Question about Trailers

Or you can have a spread axle/tandem like below. When I am empty or light I slide the rear axle forward saves wear and tear on everything, also if I am gOing be in a tight spot I will slide it forward.

 

You bet, the spreads are great for weight distribution and highway travel. Tight spots or docks are not so welcoming.

I had a full load of rebar on a flatbed spread axle....was my first week training in the flatbed. My exit ramp was a really sharp right rated about 25mph and uphill. Those trailer axles really starting grabbling and I almost stalled the truck right there on the exit lol

 

Going straight down the highway aren't the spread axle trailers more stable with less wandering?

 

Haven't really paid any attention to the wandering aspect, but I think they ride smoother than close tandems.

 

I backed into a dock today here in El Paso that no way a spread axle trailer could have made it. I had to back in off the street through the driveway and gate, as there was no room to turn around and set your trailer up, pivot around a dropped trailer in the dock on the left all the while avoiding the short container in the dock on the right. I barely cleared both trailers.

 

A spread could have made it easier. You can't change the "length" of your trailer with the flip of a switch, a spread with a dump valve can! A 48' spread drives like a 38' trailer with the rear axle dumped.

A spread rides better, loads easier and maneuvers better. There's a reason a lot of o/o buy spreads, and almost all flats are spreads.

 

I saw a guy do that off the street today too...had that rig bent almost to the point that I didnt think he was going to get out of it. But he had a 2 axle tractor and regular tandems...whipped that thing in there nicely!

Now the dump valve aspect changes things, I'll bet that makes a huge difference!

 

There is a point when the long wheel base gets a tad bit on the other side of really ****ing stupid.

Then again I had a guy in a freightliner Colombia rip the hood off my truck, and another pull his trailer over the top of my old Aluminum Ravens step deck, that made me really mad, really messed up my trailer.

On that note, with my ravens, with how I had it setup being a 10'6" spread, I could put that thing places you would never get a closed tandem and I was driving a W9 with a 265" wheel base.