Dangerous Bobtail?

after about 27 years ,,i had the fortune to obtain a nice 03 kw with abs on the tractor,,,,,, believe me the abs NOW is the best thing since the jake break!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

better known as a road tractor it is designed for what some people know as work.......wwwwwwork........did i scare you??????????

 

I dont know if you realize this, but I live on the most dangerous part of I94 in michigan, atleast in the winter... (exit 22 through exit 46 pretty much)....

And trust me when i say michigan drivers are mostly fook heads...

I used to have to drive 20 miles down 94 to get to work, third shift. Quite a few times i'd go to work and weather would be alright, i'd get there in 20 minutes or so. Then I'd get off, and oh crap! Its horrible out! (this happens pretty much 3-6 times every winter, but some WV chick i worked with called these blizzards..rofl). I remember quite a few times where it took me an hour or so to get home....

This was back when the minimum speed limit was 45. Apparently someone forgot to teach these people that that is not enforced on ice. Everyone would do 45, no less, ever. Now that its 55 minimum, its even worse. Raising the minimum is one of the stupidest things they've ever done. I mean, come on....anyone whos going to drive the *minimum* in good weather doesnt care.

Of course, thats in a car. I can handle driving a loaded truck a little faster in the winter than a car, but a bobtail? Hell, i go a lot slower in a bobtail than a car! Waaay harder to keep it under control in that ####e..

We also have a lot of super truckers in michigan for some reason. I always see a lot of guys who seem to be exceeding the truck speed limit on ICE. I remember a couple years ago i saw a guy jack knife right around the 94/196 junction so hard that the cab came off the tractor's frame. I imagine he was going prettty fast for that to happen!

Its mostly owner ops in the ditch too..lol.

 

It's not, unless you drive it like your loaded.

 

when u are bobtailing you feel every tiny bump in the road

whenever i bobtail i slow down alot when coming up on stop lights, cuz they always love to turn yellow at the worst possible time

 

Old thread but it's better than starting a new one for this question...

Read through it. Bobtailing is bumpier than hauling and it's trickier to brake; this much I've gotten from the thread.

So I'm wondering if letting some air out of the tires would help?

I'm not sure if 110 psi is standard but that's the pressure a O/O friend of mine runs (at least in the steering tires, not sure about the tandems). So I'm thinking that if the tire pressure is decreased it would increase rolling resistance, allow for more tire contact with the road and thus offer provide better braking and traction when running without the trailer. It would even decrease the center of gravity a bit (not that this would have a noticeable effect I would think).

Obviously there's a point where you can go too low with tire pressure and then have an even worse situation, along with the potential for blowouts. But I'm talking about letting out maybe 20-25 psi or going to about the minimum allowed on the side wall.

Thoughts as to whether this would help?

 

I doubt lowing the pressure would help.

One of the problems is that the suspension is designed to have a load on it. Even the best suspensions still can't be designed to work great with a load range between 8 and 34k. So they are designed to work well at the heavy end of the spectrum, and sacrifice the light end, know that the truck will be operated with a load far more than without a load. This means that when you are empty/bobtail the tire no longer rolls over bumps, it hits them then bounces.

This same theory applies to the brakes, they are designed around heavy loads, not light. In a car, most of the braking is done by the front axle, in a truck, this isn't the case. The trailer brakes apply first, then the drives then steer. It's done this way to help keep the truck in a straight line when braking hard, and because that is where the weight is.

When you combine these two elements is can make bobtailing a bit hairy in slick conditions. There is a hill near my house that I slow to 15mph when descending bobtail in the rain because the light in the middle of the hill is unpredictable. At 15mph I'll slide for about 100 feet if I have to stop now! I'm sure it annoys the 4-wheels who want to exceed the 35mph speed limit by 10+mph, but I'm sure they like to NOT have me plow into the back of their car when that light turns red too.

 

I have tried that a very few times and is not worth it, sidewall sway on corners due to reduced pressure results is an even worse condition ~ only approach is to get used to the truck and just go at about 80-% of what you normally would then extra slowing for bumps .... for anything that gets in front of you the only thing to do is test off-road unloaded and see what it does then make allowances ahead - I spend extra effort whenever and to whatever extent needed to make sure that no one can or will get in front of me, I even slow slightly for side-streets

lowering tire pressure can even sometimes make braking worse

can, not always but it can

 

Leave the tires alone and use your jake for stability. It sounds odd to use it bobtailing but will help immensely when the drives are jumping to much on those little bumps in the road.

 

Bobtails are top heavy. Basically just really tall cars. Doesnt handle well neither...