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is a quad really worth the extra money

catwelder

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View attachment 214681 This is what we use in quebec and call them a 12 wheeler. On newer trucks the second steering axle lifts. Can hold 20T and cost 120$ hour. Here 10 wheelers only hold 15T and cost 110$ hour. Not many people will hire them. A two axle semi can hold 26T and costs 130$ hour, Three axle 140$, four axle 160$.
see im wondering how well something like that would turn because the tri-axle certain turns its a pain
 

crane operator

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Not if you get one like post #15. It'll turn just as tight as a 3-axle truck

Most of our trucks aren't that short, because the bridge formula means a longer wheelbase truck, for more capacity. Then in addition to the longer wheel base, they put 425's up on the steers for the 20,000lbs axle, and then between the long wheelbase and the wide tires they really don't steer well.

I have a couple cranes with tandem steer, and I really like them, they really help turning radius.
 

catwelder

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That's the terminology we used down south Steve. A tri-axle has 2 drives and a lift axle. We don't have any quad axle dumps that I know of in my area.
the quads are more popular around here even the quint trucks are getting popular even a few 6 axel ones. tandems are mostly used for small companies that wanna do their own hauling so for some reason I wanted to be the odd man out and went with a tri axel.
 

Truck Shop

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It's getting pretty silly actually, city streets, county roads and highways,freeways that were built years ago were not meant for this concentrated weight. So every one can be total axle
happy It should be mandatory that a dump truck have no less that 12 axles, It just isn't a dump truck if it isn't grossing 150,000 without a pup.
 

RZucker

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It's getting pretty silly actually, city streets, county roads and highways,freeways that were built years ago were not meant for this concentrated weight. So every one can be total axle
happy It should be mandatory that a dump truck have no less that 12 axles, It just isn't a dump truck if it isn't grossing 150,000 without a pup.

A local outfit has 2 twinsteers with tandems and 2 lift axles in between and a drop arm axle on the rear. WHY? By the way, that's 136 grease fittings from front to rear just on the axles and brakes.
 

Truck Shop

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Exactly RZ, I remember years ago when the GVW was 68,000 on a semi. Then 72,000 then 76,000 then 80,000 then 98,000 then 101,000 the 105,500. When it reached the 98,000 mark
I-90, I-5, 18, I-82 started to deteriorate twice as fast. What always got me was you would here a driver say {Man that I-90 is getting rough, and he is driving a rig at 105. The boss finally figured out his trucks that
gross 80 make a bunch more profit that the others at 99. Gayle and I just laugh.
 

Nige

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Most of our trucks aren't that short, because the bridge formula means a longer wheelbase truck, for more capacity. Then in addition to the longer wheel base, they put 425's up on the steers for the 20,000lbs axle, and then between the long wheelbase and the wide tires they really don't steer well.
Yeah, bridge formula has a lot to answer for. In the UK (and probably most of Europe as well) that Mercedes in post #15 would be rated at 70,500 pounds GVW (32 tonnes) with a wheelbase around 17ft. Useful payload would probably be close to the 20-tonne mark.
 

Truck Shop

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You couldn't cross most of the county bridges around here with that wagon. When this load below was moved they had to truss every county bridge and it almost didn't get approved027.JPG 016.JPG .
 

Steve Frazier

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That's the terminology we used down south Steve. A tri-axle has 2 drives and a lift axle. We don't have any quad axle dumps that I know of in my area.

I've only seen quads for the past two years on new trucks and they've pretty much gone from dual wheels on the pusher axle(s) to super singles with passive steering. I think it might be required by the state.

I drove dumps in the early 80s and the weight laws were pretty lax. Companies were expected to pay their "dues" and would have a couple trucks per month stopped and weighed. There was a flat fine of $200 and they'd get you for consecutive axle weight. I regularly hauled 21 tons of asphalt on a ten wheeler and would gross around 65,000. They changed the weight laws and fines to where the fine was by the pound overweight. I heard stories of guys who would just walk away from their truck be cause the fine was more than the truck was worth. That's when we started to see tri-axles and more recently quads.
 

Don.S

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see im wondering how well something like that would turn because the tri-axle certain turns its a pain
if you are asking how tight it will turn then that truck is not the best but it is a older design. The newer ones are pretty impressive. They feel just like a long 10 wheeler.
 

catwelder

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if you are asking how tight it will turn then that truck is not the best but it is a older design. The newer ones are pretty impressive. They feel just like a long 10 wheeler.
ahhhh whats one of those even run price wise
 

92U 3406

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The first few guys to start running tridrives with tridem pole trailers in BC made decent money. Then as more guys went to them the mills started cutting rates. The good old tandem truck/tandem pole trailer became extinct pretty quick once that happened.
 

Don.S

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ahhhh whats one of those even run price wise
just asked the boss man and he said a little over 200,000$ but thats canuck dollars. And to give you a idea on use right now a 2009 freightliner m2 112 with a 350hp Mercedes and 670 000 km is 77 000$. 04 freightliner columbia 460hp Mercedes 729 000km asking 56 000$
 

catwelder

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just asked the boss man and he said a little over 200,000$ but thats canuck dollars. And to give you a idea on use right now a 2009 freightliner m2 112 with a 350hp Mercedes and 670 000 km is 77 000$. 04 freightliner columbia 460hp Mercedes 729 000km asking 56 000$
for the freightshakers a quad down here run about 160000 they about the cheapest here everything else be closer to 200000k for the quads and I think about 180000k for the tri-axle. I like the western stars more then anything like to find one of them used for a decent price
 

Kiwi-truckwit

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View attachment 214681 This is what we use in quebec and call them a 12 wheeler. On newer trucks the second steering axle lifts. Can hold 20T and cost 120$ hour. Here 10 wheelers only hold 15T and cost 110$ hour. Not many people will hire them. A two axle semi can hold 26T and costs 130$ hour, Three axle 140$, four axle 160$.
We'd call that an 8 wheeler here, duals only count as one.
If it was listed for sale or lease, it would be an 8x4. 8 wheels, 4 drivers. 8x4 and 6x4 are most common, although you see a lot of 10x4 now too
 

CM1995

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Agreed. In some cases like concrete trucks going to tandem tri-drives. Anytime I see those trucks with lift axles I think WTF were they smoking? A tri-drive is a million times better truck in everyway. Never mind all the damage the lift axle trucks would cause anytime it's loaded and axles are lifted.

Personally I don't see the extra expense of a tri-drive over a tandem with lift axle (tri-axle) in my area. Here in AL a tri-axle can gross 85K on non-Interstate roads which is around a 25 ton payload.

How tight of a turn could a tri-drive make with a 16' dump bed?

The lift axle is raised when the truck turns at an intersection and while off road. Now these tri-axles cannot go via interstate HWY's loaded just secondary roads state and local roads.
 

92U 3406

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Tridrives turn pretty decent when unlocked. I think we can gross about 30,500kg (approx 67k lbs). Liftable axles on trucks are 100% illegal in western Canada (you can have them installed but they better stay raised). Only real way to gross more on a tractor is to add another steer axle, add another drive axle or go with a twinsteer tridrive.
 
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