extended wheelbases...what's the point?

Badger, two things. First, if you ever pull a spread axle for a week, you will fall in love. Much better ride, and never havingtoscale another load. You can have forty thousand on a spread vs 34 on a tandem. In effect this means it's almost impossible to screw up your axle weights. Long wheelbase tractors are four better ride and looks.
Second: there is definitely enough money to be made in trucking to afford these expensive toys. But it's not gonna hasten at some mega box carrier paying mileage.

 

Not that I've done it myself. Im always legal and I place my tandems and 5th wheel for easy maneuverability around sharp turns and tight docks.

 

probably a lot of them get it just because that's what they like, but it can be practical say for hauling long beams on a flatbed allowing more front overhang. Also, sometimes it is the result of converting a sleeper to a daycab or a smaller sleeper.

 

My Uncle bought a Pete 379 New custom ordered with a 4' stretch in the frame so he could hang more over the front hauling steel beams. He said it made him alot of money.

 

Look what some hotshot drivers are doing now with their heavy duty pickup trucks:

www.lilbigrig.com

This is more extreme than the long frame big trucks and looks great!

 

Truth be known, driver's with those ultra long wheelbase tractors don't go over many scales or deliver in tight spots. It's all about looking cool, and they ride nice. When there were overall length laws, short cab overs were the norm, and if you've spent any time in one of those, you'd understand what a rough ride they had. My Pete below was a 260" w.b. and I had a real hard time getting 10 or 11K on the steer, and backing in was a chore, as well. All that aside, it was the coolest truck I ever drove.:smt023

 

260 is far from a stretched frame. It's just a tad longer than standard equipment. As for no tight spots or crossing scales, that's just flat out wrong. Mercer has a ton of guys with 300" plus wheelbase Pete's and kw's going down the road every day. It's the same with landstar, bennett, admiral merchants and any other owner operator company with decent paying freight.

 

Hi spyder, I never said my 260 was stretched, but even that was tough at times(especially with manual steering) I knew several guys that had stretched frames, and would never go near a scale, and most of their work was drop and hook. And some of the guys that did go to tight spots(grocery warehouses and such), the receiver would make them drop their trailer, as the tractor stuck out into the lane of traffic, and nobody could get around them.

 

I used to make some extra money hourly on my days off spotting trailers at the terminal.
Some drivers with the stretched tractors couldn't get into the dock and would offer me $10 or $20 bucks to put the trailer in for them. I always did it but would never accept money. The company was paying me hourly to take care of the yard, so it was no big deal to me.
It was easy with the single drive axle Ottawa yard spotter.

 

Ah Chinatown, you are one of the good ones. I saw yard spotters that would laugh at these guys, and charge them $50 dollars.