Vets, Wanna help with other 'less common' items of our jobs?

I hauled gasoline up until I retired. I've hauled all kinds of other stuff but would never switch back. To me it's just a challenging that kept me going.

Those tractors you see with three axles are not usually drive axles. You have power to one axle and the choice to switch to two if needed in bad conditions but the third is 9 times out of 10 a tag axle. Even when you see a truck and trailer ( the tank is mounted on the truck and pulling a trailer) sometimes the last axle is a tag axle. That means there's no power to the axle and they do that to save weight.

On our trucks you can see a drop axle just behind the fuel tank, those too are just a tag axle with no steering hook to them. You drop that axle to take weight off the steers. You can adjust the pressure to get what you need but once that's set you leave it alone. You only drop the axle when you're loaded because if you're empty you'll go to turn and the truck will go straight. Also when you shift to reverse the drop axle will automatically raise so there's no damage done to the axle. You have to watch your backing because it uses alot of air and you'll be setting there if you have to pull a couple of times.

To me I'd much rather drive a truck and trailer because I can go more places and it's easier to get into those old gas stations with one. We pulled 85' T/T and there were some stations I'd say no way is this truck going to make it and the driver would cruise right in. They are much easier to back than a semi and you can do a little trick with them if you get into a tight spot. We call it walking the trailer and what you do is make sure you won't hit anything, pour some water under your trailers front axles, back up and pull down on the johnson bar and apply power at the same time. The traile will slide over very easy and then you can get out. It only works when your empty but much better than hitting anything. There's no fifth wheel to worry about and they are very easy to hook to another trailer. They're the best in my book.