tri axle vs. quad

i live in indiana on the ohio state line around the Cincinnati area, i do excavating work locally and own a single axle to do my own jobs and haul my equipment, i am wanting to add a big dump truck to my fleet but am kinda up in the air on what to buy because there is not much work here in indiana in my area and there is alot of work around Cincinnati. Indiana uses tri axles and can typically haul around 21 ton. but to haul 21 ton in ohio you have to have a quad axle truck. i dont know the exact laws or rules between the two states but i was told with a tri axle in ohio you can only get around 16 ton on your truck. so i need a truck that i can use here in indiana but take it to ohio when its not busy locally. i only live 15 minutes from the state line and Cincinnati is one hour from me. opinions please!! thanks

also the reason i ask this is that most contractors only want to hire a quad or bigger for work (from what im told). or does anyone in ohio have trouble getting work for a triaxle?

real no brainer for me. Go for the quad. I switched long time ago from tri to quad and never regretted it one bit. I am in Wisconsin. Tri can gross at 64,500 gross and quad at 73,000. Few tri's lift around here.

that makes since greg for sure but, i would prefer to stay in indiana as much as possible (given i can keep it busy in indiana) but ive been talking to some bigger contractors in indiana and they dont like quads, everyone uses tri's in indiana .. so im still trying to find something in my price range anyways. looking for a sterling but they are few and far between in my price range

I'm sure they'd take a Quad at Tri rate...?
Gotta Fly...

Reece38 said:

that makes since greg for sure but, i would prefer to stay in indiana as much as possible (given i can keep it busy in indiana) but ive been talking to some bigger contractors in indiana and they dont like quads, everyone uses tri's in indiana .. so im still trying to find something in my price range anyways. looking for a sterling but they are few and far between in my price range

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Greg said:

Tri can gross at 64,500 gross and quad at 73,000. Few tri's lift around here.

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Groan! How do your brakes and chassis do it? Not to mention the pavement. My 4 axle hauls 16 ton, which runs out at 34k on the drivers, 8k on the drop, and 13k on the steer axle while staying below the 55k HVUT limit. We have 8% grades on our main roads and some of the back roads get real twisty with up to 20% grades. A lot of roads are restricted to 13 ton, or no through trucks. With 73k gross weights we'd have piles of burning trucks littering the bottom of the canyons.

wilko said:

Groan! How do your brakes and chassis do it? Not to mention the pavement. My 4 axle hauls 16 ton, which runs out at 34k on the drivers, 8k on the drop, and 13k on the steer axle while staying below the 55k HVUT limit. We have 8% grades on our main roads and some of the back roads get real twisty with up to 20% grades. A lot of roads are restricted to 13 ton, or no through trucks. With 73k gross weights we'd have piles of burning trucks littering the bottom of the canyons.

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Have you been to Indiana? Flat as a pancake. No mountains...hardly any hills. I can't think of any 8% grades in SE WI or NE IL either.

Catback said:

Have you been to Indiana? Flat as a pancake. No mountains...hardly any hills. I can't think of any 8% grades in SE WI or NE IL either.

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I kinda thought so, but wasn't sure. Still, we've got a few superdumps around carrying those kind of loads, but they spend most of their time at the repair shops getting welded back up so they can haul a few more loads.