 |
 | Home | Contact Us | FAQ | Search & Site Map | Link to Us |
 | Sign In | Join | Other 45 Sites in Network |
Car Forum / Driving, Maintenance, Tuning / Maintenance and Repair / September 2006Strange double-width tires on a semi?
I recently saw a semi (tractor-trailer) with tires like I've never see before. They were similar to what you might see on the front axle of a cement truck. Except these were even wider and they were on the *rear* axles. So it had just 4 big fat single tires where normally it would have pairs of dual skinny tires. IIRC this was on the rear axles of the tractor only and the trailer had the normal dual skinny tires. It looked really cool and I've never seen that before or since! I was wondering if anyone here could identify what I saw. > I recently saw a semi (tractor-trailer) with tires like I've never see > before. [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > It looked really cool and I've never seen that before or since! I was > wondering if anyone here could identify what I saw. "Wide-base" "Super-single" "X-1" (Michelin doesn't like the other names) You speak Czech? Didn't think so. Couple of nice pics, though. http://www.tiscali.cz/auto/auto_center_040226.705062.html > > I recently saw a semi (tractor-trailer) with tires like I've never see > > before. [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > Couple of nice pics, though. > http://www.tiscali.cz/auto/auto_center_040226.705062.html Cool! toronado455 Wrote: > I recently saw a semi (tractor-trailer) with tires like I've never see > before. [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > It looked really cool and I've never seen that before or since! I was > wondering if anyone here could identify what I saw. I think I know what you are talking about...they use those in some certain applications where the small footprint of a standard profile tire would place too much strain on the surface or cause them to sink in to a soft surface (sand, etc)..I've seen them ever now and then around certain places, like once in arizona at a salt mining facility I saw some, they were able to drive around easily on the loose and crusty ground at the site....my own semi was wallowing and trying to get stuck the whole time... To help understand, I'd need to know where you saw it (Highway? Street? Off-Road/Building site?) and what kind of trailer (if any) it was hooked to...I'm guessing it didn't have a trailer on it, or you probably wouldn't have noticed the tires on the drive tandems, the trailer usually obscurs them unless turning a corner or something.... I've seen some semi side-dump trailer rigs used at landfills that had tires like that too, come to think....  Signaturejeffcoslacker http://www.automotiveforums.com > toronado455 Wrote: > > I recently saw a semi (tractor-trailer) with tires like I've never see [quoted text clipped - 34 lines] > > http://www.automotiveforums.com This was on the highway. At the time I was stuck in stop-and-go evening rush-hour traffic on a freeway in the Los Angeles area. The truck was in the lane right next to me and I was able to get a good look. The wide rims and tires were so awesome and unusual looking that it really caught my attention. Unfortunately my memory of the trailer is vague so I can't tell you what sort of trailer it was. > I recently saw a semi (tractor-trailer) with tires like I've never see > before. [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > It looked really cool and I've never seen that before or since! I was > wondering if anyone here could identify what I saw. this is a new tire that is slowly being phased-in as part of the push for fuel economy. we are able to build a single tire that can handle the load of two tires previously. What does that do in the event of a tire blowout? I always see chunks of tractor tire all over the highway. I'd presume the cops will be harder on tire condition inspections. ed Wrote: > What does that do in the event of a tire blowout? > I always see chunks of tractor tire all over the highway. > I'd presume the cops will be harder on tire condition inspections. Tire construction is getting better...it's much less common to have a tire blow out that it was in years past...the slabs you see are usually recap that has seperated from the tire...most good trucking companies don't use recap tires anymore...it's just good business in that it's safer and causes less downtime of equipment due to failure...O/O's will use them because new tires are godawful expensive and with fuel prices and taxes, they are getting killed on several fronts... Anyway, redundancy is nice, but becomes less neccessary as equipment improves...just the same as how new aircraft now all have 2 engines, where in the past it was three and four...output and reliability are better now, no sense feeding and lugging around an extra engine you don't need anymore... Signaturejeffcoslacker http://www.automotiveforums.com http://www.truckinginfo.com/news/news-print.asp?news_id=35755 > ed Wrote: > > What does that do in the event of a tire blowout? [quoted text clipped - 22 lines] > > http://www.automotiveforums.com > http://www.truckinginfo.com/news/news-print.asp?news_id=35755 Interesting article, thanks for posting! http://www.truckinginfo.com/news/news-print.asp?news_id=35755 > ed Wrote: > > What does that do in the event of a tire blowout? [quoted text clipped - 22 lines] > > http://www.automotiveforums.com willy Wrote: > http://www.truckinginfo.com/news/news-print.asp?news_id=35755 > [quoted text clipped - 30 lines] > > > > 'http://www.automotiveforums.com' (http://www.automotiveforums.com) Sounds good. I wonder how bad they'll squirm when running over pavement thats been rutted badly by tandems? Seems like it would put a helluva lotta stress on the wide tire...try to stretch it and rip it apart...those things must be very well-made... If you've never driven 18 wheels over rutted highway, it feels like you just ran onto 6 inches of grease on the road....the whole truck begins to snake around and the steering won't react right...if you panic and try to control it, you'll end up flopping the truck on it's side. If you just relax and let it find it's groove, and just barely guide it with gentle inputs, it's fine....'bout gives you a damn coronary the first time you experience it..:lol: ..there's a nice stretch of ruts along I-80 near Lincoln Nebraska that I always hated...:eek: Signaturejeffcoslacker http://www.automotiveforums.com jeffcoslacker <jeffcoslacker.2dd0kt@no-mx.nodomain.com> wrote in article > ed Wrote: > > What does that do in the event of a tire blowout? [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > tire blow out that it was in years past...the slabs you see are usually > recap that has seperated from the tire... I invited a tire engineer to address my Vocational Automotive class several years ago when I worked as an automotive teacher, and he told us that Ohio State (might have been University of Ohio, but it was an Ohio school, IIRC) had done a project collecting the "alligatores" from the side of highways, and they discovered that MORE than half of the blown tires were, in fact, new, non-recapped tires. Underinflation is the major cause of death for truck tires - both new and recapped. > most good trucking companies don't use recap tires anymore...it's just good > business in that it's > safer and causes less downtime of equipment due to failure...O/O's will > use them because new tires are godawful expensive and with fuel prices > and taxes, they are getting killed on several fronts... Most Over The Road and local truck fleets, Owner/Operators, and heavy equipment operators are using NEW tires these days because they cannot BUY recaps.....for ANY amount of money. Recent issues of Tire Business magazine have addressed the dearth of recappable casings for OTR and Off-Road recaps. The shortage has actually put a few marginal "big tire" recappers out of business. This has become a VERY expensive issue for those who operate in extreme conditions - such as rock quarries where tires are often destroyed. Even with major casing repairs to keep the tires in service, it is very expensive to put new tires on certain trucks, but there often is little choice. Tire Business is a Crain Communications publication... >> I recently saw a semi (tractor-trailer) with tires like I've never see >> before. [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > we are able to build a single tire that can handle the load of two > tires previously. Saw a tire like that when I was getting a new front tire on my truck. Fortunately, I'd read this tread so I recognized what it was, and it even made my 385's look small. :-) Unfortunately I don't remember the load rating. The 385's are rated for 4250 kg each which is a bit on the low side. Especially since the front axle is rated for 9000kg which it is often load to too. The drive axle is rated for 13000kg and that's 6500kg per tire if there are only two... http://i5.tinypic.com/2wezbk1.jpg (445 mm width) Ulf > I recently saw a semi (tractor-trailer) with tires like I've never see > before. [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > It looked really cool and I've never seen that before or since! I was > wondering if anyone here could identify what I saw. Those have been around in certain applications for decades. Almost all gasoline delivery tankers use them on the axles of the trailer, for example. Many use them on the rear axles of the tractor as well. I'm not sure of all the reasoning, but presumably they do a lot less "scrubbing" damage to parking lots when the truck has to make very tight turns than duallie wheels would. |
Reply to this Message |
 Sign In
 Join
 My Latest Posts My Monitored Threads My Blog My Photo Gallery My Profile My Homepage Start New Thread Enable EMail Alerts Rate this Thread
|
©2008 Advenet LLC Privacy Policy - Terms of Use
This website includes both content owned or controlled by Advenet as well as content owned or controlled by third parties.