Is it true ?

Tiny

Well-known member
My former Boss believed that good paint and good tires would prevent troubles at the scale house . I heard him say once that if the truck looks good and tries were good that they would green light you and grab the one that didn't look like it was kept up .

Even the worst truck in the fleet had good paint . Any one else think this way??
 

willie59

Administrator
Staff member
I can understand the logic, "DOT will most likely scrutinize a beverly hillbilly's wagon before they will a tidy kit". But then, we're not inside the head of their procedures. Most likely they have "profile" criteria, but they also likely do stuff at random.

I'll give you another quirk, the southbound 1-81 scales, about 50 miles NE of me, our driver has been through those scales a number of times with the T800 and our 3 axle lowboy. Every time he has rolled through that scale empty with the rear trailer axle down, they pull him through the scale lane to give him a look over. Whenever he rolls through empty with the 3rd axle up, they direct him to the pass through lane. In both cases he's rolling empty on the trailer.
 
I dont think the paint would help much. They know an old truck when they see it. I would think they would more concerned if the truck was smoking, too stinky or noisy ETC.

JMHO

TH
 

Truck Shop

Well-known member
I know this is a very old thread but----------------A guy that I knew some years ago who was an owner operator quit the trucking biz and got a job with
Washington St DOT. He started at the Bull Frog scale at Cle Elum I-90 then became weigh master at I-90 port of entry Spokane. I remember him
telling me a good candidate for a red light was papers across the dash, that person is unorganized. Three tires low on tread that don't match. Filthy
and windshield hasn't been washed in days. Bent bumpers and leaning stacks. Or any of these in combination. Cracked fiberglass, bent fairings and
The name and weights on the cab are mailbox lettering .

Truck Shop
 

bam1968

Member
Here is one example that is related to this topic . One night I had some time to kill while waiting to meet up with one of our other trucks. He was a rookie driver and I was asked to "show him the ropes' so to speak. Anyway, I was getting my cattle trailer washed out in the middle of nebraska and since I had plenty of time I had them wash the outside as well. When the other driver finally showed up we headed west. Basically two empty cattle trucks with the same company. We got to the North Platte scales and they green lighted him and had me pull into the inspection shed. I was lucky enough to get stickers for both the truck and trailer. But my curiosity got the best of me and asked the DOT officer why he picked me and not our other truck. He said when he saw me pull on the scale all nice and shiny that he knew I would be an easy inspection. The other truck wasn't filthy by any means but had some road grime on it. As i said that i was lucky enough to get 2 stickers but as we all know basically anything can happen at anytime that could have caused him to put me out of service no matter how clean and shiny it was.
 
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Truck Shop

Well-known member
I will agree with part of that but DOT inspectors have two types of vehicles they don't like to inspect. One is a cattle truck- the stink and the fact
that something might leak through the deck on to them. The other is apiary or bee:avid trucks. A truck with netted hives almost always gets a pass.
If it is hot weather and DOT red lights one there is a good chance those bees will swarm.:badi

Truck Shop
 

Longhood

Well-known member
About 30 years ago I used to steer an old mack pulling a even older end dump for a demolition operation, the Mack looked half decent, just not shiny, but washed when it needed it. the trailer looked rough, demolition trailers do. Got red lit at a scale, An older experienced DOT and a fresh rookie came out of the coop, the older guy came over, looked at my papers and grinned, when he saw the rookie come back with a creeper and his ticket book, The "kid" was out for tickets, but the experienced hand said , leave the creeper , look at the slacks, they are clean , the tractor tires are even tread, the lights all work. there are no shiny demo trucks.
Actually I have found that DOT guys seem to have an extra sense about junkers, they often stop the too shiny rigs, and the never washed ones most, they seem to leave lowbeds alone unless they are obviously wrong.
 
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