I'm late to this party, but I didn't see an answer that got to one of the big reasons for the large distance between a truck and trailer. There are laws about w

I'm late to this party, but I didn't see an answer that got to one of the big reasons for the large distance between a truck and trailer. There are laws about weight, specifically measurements called bridge and inner bridge. My father and grandfather spent a lot of time reading the laws and charts every time they'd build out a new truck or trailer to try and maximize what they could haul. More axels allows for more weight, that seems obvious, but more distance is required between the truck and trailer as well. It gets to be a really fun problem when one state wants a tongue/drawbar length of 28' and the neighboring state says that is too long and only wants 16'. What to do? Make the length adjustable and switch it over at the state line. The last and biggest combo they ran was over 100' long, 9 axels, 34 tires and hauled 80,000 pounds. I don't remember the gross weight.