Glad you brought that up, Mark.  I knew of it, but had never thought to mention it myself.

Terry

Jim, when the guy I mentioned in the previous post reweighed without setting the brake it dropped his steer axle weight from over 13000 to about 11000. Illegal to legal, although he was never illegal. He said his trailer weight didn't change much so the bind was between the steers and drives.

For several weeks he has had problems with weight. Not always were his problems technique. I kept a copy of his weight slip for 99,340 pounds. Since the max is 80,000 we explained that we aren't the post office... If it fits, it doesn't necessarily ship. Anyway, today when he told me what his axle weights were I explained that there was no way he could have those axle weights. It was physically impossible. That's when I asked if he was weighing with his brakes set. And the rest is history.

Mark:

The CAT scales don’t have this issue I’ll mention below because you can call the weight desk and then they initiate weighing.

However, I’ve been on scales that are “automatic.” No operator.  You pull on and get a light – they weight.  But sometimes they weigh too soon.  I got a reading once – had to go around and get them to do it again – that was impossible and it was important I get this first one correct.  I know the rig (5er with pickup) was “rocking” a bit when they took it according to the lights as I applied the brakes to stop and was getting them released for the weighing.

You’ve got a lot more recent experience and may comment.  But I really prefer CAT scales as they allow you to get the rig “settled” so to speak before they take a weight and have the brakes off or at least the truck in "park" which just locks the drive wheels.