, then we're back to math. All cranes "should" have and on board lift scale. They're not accurate, but they're good enough to calculate C/G, because we're looking for percentage, not exact weights. Get each cranes load weight, calculate percentages, and then instead of w/b, measure % of pick points. Pick points are the exact same concept of w/b, except they're hanging instead of sitting.

I have a Book of Knowledge , and I keeps notes of everything. It's a big binder with almost every load I've ever hauled. I have configuration drawing blanks, and then I draw on them and note everything including measurements. It's a binder with about 20 category dividers, so I can find something right quick. I can repeat a load I haven't seen or hauled in 10yrs because I have the info. When I sell my trailer, the guy that buys it is gonna look like a rockstar if he follows the Book, cause the learnig curve will be flattened for him.