Rear end delete

[flonly]

Has anyone on here ever heard of someone delete a rear axle ?Going from tandam with power divider to a single axle with no power divider?I mainly pull doubles that are less than 55000 in gross weight.They are similar to fed ex trailers.When I hook up i have like 5 foot inbetween truck and first trailer so i drag some air.I also thought my rolling resistance would go down with 4 less tires.This is something i have thought about for a while but would wait till i need tres .The savings in buying 4 tires shoul cover a lot of the work cost.Anyone have any thoughts?thanks

[kryten]

(04-23-2017 )flonly Wrote:  Has anyone on here ever heard of someone delete a rear axle ?Going from tandam with power divider to a single axle with no power divider?I mainly pull doubles that are less than 55000 in gross weight.They are similar to fed ex trailers.When I hook up i have like 5 foot inbetween truck and first trailer so i drag some air.I also thought my rolling resistance would go down with 4 less tires.This is something i have thought about for a while but would wait till i need tres .The savings in buying 4 tires shoul cover a lot of the work cost.Anyone have any thoughts?thanks

I knew a guy years ago who was on a dedicated run where most of his loads were well below 30000lb. What he did to gain a bit of an advantage was just single his drive tires. Still has 4 drive tires but on the two axles. True he did still have the extra drag of the extra diff but he did gain a bit on the fuel economy side from less rolling resistance. The bonus was when the carrier lost that contract all he had to do was reinstall the other 4 tires and he's ready for max weight again.

[flonly]

Thanks ya I have see one of or other owner operator do the same.I wanted to get the areodynamics of the truck working more in my favor also.One of other guys had older freightliner fld 120 single axle sleeper truck with detroit in getting 8.5 miles per gallon and that truck was like a 1998 but he did drive 55 all the time.

[Rawze]

Everyone I ever talked to that did this complained like mad and saw little gains mostly due to the offset in tire wear. The active drives only lasting them 180-200k miles and them getting eaten up all the time. You are essentially doubling the load wear on the tires and they will not last nearly as long as spreading among 4 tires does.

Just what I have been told by some of those guys who did this in the past. I know I wouldn't do it because the tire rolling resistance difference is negligible at the lower weights that a single axle can carry. Remember, rolling resistance gains are only at the max load for the tire. As weight lessens, rolling resistance comparisons become less and less important.

Completely removing all components for, tires, axle, springs, hangers, etc. and getting the weight of the forward axle assembly off the truck all together, the gains would likely be just high enough to be worth the effort. Adding to this, you could use a lighter weight rear drive axle assembly, low-pro tires, etc. to further improve this. Maybe something off a car-hauler? -- There again it goes back to only hauling light weight freight all the time. I have seen a few guys do this and get some gains, but they still complain about accelerated tire replacement just the same. Who knows what these gains would yield and if they would be worth it over the long term.


Sounds like your mind is already made up. Just thought I would throw in something to consider along your journey.

[flonly]

Thanks Rawze I have thought about it for some time but even being with the same company for 20 years you never know when you might need a extra axle so if the gains would not be great I think I will just sit on the fence for now

[schISM]

I'm with Rawze on this one. I had a little Pete 387 that had a "dead" axle on the back tandem. I was pulling a trailer with a lift axle and thought I'd put a lift on the back tandem also so empty I've only got three axles on the ground. Their was no gain, nothing. And it didn't help with tolls either. Illinois has a discount for. 4 to 5 axles which I only got if I stopped at the cash booth and asked for it. Rode pretty nice though.

[Trucker66]

My buddy ordered his with a dead axle. He complains all the time about how fast it east up is tires. And backing up it hops in tight pinchs. I think he's only getting 150,000 miles and has to rotate often