Drivers Advised To Use Caution As Sugar Beet Trucks Head To Processing Plants

[kscarbel2]

WSGW  /  August 22, 2018

Motorists can expect to see more big trucks on the road with the opening of the annual sugar beet harvest.

Farmers across the 13 county area around the Great Lakes Bay Region started to harvest their crop Sunday and are taking the beets to Michigan Sugar processing plants in Bay City, Caro and Sebewaing.

Drivers should remember to allow the truck extra room as drivers need to make wide turns at corners. Safety experts say when trying to pass one of these sugar beet trucks, if you can’t see the truck’s outside rear view mirror, the truck driver can not see you. Drivers need to drive with care around farm fields too as trucks coming out of a field may leave dirt and mud on the road.

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[MACKS]

That's a lot of rubber on the road..

[Dirtymilkman]

On the road for 1 month......polish it for the other 11. 

 

[BGarofalo]

That thing must destroy tires. Or maybe at every turn you wait 3 min for all 45 lift axles to come up... 

What kind of weight are they allowed to run? 

[Maxidyne]

32k pounds on drive tandem, 13k pounds per axle unless it's 9' or more from the next axle in which case it's allowed 18k, maximum of 11 axles. That rig is the simplest configuration and theoretically good for 154k, but I doubt they can load the front axle to the full 19k and as you imagine, it's hell on trailer tires. The better specced Michigan trains are B doubles or truck and trailer combinations with a few axles spread a bit and they can gross 160k or even 164k.