Here's an Irish scania tag axle going uphill in snow, ice and mud with no snowchains and with little weight on the front of the trailer, note; no wheelspin, [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBwkoF2A4ps&feature=youtube_gdata_player[/ame]
I have no interest in running singles as of now, but I'm very interested in the pusher/tag setup. When you spec a pusher/tag setup, do you spec a 23K pound pusher axle so you can put more weight up front? Also, what is the weight savings of a pusher/tag setup? It's tough to much good info on it.
If tag axle trucks can handle these conditions with relative ease they can work anywhere : http://m.flickr.com/lightbox?id=3401694112
Tire wear is not the same because the torque isn't divided between two drive axles. I understand that normally the right rear does most of the driving on a twin screw however when you have 2 almost identical trucks except for the drive axles and one is harder on tires. (both were aligned after the last set of tires). Some of the traction issues are because of the tires, some claim the wide base singles are better but I strongly disagree. What's funny is the salesman I've bought trucks from for years (also the one that sold me the tag axle truck) is Irish with a VERY strong accent. He made the same claims as you guys are about how much better the single drive axle trucks are. I figured he was full of crap when I bought it but I wanted it for the empty weight. Lets just a gravel driveway is as far "off road" as this truck will ever go.
I wouldn't have supersingles on the drive either but you are wrong about tag axles, Nordic truckers only use rear lift tags for operation above the artic circle, doubles don't work up there, I drive a twin screw scania on heavy haulage and I can tell you on ice they are not as good as a tag, I used have a rear lift steerable tag and it was a fabulous thing, much better in slippery conditions, the twin screw is not as safe in the wet or ice it tends to understeer or slide alot more, our company also has a tag axle r620 and it's a far nicer drive than the twin screw, I don't know what was wrong with yours but honestly I never had problems like you, could your suspension have been set up wrong? Maybe the weight transfer wasn't working properly?
what kind of ET your rims for super singles have do you notice on high speeds-large distances any problems with bearings
Et? Nope no bearing problems but they help steering joints n stuff over our rough roads cos they run smoother, never had them on drive axles so I would know how they effect the truck in that regard