Proper way to drop n hook?

No he doesn't. He's been medically disqualified for more than a decade. He forgets that things have changed so he keeps talking present tense.

 

I hear you.

And don't you know it.

I am difficult to accept change when everyone tosses what worked for decades in favor for a few more dollars in savings. If this industry lives or dies on small tires to save a dollar then our margins are not adequate and rates are starving everyone. I see all this work to slap on money consuming pits to save 50 dollars a month or whatever a symptom of a larger problem. Probably the 1.15 freight we have heard rumors of.

I will grow used to the situation in time. It will be a while for me. I can see where a mega with 15000 trucks would save millions. But I don't really see it for another .6 miles to gallon if not a little more. Its been 50 years since we moved out of 5 miles to gallon to only about 8 or so miles to gallon. Amazing huh? The late model KW's dating to 2001 time period we used got over 7 many days as they were on 24.5 tires. Long legs too. If we slapped shorter tires on them, it would need changing everything else all the way to the engine.

 

My dad got a brand new cabover in 1980 with 22.5’s. Anyone in a weight sensitive operation is foolish to run big tires. Same as someone not needing a few extra inches of ground clearance. Why anyone would want or need 24.5’s pulling a box is beyond me.

 

If I was looking to replace my truck and pulled a box full time i certainly wouldn't write a truck off just because it was set up on tall rubber. Sure 24s cost a few bucks more each, but they also last longer.

 

Thats just the thing. Ignoring medical reefers and food reefers, I was flatbed or tanker or something else. Offroad. I cannot tell you how many times Ive gone offroad. Sometimes it seems that was all I did. Learned on it too. Ground clearance was good. Keeps all those fuel and airlines away from stuff you run over before you have a chance to do something about it. Even with that there were still days Ive tore stuff out. I forget the exact inches in clearance but it was plenty.

 

But pulling a box full time is one area where you could probably see a mpg gain by switching to 22.5’s unless the rear ended ratio is something funky. It’s just my opinion. I want my truck to be as light as practical and get the best mpg for what I’m doing.

I didn’t know you’ve dabbled in so many different areas. In my 23 years I’ve only done flatbed, livestock, and pneumatic. So that’s what my opinions are based on. Every truck I’ve owned had 22.5’s and I did a fair amount of off highway stuff hauling cattle and the truck and trailer were on 22.5’s.

 

Well, I reached the end of my thoughts in order on the 24.5 inch camp. I appreciate you and your thoughts on the 22.5 They can be compelling at times. I just have nothing further that would make any sense in our talk about the issue of low and high tires. Ive done many things, some I hated in life and others I enjoyed. the main thing for me personally was I did what I wanted even if others disapproved time to time. My life is rather unique in this world and means nothing against the overall universe that continues to do what it does.

I understand there will be at least one generation if not more of evolution in areo which may put us eventually close to 10. However I feel that we will have to give up so much for that. Maybe too much. Its not worth it. Without a seminal change in the way this industry charges rates, (I don't mind paying more for my apples as long I can get them...) pays their drivers and so forth.

I doth talk too much sometimes. I just don't have anything right this moment that will fight for the 24.5 camp.

 

The difference in rolling resistance between 22.5lp and 11r24.5 is extremely small. Assuming if course you are comparing identical tire models. Don't take my word for it, check Michelin's online rolling resistance tool.

 

Last time I messed with that it only let you select a tire, not size.

Like I said, just my preference. In a company full of trucks that can only load 24 ton I can load 25. I like to be low and light. 24.5’s to 22.5’s is probably 4-500 pounds give or take. I like to buy trucks that are kind of what I want and then make them exactly what I want because I’ve never had the chance to buy new. The truck I have now was a 4 axle and before I even picked it up I knew in my head how it was going to look when I took the axle off. So to me buying a truck and running it as it was because that’s how it was is foreign to me. I’d rather spend the money to change it. And if you’re pulling a box why not change to the same size tires as what most of the people probably have that you’re dropping and hooking with? It would save a lot of the headache that this thread is about it sounds like to me.

 

Yeah, all this talk about leaving the legs up an inch and dropping the air. It gets boring. So from now on, I'm just gonna lower the legs until they're about 3 inches off the ground, pull the pin and high tail it outta there. Landing gear be dammed. Let the next clown worry about what happens next.