All big trucks have at least ten wheels, many have 14 and most still have 18. That's where the whole idea for the title of this ongoing series of ramblings came from. We never have more than 14 and occasionally we only have ten. So, sometimes ten wheels is all you need.
Over the past several years, the concept of Super Single tires has started to make its way into the trucking industry. Super Single tires are almost twice as wide as traditional tires (the normal drive tires on the tractor and the tandems on the trailer) and are designed to replace the eight sets of dual tires on a typical big rig. They are still getting mixed reviews by a lot of the long-time truckers. There are pros and cons to the new wider design. Personally, I think the pros outweigh the cons, but then again, I've only been driving for a year and a half, and have only driven a tractor with Super Singles.
Our company uses the new tires exclusively on tractors and trailers purchased in '08 and later. They do save money. The footprint they create is slightly smaller than the dual tires they replace, and this makes for better fuel mileage. Big trucks have traditionally averaged around 5.5 miles per gallon. Right now out truck averages closer to 6.5 to 7 MPG - which doesn't really sound like all that much until you consider that U.S. Xpress has literally thousands of tractors running around the country, and each one is averaging between 10,000 and 25,000 miles each month (depending on whether there are one or two drivers). The other major upside is when you have to "chain-up," and we had to do that twice this past winter, there are fewer chains to mess with. Also, these tires are supposed to last longer, which is a good thing because they are horrendously expensive.
The biggest downside is that when you blow a tire and you only have four drive tires or four trailer tires, you are losing 25% of the rubber you have on the road instead of the 12.5% you'd lose if you had the more traditional tire configuration. That hasn't happen to us, or anyone I've met, but it's bound to happen someday. On the other hand, the Super Singles do have their own monitoring system, and are tied into the truck's air compressors. So, if one starts losing pressure, the systems recognizes the problem and starts pumping replacement air into the tire, and lets you know what is happening so you can make a more permanent fix as soon as possible.
The other significant downside, so I'm told, is that the tires simply aren't as good when the roads get slick. Again, so far we haven't seen this ourselves, but I hear a lot of grumbling from some of the other drivers using the wide tires.
Anyway: the whole point here is that our tractor only has six wheels, and sometimes our trailers only have four wheels. I really don't know if this Super Single concept is here to stay or not. It still boggles my mind a bit to think that you can put up to 80,000 lbs. on ten tires when it used to always take at least 18. And, I hope I never get to find out what happens if very suddenly we have only 9 tires to roll on.
Over the past several years, the concept of Super Single tires has started to make its way into the trucking industry. Super Single tires are almost twice as wide as traditional tires (the normal drive tires on the tractor and the tandems on the trailer) and are designed to replace the eight sets of dual tires on a typical big rig. They are still getting mixed reviews by a lot of the long-time truckers. There are pros and cons to the new wider design. Personally, I think the pros outweigh the cons, but then again, I've only been driving for a year and a half, and have only driven a tractor with Super Singles.
Our company uses the new tires exclusively on tractors and trailers purchased in '08 and later. They do save money. The footprint they create is slightly smaller than the dual tires they replace, and this makes for better fuel mileage. Big trucks have traditionally averaged around 5.5 miles per gallon. Right now out truck averages closer to 6.5 to 7 MPG - which doesn't really sound like all that much until you consider that U.S. Xpress has literally thousands of tractors running around the country, and each one is averaging between 10,000 and 25,000 miles each month (depending on whether there are one or two drivers). The other major upside is when you have to "chain-up," and we had to do that twice this past winter, there are fewer chains to mess with. Also, these tires are supposed to last longer, which is a good thing because they are horrendously expensive.
The biggest downside is that when you blow a tire and you only have four drive tires or four trailer tires, you are losing 25% of the rubber you have on the road instead of the 12.5% you'd lose if you had the more traditional tire configuration. That hasn't happen to us, or anyone I've met, but it's bound to happen someday. On the other hand, the Super Singles do have their own monitoring system, and are tied into the truck's air compressors. So, if one starts losing pressure, the systems recognizes the problem and starts pumping replacement air into the tire, and lets you know what is happening so you can make a more permanent fix as soon as possible.
The other significant downside, so I'm told, is that the tires simply aren't as good when the roads get slick. Again, so far we haven't seen this ourselves, but I hear a lot of grumbling from some of the other drivers using the wide tires.
Anyway: the whole point here is that our tractor only has six wheels, and sometimes our trailers only have four wheels. I really don't know if this Super Single concept is here to stay or not. It still boggles my mind a bit to think that you can put up to 80,000 lbs. on ten tires when it used to always take at least 18. And, I hope I never get to find out what happens if very suddenly we have only 9 tires to roll on.
