# what objects did I see under a dump truck's wheels?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-objects-did-i-see-under-a-dump-trucks-wheels/421401>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 3, 2007, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-objects-did-i-see-under-a-dump-trucks-wheels/421401 "2007-10-03T16:33:31Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\
**Post date:** [October 3, 2007, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-objects-did-i-see-under-a-dump-trucks-wheels/421401/1 "2007-10-03T16:33:31Z")

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I was driving to work today, and a cop’s SUV was pulled over behind a dump truck.

The dump truck was a 10-wheeler, with double-wheels on the back, so 6 outside tires, total.

Right in front of each of the six outside wheels was an object. It was basically a metal plate, about 24 inches long, and 10 inches wide. It was flat for most of its length, and then the last 10 inches, was a “box”. It was about 3 inches high, and extended from side to side.

These weren’t chucks, placed to stop the truck from rolling. The objects were laid to the side, with the raised box outside the line of the tires. If the truck rolled forward, it just would have rolled over the plate part, and the plates were probably only 1/4" thick. Also, they had a shinier disk on the top of the box.

Any idea what these were? This was on the side of I-95.

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**Author:** ![Mr.Slant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Mr.Slant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Slant)\
**Post date:** [October 3, 2007, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-objects-did-i-see-under-a-dump-trucks-wheels/421401/2 "2007-10-03T16:41:39Z")

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Hmmm.  
The cop was using scales to make sure the garbage man wasn’t too full of trash.

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**Author:** ![pudytat72](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@pudytat72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pudytat72)\
**Post date:** [October 3, 2007, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-objects-did-i-see-under-a-dump-trucks-wheels/421401/3 "2007-10-03T16:44:29Z")

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my guess would be a truck axle scale to measure the weight of the trailer to see if it was overloaded. (trucks that are too heavy can damage the roadway.)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\
**Post date:** [October 3, 2007, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-objects-did-i-see-under-a-dump-trucks-wheels/421401/4 "2007-10-03T16:52:35Z")

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I was thinking they were some kind of scale.

They didn’t appear to have gauges on them though.

They looked quite distinct from sotmething like this

[http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.sperlescales.com/images/Truck\_scale.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.sperlescales.com/MSI%2520Load%2520Ranger%2520Wheel%2520Pads.htm&h=304&w=375&sz=19&hl=en&start=18&sig2=TSvLu0dwXZ8ufEjB50mZmw&um=1&tbnid=IYi9f3NmCD7krM:&tbnh=99&tbnw=122&ei=F8gDR5X6EKe6gALO6cn2Cw&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dtruck%2Bscale%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26sa%3DG](http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.sperlescales.com/images/Truck_scale.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.sperlescales.com/MSI%2520Load%2520Ranger%2520Wheel%2520Pads.htm&h=304&w=375&sz=19&hl=en&start=18&sig2=TSvLu0dwXZ8ufEjB50mZmw&um=1&tbnid=IYi9f3NmCD7krM:&tbnh=99&tbnw=122&ei=F8gDR5X6EKe6gALO6cn2Cw&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dtruck%2Bscale%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26sa%3DG)