Straight Truck Axle Placement?

Sounds like they are building a 1/2 track in adverse weather conditions by moving the tandems forward. ….

 

you are good on the overhang, it is a serious problem with drivers and their skills to maneuver the truck in tight locations but if you have a fleet of trucker with this problem, the manufacturer and the upfitters would be the best to work together when ordering the trucks. That’s the solution, not moving axles around.

At this point it is stupid to move them, just add a steerable life axle behind the cab which will solve the issues.

If the weight is too much for the front, then go to a higher capacity front axle but then there is a problem with this entire thread that I forgot to mention, where are the actual numbers. Another question is what types of chassis are these? Class 7 or 8.

what I mean what’s the axle ratings and what are the actual weight on the axles before the truck was messed with.

I get you are an employee and working to cover your own butt and those of your brothers but sometimes being well informed can fix the problem for you. As a fleet owner, I would never put a driver in a truck like that and expect them not to be in an accident.

 

I agree, not only that but by taking so much weight off the steering you might find it difficult to control in some circumstances. My first road haulage truck was a 4 wheeler rigid (straight) with a long body and a very long rear overhang. After my first load was off I found another one but it was 2 collections. Worse, the first delivery was the first collection so, totally ignorant, I put it on the tail and set off for the other one. At the first corner I went straight on, my front wheels were effectively floating. Dangerous. My instinct in your case would be, like others have said, to have a small 2nd steer installed but obviously that is not within your power to do, but emphasising the danger element might produce results. As a former union rep myself I know there are more ways to skin a cat, without going into details one load we often had to carry was very dangerous for the driver to unload and when a driver was killed as a result I requested that they only do 2 loads together for the presence of 2 drivers to make it safer. The company refused so we simply waited at destination till another wagon arrived, not necessarily from the same firm, and we helped each other.

BTW, when much later I broke down with that vehicle and the garage who were going to repair it had trouble IDing a part number. A bit of research found that it hadn't started life as a truck, it was a coach chassis. People not pallets.

 

Shortening the bridge lowers the total weight to carry.

What do the steers weigh when loaded?

Seems like standard spec trucks would have the tandems back 2 feet at least.

I wouldn't go with drop axle. Unless it's close to the tandem. It probably wouldn't play nice in the snow with the steers. When you need the weight the most.

It wasn't fun when I drove a dump truck years ago. You couldn't lighten the pressure either as the drops always locked up.

 

I'm curious how much overweight the steers were on the original setup?