I am thinking about putting a air gauge on my air ride suspension on my tractor and flat bed for measuring the weight. A few questions.
Has anyone on here done this?
Once you weigh your truck and trailer a couple times and calibrate the
gauges will they be accurate to say 500/1000 lbs?
Are the gauges glycerin filled or are there special gauges just for this?
Once you figure out your max weight reading on the gauge can you
figure out how much weight each line is below your max mark?
So if I had a frost law load and wanted to carry close to the legal
limit I would know that each line on the gauge is say 1000 lbs and
I could go down so many lines from the max reading and be good?
Would you buy the parts separately and make the mounting brackets
yourself or buy the pre made kits
And is this all worth it, once you get your brain all dialed in with the gauge
do you feel comfortable when the "little" word is flashing at the scale
house
Thanks for your help Mike

 

I know on a KW the air suspension gauge if it read 60lbs it was 34K on the drives. Most of the other trucks it is close to the same.

 

I have the right/weigh load scale on my century. After they install it and on the first load that is as close to max as you can get, calibrate it. You shouldn't need to calibrate it again but twice a year. Keep an eye on it though. I scaled for the first 5 or six loads I had just to make sure it was holding accuracy and because the trailers I pulled didn't have the right weigh on them. Unless you have a scale on the trailer. Some scales are oil filled and some are air filled. The scales are accurate but the dials are kinda small so the inaccuracy is in reading them. I calibrated mine about 250lbs heavy so that if it reads just a little over 34 I know that I am still legal. Err on the side of caution. On the right/weigh each line is 250lbs and it is marked at 4000lbs increments with numbers. Prime installed mine and it cost a whopping $150

 

I would just go to a parts store and get a couple liquid filled guages mount one by the air hoses on your tractor and one between the spread of your trailer. After you plumb them to the air lines that equalize the bags just weigh it a few times at the scale to find out what it should read on both. Make sure you weigh it empty and loaded that way you can check it when you're empty. The only thing you have to watch is that you're sitting on level ground and that your truck has full air pressure.

 

I used my suspension Gauge all the time-It won't give you a Perfect weight but after awhile you'll be able to figure out how close to actual you are.

 

Utility Trailer has a system that cost's $650.00 that is digital. The shop in Renton WA that installed the 3 we bought calibrated the system for us, and checked the units out after 3 month's of usage. We had 1 Pete 379 with a flatbed and 2 Century's with stepdecks. Worked great never once got an over-weight ticket..nor did we have to guess when loading Pipe and Steel. When we left the Dock or the Loadyard..we knew where we were at ###wise.

 

You should look into a real onboard load scale, not just a psi gauge. Our Right Weigh gauges look like your psi gauge, only they read in actual pounds (lbs) and calibrate for accuracy so you know you're legal on each axle group. Plus they are real simple to install and easy to use. :idea: