Wheel base?

Turning radius & ride. Also you must have 244" or less to operate in Canada, at least west of PQ. A longer wheel base will also give you a better ride, but requires more room to maneuver. In other words, you don't want a long wheel base for local work where you find yourself in tight areas.

 

Not remotely close to being true.

Lots of trucks running around over 244" wheel base, they just meet specific criteria.

 

That ain't exactly true, either. If you know how to drive, you can take a long wheelbase truck in and out of the same places as a short wheelbase truck.

 

That isn't really true either. Wheelbase is limited in CANADA to 244" unless you buy a permit or something. The wheel base should be different for different areas of operation. If you pull a van or Reefer trailer, you want the gap between the rear of the sleeper and the front of the trailer as small as possible, this helps with the aerodynanics of getting the vehicle down the road by having less wind resistance. If you pull a flatbed a longer wheelbase is needed as several flatbed items like chains and tarps are required and usually are stored when not in use on the rear of the tractor. A headach rack is usually a good choice also, but not required by US law, however Canada still requires them for flatbeds. Prior to 1983, I think, the length laws covered the length of the total unit, so to pull a longer trailer, a shorter tractor wheelbase was needed. After that, they only regulate the length of the trailer, so most converted to a longer wheelbase tractor. When pulling a flatbed with a long wheelbase tractor it is posssible to let longer loads extend over the front of the trailer as well as over the back. Many many loads of 60' iron were hauled on a 40' flatbed with the load going 10 feet over the front and the back.

 

What's the specific criteria?

 

Mostly it is just trucks specifically built for the oilfield. You can have a 400 inch wheelbase bed truck with a 45 ft float because it is specific to oilfield use. Otherwise in Alberta you can buy a permit for longer wheelbase but you will be limited on trailer wheel base which is the length between the kingpin and the center of the suspension. If your truck is built for oilfield use there is no permit and no restrictions unless it is a tridrive then you need a tridrive permit and you are supposed to have a long necked trailer so that you can get the fifth wheel ahead of center.

 

Come again?

I have been places in Boston that there is no way a long wheelbase over the road truck could get into. Some are very very tight with a short day cab, no way, no how a long tractor could get in.

 

This is true... Anyone that thinks all you need to be is a good drive to maneuver a long truck.. has only ever driven a farm trailer most likely lol.... Boston is one of those cities where I wouldnt go even if they gave me triple pay.. Anything North of Maryland is off limits for me even if I have a small truck.... Chicago is off limits and so is Seattle...

Everything else Im game.

 

I've been driving a 240" WB daycab for over 9 years now, taking it all of the same places as I used to go in a 198" WB daycab, and even into some jobsites that would've been better suited for tandem dumps rather than T/T's with 39' trailers. If you aren't good enough to get a long wheelbase truck in and out, perhaps you don't belong there in ANY truck and you should just stick to the interstates. It is about skill. Knowing what you have to work with, and how to use it to get the job done...and then doing it.

Just because YOU don't have the skills doesn't mean the task at hand is impossible or that the skills to complete it successfully are not possessed by someone else. I spoke with a gentleman a few years back...before I bought my truck...pulling around a 53' trailer behind his truck equipped with a 200" sleeper. His sleeper was longer than the wheelbase on the company truck I was driving ay the time. The funny thing is, I met him in Chicago. You know what else? His truck and trailer were clean...no scratches or dents from running into things with that long of a truck. Would I recommend that set-up for a new driver? No. I wouldn't recommend it to you, either, since you think it would be "impossible" to drive. Nothing is impossible.