Super singles (wide base) tires on a spread axle trailer, your thoughts.

I don't like the ss myself. Get a flat and your on the side of the road. On steer axles they tend to grab ruts and throw the truck around and hydroplane in heavy rains. Lots of tire squirm in tight spots. Never chained one but the cross links would be huge.

 

Never seen a steer super single?? If your not running them on the drives to then the only advantage is the weight. Actually in my opinion the only advantage to SS is weight since a SS on a aluminum rim weighs less than a set of tandems.

 

Yes less Tare and more Gross. 10ton on a SS steer axle in permitted states. I prefer a tandem steer(12ton) than the SS.

 

supers generally do fine under normal circumstances. At higher speed they are prone to ballooning a little which can make a load less stable. They are proven to save weight and fuel which is why you see so many on the big companies trucks.

 

I pulled a Roll-Tite with experimental super singles for a company back in 2001/2002 before they were popular. Not sure what the specs are/were, but the ones I had were much wider than what I see now. I was not a fan of them running light or empty on snow-pack, but other than that they were better in my opinion. They were on a spread axle trailer and they much easier to maneuver than duals - also much quieter.

In June of 2011 it's a readily available tire so the "wait on the road for a new one" isn't really a factor anymore. I''ve seen numerous carriers in our yards with flat ss tires and it was no big deal.

If Freight ever wants to test them as drive tires I'll give them a shot but want the proper cheater and full chains before I do it..

 

As you know, with a spread axle, you can tear up tires easily if you get careless during tight maneuvers with a good size load. I am developing a huge interest in Wide Base tires (they are no longer called super singles, by the way, according to the Michelin Service Rep, but whatever) at least on the tractor, because of the weight (600 +/- lbs vs duals) and rolling resistance vis a vis fuel economy. I would suggest calling Bridgestone and Michelin and asking them specifically about your intentions. They also have duals they can sell so they ought to be pretty honest with you. Just a thought. The above Michelin guy was extremely helpful.

 

Maverick tried them, they are back to duals, on the trailer that is.

 

Super single is actually the historical term for the oversize steer tires as seen on a lot of construction and oilfield trucks. Wide-base single is the correct term for the single drive and trailer tires that replace a set of duals.

 

I've heard that before but if you start saying "wide base tires" instead of "super singles" you start to see the lights going off depending on whom your talking to.

I imagined the wide base steers where what you see on a 20,000 steer axle.