I rarely pull a skirted trailer. Today, I got one and headed right into all the storms that moved across IL. A skirted trailer pulls noticeably better than one without them, especially in various crosswinds. I wish I pulled them all the time.
It does help in cross winds believe it or not. I thought it might hurt it a little but it makes a difference in the green!
Was not a baad looking set up if it had worked in the areas you ran. So far mine is working great and better then I had thought it would to be honest.
Made me sick at my stomach seeing what happened to those expensive tires running with it up. Surprised you never see any rough interstates that cause the same issue especially loaded with it lifted.
I don't run a lot of the ruff areas like you do. I know if I went into TN with those bridges it would tear them up. Also if I am running those kind of roads I will know to keep an eye on it. If an issue just put it back down.
It's not just Tennessee it's every state. Nobody maintains roads anymore. I run all over the midwest and southeast. There's a few exceptions but most states have WORD DELETED interstates. I saw a recent survey where drivers ranked the best interstates and Tennessee was in the top 5. They must not notice crazy bridge joints not level with the road all over this state. Doesn't really have to be a rough road either practically every bridge joint you go across that air ride goes up and down. If for some reason you have to stab the brakes quickly, the air ride will sink down and them tires will drag for sure.
I think if you have an issue where you slam on brakes it would hurt even worse because the tires cant rotate. I will be back home in the morning and will have around 5K miles with the lift axle up and have no problems. I have been from MO to MA and back to MO. Then MO to UT and back to MO. I did have new shocks put on when I had the lift axle installed on the trailer. I believe my truck maybe ride a little stiffer than what you had and that might be the reason I am not having those issues.
It could be. Mine was really bouncy. And man I had to really be paying attention to red-lights not to have to get on the brakes hard. That's a good practice anyway but sometimes one you're not familiar with will change quickly.
Well got back home earlier today. Gonna head back out on one of my multi stop loads I like to do on Monday. It is I believe 13K and has 4 drops two in CT and 2 in NH. So should be able to run with axle up on the whole trip and see what I can get. I finished out this round with a little 100 mile load that was 7500 lbs. I ended up with 9.8 MPGs on that little trip. Then I decided to dead head home about 500 miles or more. Ran into very powerful storm on the way back home and that thing lasted for a 100 miles I think. Ended up really killing my MPG's on the way back. I ended up with 9.5 MPG's on that trip and should had been in the tens. Over all I got 8.8 MPG's for the total trip. Not to bad but not all the good either.