The Hidden Costs of Overweight Chip Trucks (And How to Avoid Them)
For a tree care crew, a full chip truck can feel like a productive chip truck. The more material your crew can haul in one trip, the fewer trips they have to make, allowing them to complete the job faster.
But your truck can only so much safely and legally, and you may reach that limit before the chip body looks full.
An overweight chip truck can lead to immediate fines and long-term costs, not to mention safety concerns and unexpected downtime that can result from an overloaded truck. Whether you’re managing an existing fleet or planning your next truck, knowing weight limits and how to stay within them can help you avoid these issues.
Understanding Chip Truck GVWR
Every truck has a Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR), the maximum allowable weight of the fully loaded vehicle as specified by the manufacturer. That includes the chassis and chip body, driver and passengers, fuel, tools and equipment, and the material being hauled.
A simple way to think about chip trick payload capacity is:
GVWR – operating weight = available payload capacity
That’s why chip body volume and payload capacity aren’t the same thing. A body may still have space available even though the truck has reached its GVWR.
GVWR isn’t the only weight rating to consider. Trucks also have ratings for individual axles, and applicable laws may also impose axel weight limits. A truck can therefore be within its GVWR while carrying too much weight on a particular axle, which is why load distribution also matters.
Chip Trucks Can Reach Their Weight Limits Quickly
it is important to consider the truck GVWR, chip body and expected operating load together. The operating load includes:
- Material being hauled
- Toolboxes
- Equipment
- Fuel
- Accessories
- Crew members
You can see how quickly that can add up. And it can change from day to day and load to load. One crew might spend the morning chipping branches from routine pruning and the afternoon removing a large tree. One job might include carrying wet chips, which can weigh considerably more than a similar volume of dry material.
When planning your chip truck, consider these factors and the different types of jobs you need to accommodate.
The Hidden Costs of an Overweight Chip Truck
Exceeding tree service truck weight limits can create costs that go well beyond an overweight citation. Some are immediate, while others can accumulate over time.
Commercial Truck Overweight Fines and Compliance Issues
The Federal Highway Administration data shows that weight violations result in hundreds of thousands of citations across commercial trucking each year. But it’s not just the cost of the citation. Depending on the jurisdiction and circumstances, the truck may have to be offloaded before it can continue. That can mean inspection delays, additional handling, and lost operating time.
Wear on the Truck
Loading a little more material to avoid another trip may seem more efficient, but consistently asking a truck to carry more weight than it was designed for can place additional stress on its tires, brakes, suspension and axels. That added strain can accelerate wear, increase maintenance, and potentially shorten component life.
Higher Fuel Consumption
More weight also takes additional energy to move. The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that reducing the weight of a line-haul truck by 1,000 pounds can improve fuel economy by about 0.4% to 1% on level terrain. While a tree service truck has a different duty cycle, this illustrates how routinely carrying unnecessary weight can increase fuel consumption over time.
Safety and Handling Concerns
An overloaded truck may not brake, steer, or handle and intended. That can be particularly dangerous for work trucks that encounter everything from highway traffic to hills, narrow residential streets, and changing road conditions. Staying within the appropriate weight limits helps ensure your chip truck operates as safely as possible.
How to Avoid Overloading Your Chip Truck
Avoiding overweight loads starts with proper chip truck configuration. When selecting a truck, make sure the chassis and chip body work together for the amount of material you need to haul. A larger chip body may provide more volume, but bigger isn’t better if the chassis doesn’t provide enough payload capacity to make practical use of that space.
Once the truck is in service, weigh it with different types of loads. Pay attention to axle weights as well as total vehicle weight. Use that information to establish practical guidelines for your crews. Drivers should understand the truck’s weight limits and know when to dump rather than add more material.
FAQs About Chip Truck Weight
How do I know if my chip truck is overweight?
The most reliable way is to weigh the truck under normal operating conditions and compare the results with applicable vehicle and axle weight limits. Remember that a truck can be within its overall weight limit while exceeding the limit on an individual axle.
Can a chip truck be overweight even if the body isn’t full?
Yes. Chip body volume and payload capacity are not the same thing. The weight of the truck, body, equipment, crew, and load all count toward the truck’s operating weight, so you may reach a weight limit before you run out of physical space in the body.
Can wet wood chips make a chip truck overweight?
Yes, they can. Moisture increases the weigh of wood chips, which means two loads that occupy a similar amount of space may weight differently. Crews shouldn’t rely on how full the chip body looks to determine whether the truck is within its weight limits.
Can a truck be under its GVWR but still be overweight?
Potentially, yes. Individual axles have weight ratings, and applicable laws may also establish axel weight limits. Improper load distribution and therefore create on overweight axle even when the truck’s total weight is within its overall limit.
How do I choose the right chip body for my truck?
Consider your chassis, available payload capacity, and how the truck will be used rather than choosing based on chip body volume alone. ARBORTECH® can help you evaluate your chassis and application to identify a chip body size and configuration suited to your operation.
Configure Your Chip Truck with ARBORTECH
ARBORTECH specializes in building high-quality truck bodies for tree care operations. With multiple chip body styles, sizes, and configurations available, our team can help you evaluate your chassis and application to select a body that delivers the capacity and functionality your operation needs without sacrificing weight considerations.
Request a quote from ARBORTECH to get started.