teh truck i drove with a pusher had the same problem. and that truck didn't have a adjustable valve. when the pusher was down, my steers dropped from 11.5 to 9.2 sliding the 5th wheel forward all the way made the steers at 11.7 and helped out with tire wear. it was explained to me, that since the front was being lifted. it changes the alignment. the companies i worked for with pusher axles. seemed to always run continentals.
I heard the local dump trucks around here run those 315's and recap them for putting back on the steers. Heard this from my local Michelin dealer who handles the recaps. Have you tried regroving them?
My company mostly runs the Michelin XDN2 or XDN2 Grip all year for the drives. Awesome grip for snow and ice!
For steering tires I run Bridgestone M844 385/65R22.5 good for up to 16,000lbs. Anything heavier go to the 425's. I get about 100,000 miles give or take. I'm about 14,200lbs bobtail/empty and 15,250-16,000 loaded. For drive tires I run Michelin XDS2. They are a directional tire, and I have never found anything better for traction in snow, coal slime, mud, blah blah blah, other than tire chains. I'm not sure what kind of miles I get out of the drives, I have two sets of rims & when drives get to ~50% they get run out in the summer and I get new for winter. That allows for the tires to "cure". Depending how much mountain running I do I get 2-3 winters from a set before they become summer run outs, so estimated 200,000 miles. I believe all of our O/O's on the Heavy Haul division run these tires. I have lifted loads when I was sure I would be stuck with these, love 'em and would be hard to convince to change. My local dealer knows what I think of these tires and if they get "discontinued" with the whole "green tire" movement, he knows to bring me in 3 more sets.
I think you mean XDN2? The XDS2 is only offered in a 19.5 and doesn't have the weight ratings needed for heavy hauling.
No, I'm pretty sure of the XDS2...here's a link... http://www.michelintruck.com/michelintruck/tires-retreads/tireInfo.do?tread=XDS2 (11R) Hope this helps.
