C or D ?

[blucolr]

Have a D truck with 22 foot box that is a little heavy to start with, and have added storage boxes, generator,satilite TV, co-driver (wife) and all the stuff she needs, making the 13,000 lb. max payload a "no-go". Have been turning down 12 - 13,000 lb. offers to be safe. Considering changing to C status and leave the license the same (33,000 gross) to be able to take the occasional 10 -11 K. load.
80% to 85% of the loads we have hauled are C loads anyway.
Have any of you made a similar move? how did it work out? Your input would be appreaciated.
Mike

 

[Dynamite 1]

stay a d unit if your co. does not hassle you. there are very few team trks with decent size sleepers that can scale 13,000 without the help of a lift axle. my 2000 fl70 with a 72" midroof sleeper weighed 19,200 with boxes and all our stuff. for that 13,000 payload the truck cant weigh over 19,000 and that is w/no play, if you can do between 10 and 11 you should not miss much. my trk. weighs 22,560 with only a single axle. my payload is 9500 and i have only lost a handful of loads this year, so i dont think you will miss much either. besides thats a cut in rate to go to a c so stay a d if they will let you

 

[Packmule]

I was a "D" unit for 8 months and had to drop back to a "C" unit because my truck is too heavy to scale 13K. I can comfortable scale 11,500#, but decided if was not worth the risk of being overloaded by the customer (because he was told I could carry 13K) and me find out at the scale house.
I was undecided weather to make a $8,000. investment in a tag axel or drop down to a C unit. Looking at my load history, 81% of all loads had been C loads. I had only turned down 3 loads durning this same period of loads in excess of 11K.
My unit is a 2001 year model in excellent condition and I plan to keep it at least another year. But doing the Math I could not see a return or even a break even on my $8,000. investment of a Tag axel.

I have run as a C unit for 3 months now and am very pleased with the results. I have not dropped in my income adverage at all.
Note: I have a set min. figure for my truck to run no matter what the load is. If the offer is below that...The wheels don't turn.

The loads are below 5K # = less strain on truck and better fuel economy.
I also seem to get out a lot faster as a C unit than a D. I have pulled into a truck stop with 4 D units waiting and got a load out almost as soon as we got in. Got some strange looks from other drivers as what they see is a D unit pulling out ahead of them...Hummmm???

All I can say is being a C works for me, cannot speak for anyone else.

Good Luck,
Dan

 

[Tennesseahawk]

My opinion, stay with D status. If you switch to C, you may not see the 10,000 lb loads. Because dispatching is such a high paced, high stress area, dispatchers tend to see the "C" on their screen, and not notice the ability to carry something heavier. That's alot of the reason a dual axle doesn't do much better than a standard D.

 

[TeamCaffee]

As a D unit we had the same problem and our carrier said as a D unit you have to be able to carry 13,000 lbs. We were turning down anything over 11,000 but if we got to the shipper and they wanted to up the weight of the load to 13,000 we would have had to say no to that load. That would have then been breaking our contract. Also after a time if you always turn down the heavy loads they will be asking why? We choose to have a lift axle added to our truck and we love it. We very seldom have to use it but we sure dont worry anymore about the weight issue. There does appear to be a trend that our D loads are getting heavier and wonder if some day they will want us to haul more then the 13,000 lbs.

 

[blucolr]

Thank's for the quick reply's! Many good and valid points to ponder.
Packmule, our situation sounds very similar to your's, same year and condition of truck as well as the expected length of time to run it before replacement. Thank's again to all!
Mike