Why don't more of us run lift axle trailers?

have you met many mega carrier drivers? They can #### anything up…

 

Not saying they didn't say that, but that's a stupid argument. The trailers we got at work are automatic. If the pressure gauge gets to around 18k on the axle, it automatically drops the axle, and conversely it will raise the axle for lighter weights.

 

This was back in 2014 when i was a company Driver. Not sure if things where fully automatic then or not. But thats what there excuse was for not adding lift axles. The systems would pay for themselves pretty fast also as we still Deadhead 200+ miles most of the time.

 

To use that kind of system you would need to be consistently running one direction loaded and one direction lightly loaded for that to be a viable option which is why you'll find very few companies used those types of trailers, and they cost more to set up, years ago I worked for a company that had the contract to haul milk from the factory out to their distribution collection points at Nowra, Orange, and Bathurst so we had a tri axle trailer running out full loads, then coming back all we'd have on was empty milk crates very light weight so the trailers back axle automatically lifted up, so in that case it was worth having that type of trailer, most companies running long distance freight would vary rarely run a lot of miles empty if they can help it, so it would not be a viable option for them to use that kind of trailer.

 

Not sure how many trailers the company I’m leased to has. Probably a few hundred dry vans. And most have auto lift on the front axle.

 

Spreads, or closed?

 

I load bottled water sometimes on the way home to our warehouse and every time I load there without fail every single mega carrier truck that gets loaded leaves the warehouse with the axles slid all the way to the back meaning they have between 38 and 42k on their drives. I don't even bother telling em to slide the axles up. If the megas don't want their equipment torn to #### they should invest more than 5 minutes in training their 6 month wonders.

 

I’ll have to double check that, a few years ago when they changed the ezpass system I could have sworn it went by total axles not up or down, figures it was the same with the new paperless drive under system