Accuracy
Corrections
Report a wrong figure and it gets checked against the source the page used. Here is what makes a report easy to act on.
If something here is wrong, we want to know, and a report that names the page and the figure is enough to act on.
What helps most
- The page address and the specific figure or sentence.
- What it should say instead.
- Where that comes from: a manual, a standard, a regulation, or a plate on the machine. A photograph of the page or the plate is ideal.
- For anything machine-specific, the exact model and configuration it applies to. Capacity disagreements can involve different configurations; identify the serial range, attachments and measurement point before treating either figure as an error.
What happens next
- The report is checked against the source the page originally used.
- If the page is wrong, it is corrected and its review date changes.
- If both sources are defensible, the page is changed to show the disagreement and say which document says what. Conflicts are not resolved by choosing the more convenient value.
- If the correction is consequential, a figure someone could have acted on, the change is noted on the page rather than made silently.
Safety-relevant corrections are handled first, and a page whose safety-relevant figure is in doubt is taken down while it is resolved rather than left up with a caveat.
What we cannot do
We cannot diagnose a fault on your machine, recommend a repair, value a machine, or tell you whether a specific load is legal on your specific route. Those need someone looking at the machine or the route. What this site can do is give you the rule, the standard and the arithmetic so the conversation with a dealer, mechanic or state DOT starts from the right place.
How a figure gets checked
A useful measured-value report identifies the document, the table or passage, its revision and the configuration to which the value applies. Include the date you accessed it so a later revision can be distinguished. A correction report therefore starts from a specific claim in a specific source rather than from a general impression, which is why naming the page and the figure makes such a difference to how fast it is resolved.
Where a figure came from a standard or a regulation, the check is a re-read of the current text. Regulations are amended, and a page can be accurate on the date it was written and wrong two years later. Where it came from manufacturer documentation, the check is against the revision of that document, because manufacturers reissue manuals and change specifications between serial ranges.
When a report compares different configurations
One possible cause of a discrepancy is two different configurations of what is sold as the same model. Capacities in particular vary between a cab and an open station, between transmission options, and between serial ranges within a single model year.
That is not a wasted report. It usually means the page has failed to say clearly enough which configuration a figure applies to, which is a real defect even when the number is right. Such a report calls for a more specific configuration label, while a wrong value requires correction against the applicable document.
Reporting something unsafe
If a figure here could contribute to someone being hurt, a load rating, a securement requirement, a stability figure, anything with a stop condition attached, say so in the first line of the message. A safety-relevant report needs the exact source and configuration; a page whose safety-relevant figure is in doubt needs its value checked before anyone relies on it. Read the equipment documentation for the particular machine rather than treating a note on a reference page as clearance.