single axle tractor, tandem axle trailer... weights & loadboards

Better be looking for a spread axle trailer or tridem. I've ran single axle daycabs pulling doubles and 53's. You will find it hard to scale over 30k on box unless loaded just right with closed tandems. You would be better off with doubles.

Also freight will need to be stretched far to the rear as possible to attempt to be legal. You'll have 20k on drives very easily.

 

You'll be stuck at around 30,000 I'd guess.

 

Unless you already have a dedicated pair of jobs for it, a single axle is a loosing situation.

First you know you got to haul a much lighter weight. That cuts you not only out of a lot of hauls but a lot of back hauls. Where you might find a load going one way at a price that might make clear cost, you will eat it on a backhaul.

Secondly, your light capacity is competing directly with trucks that can take the additional capacity. Their is no niche on the open market where you have any advantage over competitors that have three axle trucks.

Third, everybody and I mean everybody loads a trailer from front to back. You can make adjustments if your pulling flat, but a good portion of the flat loads are sticks and bricks which run heavy. If pulling 40-53' van or reefer, good luck finding any customer that can load your trailer. Everybody loads what they can up front, and whats left over gets put in the rear. Even companies that have a heavy product, and know they have to single out several pallets up front, have a hard time getting things to scale out on a tandem drive.

Example, I live and work in the NW. 105,500 gross is so common here, having any equipment that does not run 105,500 hardly runs regionally. A common combination for a regional truck is four axles on the truck and four on the trailer. And even though it is very common, my experience driving them is constant reloads and reworks because everybody loads what they can in the front of the van/reefer and what is left over falls on the trailer axles. Unfortunately, no matter how much you explain to people that you have to load just the opposite, heavier on the tail, lighter on the front, they just don't get it.

 

Seeing that the OP is in MA and likely running northeast, remember that many northeastern states permit more weight on closed-tandem setups than the national 34K. NY, NH, VT & CT permit 36K, ME permits 38K, RI permits 44K. Take those into consideration along with kingpin lengths and you can actually do quite a bit with a single axle tractor. Just mind the hardware's weight ratings...

edit:: I think the above suggestion about a lift axle on the tractor is something to consider. They're not shockingly expensive if not steerable.

 

Jpenn, the OP was allready asked for more info as to the ratings on tires and axles but up to now no real answer.

 

I realize that...I was referring to the trailer's weight ratings when operating in states that allow weights above the federal maximum of 34K. For example, in Rhode Island, loading the trailer tandems to 44K may very well be above the maximum rating of tires or axle/spring combination.

 

I know.
He hasn't posted anything like that.
He is obsessed withe the standard 12 000 on steer and 20 000 on the drive.