Learnings from 2 weeks w/ a trainer

Hilarious! Made me guffaw!

 

Can you go more into detail why you dig the SS over dual? I was told the SS when flat absolutely means you have to stop where you are and change it. Not so with duals. Any validity to this?

Thanks

 

I had super singles on when I first started running to the oil patch. First foray into snot mud and I had the owner take them off and put on duals. You rarely ever see super singles off road. I would certainly hate to blow a tire out of cell phone range in the middle of nowhere, not to mention "challenging" traction in the soup.

 

I seriously doubt claims of traction. As I said earlier, there are different tread patterns available on singles to fit your operation. There are a full radial style of least rolling resistance mainly suited for 100% on highway and low on the scale of inclement weather ability and there are others that are a more lug type with an open shoulder for maximum traction, and some in between. If you will be off road a lot then singles would not be for you; just as a pickup with skinny tires is less likely to get stuck while mudding with your bros on the weekend, as opposed to a large wide tire, the same applies to big trucks. If you operate on the highway singles work great as long as you have the right tread for your needs.

I guess if you blow one you're stuck but I don't see that much. When I was a driver manager I worked for a fleet of about 900 trucks and they ran all singles on the trucks and reefer trailers; not on the flatbeds because of scrubbing concerns on spread axles. Blowouts were a rare thing. In the unit I was a part of we had about 100 trucks and almost 200 trailers and I only saw one blowout during my time there. If you run the right air pressure you won't have that problem. Every time you stop glance at the tire; make sure you didn't pick something up while driving. With duals you can be lacks on these things; not with singles. They are just as sensitive as a steer tire.

I like them be cause they save hundreds of pounds of weight on the truck alone, better fuel mileage, easier to maintain (less tires to rotate and inflate), and they wear very evenly. The singles I have are Bridgestone M835 and are getting about 15,000 miles per 32nd. Use the tire inflation tables from the manufacturer and not what you may have heard to carry your average weight. As an example, I am always heavy where I pull now and my drives are usually between 33 and 34 k. The tables say run at 95psi and that is what I do. This carrier I pull for attempted to go back duals and found an immediate difference in fuel economy and went back to singles.

 

I think it all comes down to picking the right tool for the job. Nothing more. Nothing less. However, with that being said, there are many out there (owners) who choose certain things because of their aesthetics. Personally I'm a guy who looks at function before cool. Occasionally I will look for something cool that functions because, lets face it, who doesn't want their stuff to look bad ##*?

 

Thanks for the reply.

 

I hear Bridgestone is working on a new single that is supposed to have an extremely low rolling resistance and yield a 6% fuel economy benefit over current offerings. That is great for some but as you decrease rolling resistance you hurt traction. I'm pretty sure you can't have both but maybe they'll devise some way of making it work. It would be cool if they can.

 

company issued SS tires, they are moving back to dual for overall cost savings. as a driver who owns an 85 FJ 60 I can attest to the lack of traction on the SS tires. even the shop we brought the leaking trailer tandem to made a face about our SS.

 

curious to hear about your traction with Supers in snow

 

Im new to this otr thing myslelf. I've ran semi and dump trucks for years but never otr. Some things I know. Some things I don't, most things I just make up along the way. Like signing my log books as Marty McFly and the mechanic as Doc Brown. How else do I explain doing a 26 hour drive in 48 hours while taking 3 mandatory 10's? I've been on the road for 3 weeks and hit every natural disaster so far. Week 1Summit, SD ice storm. Week 2 Colorado Springs wind storm and currently, week 3 waiting out this other midwest ice storm so i can go into minnesota and hit that storm also. Best of luck to you.

P.S. When dispatch asks you if you want to haul sailboat fuel say yes because it can't pay worse than hauling dispatch brains.