Single Wide Rubber

And they are also guarenteed to leave you sitting right where it blows out at with a good possibility of replacing the rim as well

 

Couple of other areas they are deficient in:

(1) They do NOT leave as wide a footprint as duals, making them less stable on endumps.
(2) The smaller tire imprint area makes them more apt to sink in soft ground, thus less desirable in businesses such as construction, farming, etc.

However, (and I know this has got to be a mind game), they SEEM to me to be more stable in banked curves, tight turns,etc.
The company I am leased to has mostly the open bore "shotgun" type of tank trailers, the newer replacements are mostly running the single wide rubber, but they do also spec some with the duals, I'm guessing for comparison purposes. I cannot explain it, but pulling the same type of trailer, hauling the same product, on the same route, the single wide appears to me, to have a more stable ride. This defies logic, I've yet to figure the reason, other than the earlier mentioned mind game.

 

My bro in law who works for TMC said that they don't run them on there spreads because guys were turning to short and killing the sidewalls on the lead axle and he also said that they were going back to duals on the tractor because they said the costs outweighed the savings from them. Not sure if they still are or not but thats what he told me. I will say they roll easier than duals from when I drug fed-ex ground doubles around, the dollies were alot easier to push and move, but they didn't seem to wear even even on new equip and now I see on fed-ex grounds new trailers they have gone back to duals. I guess if you have the right application and are willing to put up with the downsides then they should save you some money, but there ain't no straddlin one of those gators, them things are huge

 

You are correct. Change that "good possibility" to "it will."

 

I don't know what combination of vehicles they were using, but our company is seeing maybe a 1% increase in fuel economy. And we talk with other drivers running the same routes in the same type truck except with duals (my wife and I have singles) and our fuel mileage is pretty much the same. We might get .1mpg better.

I will say the singles are a HECK of a lot easier to chain.

 

this is why they are not recommended for off road use

 

You are right about it being more stable,I had a 4 axle end dump on singles and you could throw it in the corners and it would sit perfect BUT I think it's because the singles allowed the use of wider chassis rails.

 

They suck on the ice and snow also, or at least from my expeiance they do. I got stuck twice with super singles and both times trucks running duals went around me with no problem.

 

The axles and frame should be the same width for singles or duals.