we need drivers in northern bc

74, Was Red McIssac the GM at that time? Or Walker?

 

9axle trucks are easy to drive and reverse with practice, I've been driving the over here for about 8 years and carry on average about 60 - 68 tonne per trip. But at times you have a bad day when trying to back them into a finger dock

 

I am on the Stewart-Cassiar Highway weekly and I feel my observations may be useful to this thread.

The Maple Leaf trucks consist of a 5 axle trailer attached to a tri-drive tractor by a long drawbar on a pintle hitch. The front of the trailer has tandem axles and there is a tri-axle on the rear of the trailer. The trailer brake lines are jerry-rigged to the tractor with a tarp strap. The conventional 9 axle setup in western Canada is a B-train with lift axles, which handles reasonably well on snow and ice.

Maple Leaf carries 8.800 kilograms more than the British Columbia maximum weight for highway trucks. The Maple Leaf trucks accumulate about 1000 kilograms of snow and ice while moving on the Stewart-Cassiar and Campbell Highways, bringing the Maple Leaf gross vehicle weight to 73,300 kilograms (161,000 lbs).

The Stewart-Cassiar Highway is mountainous, narrow and snow-covered all winter long. The south end of the Stewart-Cassiar Highway is in the snowy coastal temperate rainforest at the bottom of the Alaska panhandle. The north end of the highway is in the cold part of the Yukon. The Stewart-Cassiar Highway is not dangerous if driven according to the conditions, with common sense. Then there is Maple Leaf.

Maple Leaf seems to be causing a lot of trouble on the Stewart-Cassiar Highway. I myself had a brush with death courtesy of a Maple Leaf driver speeding on the wrong side of the road. It is plain to see that the Maple Leaf bosses have intentionally hired some Super-Truckers and are encouraging them to drive fast (Maple Leaf drivers are paid by the mile). Judging by the type of single-vehicle crashes that Maple leaf is having, the Maple Leaf tractor-trailer combination may not be tolerant of Super-Trucking. The tail can wag the dog. The extra-wide-profile Maple Leaf steering tires (7500 kg cement truck tires) easily lose traction on snow and ice. The result appears to be trailers that break free and rolled tractors (yet another two weeks ago).

 

So - I thought I'd look up on google where this place is. I would be the first to admit - I don't think I'd have the skills for
this type of driving. The scenery is beautiful, but I gotta admit - the money just isn't worth it.

 

Why do they have extra-wide-profile steering tires? What is the reasoning for using them? Any tire that easily loses traction should not even be allowed to be sold.

 

they are used for higher weight steer axles, like 18,000lb, 20,000lb axles. You need a tire that handles the weight with the axle load.
Being wider, they tend to hydro plane or float ontop of snow and water.

 

Thanks, used for added weight, not safety. When did these two things become opposites? I think the motoring public deserves better, not to mention the person who has drive a truck with these tires. I better leave this thread, this subject makes me grouchy .

 

karhaulr is right. They are otherwise known as 'flotation tires'. If you are hauling the kind of weights mentioned above, you need a heavy spec steer axle and the appropiate axles and tires from there back. Tire specs are measured in many ways from how many plies they are, to how wide they are (milimeters) etc etc. Wide tires like that are amazing in snow and mud IF you're going slow enough for your chains to bite !!

 

I run them on my 9 axle and there have been some pucker moments for sure.....

 

um, no

crazy talk

look at the bright side, theyre not goin in the lake anymore