Converting to Super Singles

I am totally in the dark on the regulatory issues Canada may have in place regarding this, and it may be that I really have Mad Cow like the wife claims I do, but I am sure I have heard of a Canadian O/O or two having done the glider thing at some point.

 

Cowpie, I lost 400 pds off my rig by having my old lady stay home and not buying singles

 

LOL. Now that was a direct hit! I guess John Wayne was right.... a man has to do what a man has to do!

 

Cowpie, I think something else to consider for the mileage, is how you accelerate, how you brake, do you rotate tires, check air presssure, etc. 300k miles is really good. Not saying impossible, but you're one of the few rare ones out there. How do you do it? How many miles do you run a week? And how fast do you run?

 

I have always driven more moderately than a lot of folks. Not driving like grandma, but I watch it closely on cornering, building up to speed, slowing down and watching vehicle intervals and pacing myself so that I use the brakes as little as possible, and such. I generally run in the 62-65 range, but have "put a wiggle in it" occasionally and run 70-75. Not often. I average about 135,000 miles a year. Home weekends and holidays and take a couple of weeks off during the year. Loads can vary between 15,000 and 46,000, with a lot of them it the 40K range. Lots of livestock feed supplement, pet food, bulk oats, meal, steel coils (yep in a dry box), and such, with the much welcomed lighter medical supply loads, soda pop can loads, and motorcycle loads.

I also am particular about rotating my tires every 50,000 miles and I put new shocks on once a year. And I run balancing beads in the wide based rubber, balance masters on the steers. I got 220,000 out of my steers and they still had between 8-10/32's tread left. Got $150 a casing and a good deal on the new ones, so changed them out. No uneven wear. The wide based still have quite a ways to go, at 283,000 on them now, again with no uneven wear and roughly 17/32's tread left.

And I try to "stick" my tires and check the pressures on a daily basis. I carry a glad hand air hose for when I need to add a little. I use the pass thru "alligator" valve caps, so checking the air pressure is a quick process while doing my morning walk around. And I pretty much stick to the tire manufacturer recommended pressure chart. I don't change pressures for each load, I am not that anal about things, but I don't just fill up the tires to some "standard" air pressure like fleets or others may do it.

 

I always figured too, the super singles wear funny especially on trailers, one half of them wear out quicker. I assume from the crown of the road, where you have half the tire taking a bigger load than the other side of the tire. At least tire rotations are a little easier, 4 vs 8. Do you rotate in an X pattern?

 

I sure can't speak intelligently to how they work on trailers since the carrier I have my truck on with does not use them for trailers. But I sure bet Keim trucking could tell you since they have been using wide based on their flatbed spreads for a long time. STS trucking in the Blair, NE area pulls a lot of hopper bottoms and they have wide based on tractor and trailers and seem to do pretty good with them.

I rotate my tractor wide based in an X pattern every 50-60,000 miles.