Why do so many Americans hate European trucks?

So ... You are saying they evolved down different paths to meet their different markets? Or what many people have said many times , but YOU refuse that fact till now !!!!! It was just silly , till you say it ?

 

No, your bridge law defies logic, there is no technical reason why trucks can't be shorter in the US. Adding rows of ridiculous small wheels under dump trucks really doesn't do anything to decrease the load on road bridges.

 

Short sucks........

 

You are talking about how some states use the bridge law, every state is different. Each state pays for its own state roads, hence why they choose to have different ways they want the load put on the road. States that allow the multi axle are concerned with actual pound per square inch on the road being spread out to lower ground pressure. As a business operator, we want to make the most revenue we legally can, hence multiple lift axles in states that have bridge laws that allow this. Now, each one of the European socialist countries has different weight laws just like our states do. Now, your thinking is how short you can spec a tractor, our thought is how long of a tractor or truck we can get away with it. They simply ride better. Your length restrictions are shorter and you have shorter mandatory turn radius. We have more room to move around over here. Trucking is simply different here!

 

First of all, calling European countries socialist is really stupid. It only shows that you haven't got a clue about what socialism is, and secondly it shows that you have no idea about politics in Europe. If you did, you would know that all European countries are basically capitalist, but we have discovered that pure 19th century capitalism is a really stupid idea. To give you an example, many big European companies built good houses for their workers at the beginning of the 20th century. We have universal healthcare for all, you have millions uninsured, and still you pay almost twice as much per capita for your healthcare. Apparently you love to get ripped off by big companies and corrupt politicians. And let's not even start on education. We have a social society, and that is not a socialist society, so our people are not ripped off for simple medical treatments, we have laws to prevent that.

Now back to the trucks. Everything you wrote about pounds per square inch etc., has nothing to do with the bridge law.

This is the bridge law:

W = 500 * ((L * n)/(n -1) + 12n + 36)

Whereby:

W = the maximum weight in pounds that can be carried on a group of two or more axles to the nearest 500 pounds.

L = the distance in feet between the outer axles of any two or more consecutive axles.

n = the number of axles being considered.

It basically says, the more axles you have, the shorter your truck/trailer/semi can be. There's nothing about pounds per square inch, it has nothing to do with wear of the road.

You do have maximum axle loads etc. but only in a very basic form. This is what we have in Europe:



You have nothing like that in the federal regulations, and this is about the wear and tear caused by the wheels on the surface of the road.

Your opinion about a supposed better ride for a longer tractor is irrelevant for this discussion. If there is a situation where a shorter truck/tractor/trailer/semi would be better, you can't build them because of the bridge law. That has nothing to do with your personal taste.

 

You antagonist!

 

Here's some CAT power!

 

I would make it a bit longer, then you can have a landing strip.