FIVE Axle T660s, niche market opportunity

More is better, right @Rontonio?

The problem with a 4 axle truck, and an even bigger problem with a 5 axle is the trailer. If you don't have a long enough neck on the trailer, you can't move the 5th wheel far up enough to get weight on your steers. And pulling big and heavy, you want the steering to be precise. For a 5 axle, the neck would have to be in the range of what....16 ft or longer? I've seen the 5 axle trucks. They always have a short neck trailer behind them and one of the dummy axles off the ground. Quite stupid when you think about it. What's the use of having 5 axles when you can't fully utilize the axles?

"But Six, can't someone make a trailer to work with a 5 axle tractor?"

And then you're limited according to the bridge formulas. When you see the biggest loads, they have the axles spaced....to spread the weight of the load out farther. You take a 5 axle tractor and a 4 axle trailer...9 axles...and compare it with the Canadian 9 axle...a heavy 3 tractor, 2 axle jeep, 2 axle trailer and a 2 axle stinger...9 axles. Because of the axle spacings, the 2+2+2 trailer setup will be allowed to haul higher weights. So why do a 5 axle when the 3 axle will do better?

 

Maybe i missed this but! You built this truck or are you looking to build?


If you don't have the contacts for such a truck why build them? I don't see people giving up that information to just anybody. Especially if there is good money to be made in that niche market.

 

Where you at? State and local weight limitations are going to heavily determine what usefulness that thing is.

I am in the PNW where local regulations have most local regional trucks running 4 axles. Even though I drive them regularly, I personally hate those things. Every desk jockey thinks every 4 axle job with enough axles on the trailers to match can scale out the maximum to what the trucks licensed to. That is rarely the case. These things are very load placement dependent; you can only move so much weight around adjusting the drops and your always butting up bridge weight spacing restrictions.

These 4 axle trucks only get used around here as much as they do because all of the desk jockeys most of the drivers are ignorant of the bridge weight laws and have the tickets to prove it.

Their are a few companies running the 5 axle with a double drop like that around here only because they are using two light weight drop axles with 17" tires. Overall if your not running on a oversize permit, there is no way two drop axles can work out to your advantage. The second axle just adds extra weight taking about 2000lbs from your payload capacity since you don't have the spread necessary for making additional gross on your inner bridge (if that makes sense). The only two states where I can see any advantage to that set up are MI and IN; no one on the regular bridge weight formula (chart) would use two full size drops and come out ahead in payload.

 

115,000 what state is that?

 

If there are 3 of them, are they still one of a kind?

 

You ever have one of those conversations where you ask a simple question and then wonder ‘why in the world did I even ask?’

No, they’ve been out for years. @Hurst drove one for a bit a few years back.

 

Kenworth (PACCAR) will engineer you a truck with 20+ axles but by the time their done with it, the payload capacity will be less then a hatchback depending on local/state bridge weight laws.

Weight distribution is always a problem as long as you have bridge weight laws. If you want to throw the laws out, you might as well throw the extra axles out too. The only reason you need them to accommodate bridge weight laws.

You kind of prove my point that no desk jockeys and few drivers understand bridge weight.

 

Ran this for my carrier for about 6 weeks while my truck was getting a new motor.

5 axle tractor, Coronado SD with 20k steers. DD16 and 18 spd with enough torq to pull the Titanic.

Trailer was a 3 axle XL110 with a flip 4th axle. 9 axles all together.

Problem I had with it was that the neck on the trailer wasnt long enough to move the 5th wheel up to where enough weight would go on the steers. Even at 160k,.. the steers never had more than 11k on them. It wasnt too bad when it was dry. But there was a lot of slipping on wet roads when trying to make left or right turn. That and if you had to back up,.. you had to lift both axles because they would bind up in reverse.

Hurst