Can anyone tell me if I'm able to get away with a single axle daycab?

$105/day plus 15cents/mile is a sweet deal ? If you run 2000 miles/week that comes to $4455/month ! you could make payments on 4 trucks with that kind of money.

 

Also do you have cargo insurance on the trailer to cover any accidents.

 

Well, if your trailer weighs 14k and the truck prolly only weights 16k, your probably well under 30k to start with, PA allows 73,280 gross on 4 axles and 22,400 on that drive axle if it is registered for that weight, (may only be registered for 20k).  You say you only put 25-30k of cargo so you're only gonna be grossing 60,000.  I got a feeling you wouldn't even need the spacer in the front and you'd be fine.  Just have them load it even front to back and slide your trailer axles forward to pick up the extra weight.

also, PA allows 36,000 on the trailer so you have plenty of leeway on both ends, it would be hard to screw it up only putting 30k on.

 

Your only allowed 20k max on the drives, 34k on the tandems, this is a real risky setup, imho. By the way I drive a 2 axle and have for the last 10 years. unless your oing to pull double by a 3 axle. Your tractor/trailer weight will probably be in the neighborhood of 26k empty, but you will not be able to gross 80 you will only be able to gross 12,20,& 34 axle wise, or 66,000. with a tare at 26,000 you can net 40,000. now loading this is going to be fun, and worse the handling with 65% of the weight in the rear of the trailer is going to be a nightmare setup to jackknife. Over all this is a plan for disaster. Buy a 3 axle so you will at least be able to load it safely.

 

not to mention if he slams on the brakes with 8ft in the nose, and no blocking he'll have a cargo claim from hell specially with reefer. I have a feeling he'll have some problems with weight on that drive axle as well unless he's got his tandems all the way up. He'll have an extra 2k on the drive as opposed to a van I don't know a whole lot about calculating weight on pallets and where to put them in the trailer but in order for everything to be safe He'll be over on his drive. You bring up a good point with your jackknife. I'd rather get nailed for being over on drives than load heavy on the rear and spin the truck around. Personally I agree with you I'd say stick with the twin screw. And at least he'll have a power divider in the winter.

 

The only way to know if you can do this or not, is for you to give a bit more information about WHAT it is that you are doing. You say you are only running two days a week, and it appears that it must be something that is pretty close to home. But how much of a variation do your loads have. And how much variation do you NEED to have the capacity for, in case whatever you are working now should come to an end.

There are a lot of single screw tractors out there, doing a lot of different things. But when it comes right down to it, unless you are convinced that what you are doing is NEVER going to require anything bigger, you are better off staying with a three axle. It also gives you a lot more stability on less than ideal driving conditions.

 

33 years ago I bought my first truck, a single axle Louisville with a single axle high boy trailer. That worked pretty well, but customers wanted bigger loads than I could handle, so I bought a tandem trailer with sliding axles. Then I could take the bigger loads, but also then some other issues started. I was often heavy on the drivers, and, in winter and in mud, I was forever getting stuck. No locking diffs back then. After a couple of years of fighting stuck and heavy, I went to a tandem tractor. Much better for what I was doing. So...unless you can get your loads to a science, and, if you can guarantee you won't ever have to drive in ice or snow with it, I would not recommend it. I was never in a situation requiring a quick or unexpected stop either, but that was early eighties out on the "frontier". Not nearly the traffic we have now. So there are 3 major issues for you to think about- weight problems, getting going, and getting stopped. I'd give it some careful consideration if I was you. Don't get blinded to these things by the visions of those profit dollars rolling in. They aren't going to mean much when you are stuck at an off ramp stop sign in 3" of new snow with a line of irate drivers lined up behind you wondering why you aren't moving.