Wanting to buy a lorry for a low loader for farm deliverys of excavators and to haul straw onto farms and out of fields in the summer and for a bit of bulker work. Will a tag axle make that much difference to grip? i have been looking for a few months and found nothing buyable yet. Plenty of choice in mid lifts with this as a nice example at £24k trucks.autotrader.co.uk/used-tru … model/fh13 Would just suit me with hydraulics as well. I am not in a desperate need, would you advise to wait for a tag?
Tags were always better on landfill work than midlift in my experience if this helps. You might wait forever for the perfect vehicle to pop up 2nd hand. Personally, if I though I was going off road, i’d go tag if there was a choice there and then but if you can afford to wait around too long do you really need a wagon?
Own Account Driver:
do you really need a wagon?
Yes, past the edge of legality.
in the forestry they will only use tag axle or double drive due to traction problems the tag will transfer more weight on to drive axle to give more grip and traction a midlift seems to take weight off the drive axle i dont understand the geomatary of how it works
ianto:
in the forestry they will only use tag axle or double drive due to traction problems the tag will transfer more weight on to drive axle to give more grip and traction a midlift seems to take weight off the drive axle i dont understand the geomatary of how it works
On a midlift the 5th wheel is between the drive and steer axles so when the mid lift goes up any additional weight is shared, although not evenly, between the drive and steer axles. On a tag the 5th is above, or often behind, the drive axle so when the tag is lifted the extra is now applied directly to the drive axle. If the 5th is behind the drive axle then leverage means more weight than the tag was supporting is added to the drive BUT that extra comes by virtue of it “lifting” the front a bit and thus reducing steering effect. 
In normal running with axles down, a tag should always “carry” more weight on the drives too because of this as the pin weight is on/behind the drive axle and sort of shared, if you will, between 2 axles. Where as on a midlift in normal running the pin weight is born more across all 3 axles. If that makes sense 
I prefer a tag, they lift higher, give us better manoeuvrability and much better traction.
i used to do a job up a very steep concrete access road , the tag axle motors went up it all weathers , but my mid lift spun out even on the slightest bit of damp . tag every time ,
ibson:
I prefer a tag, they lift higher, give us better manoeuvrability and much better traction.
And get tangled up in the chassis rails of the trailer as you drive onto a ferry or up a steep ramp.
It takes all sorts 
Horses for courses if you go off road on a regular basis a midlift is useless.
Wheel Nut:
ibson:
I prefer a tag, they lift higher, give us better manoeuvrability and much better traction.And get tangled up in the chassis rails of the trailer as you drive onto a ferry or up a steep ramp.
It takes all sorts
And yet amazingly with a bit of common sense I never had that happen at all. not on ramps, road, tracks nor ferries.
HTH
billybigrig:
Wheel Nut:
ibson:
I prefer a tag, they lift higher, give us better manoeuvrability and much better traction.And get tangled up in the chassis rails of the trailer as you drive onto a ferry or up a steep ramp.
It takes all sorts
And yet amazingly with a bit of common sense I never had that happen at all. not on ramps, road, tracks nor ferries.
HTH
Neither have I but I have seen the damage it can do. 112 Scanias seemed to be the worst for it with a fridge or long pin trailer.
Most trucks have the lift axle in front of the drive axle, but some have it behind the drive axle. Why is this 
And what are the pros and cons of these different configurations
The difference is " lift axel & tag axel " lift axel is middle axel lift and tag is rear.lift axels are ideal if your loading A tipping B in a decent area. In our line of haulage (see avatar) we’re roll on roll off so manouvering in tight bakeries and pulling empty bins off waste food compactors with a hook on the trailer, traction is of the importance so we’ve opted for tags. Same with a lot of firms that have to perform tricky manouvers in farms and areas where its boggy and traction is needed . Also you have a better turning circle in tighter spots… 
We used to have tag axles but eu turning circle legislation made it difficult for them to comply with the law.
The company i used to work for had an old cf with a steering lift axle
who needs all them axles at the front 4x2 is fine
More room for a big derv tank on a tag.
Harry Monk:
We used to have tag axles but eu turning circle legislation made it difficult for them to comply with the law.
Can you explain what your talking about? 
Hiya…if your in a tight spot and reversing with the tag axle up you dont half have to keep
your eye on the rear light lenses as the back end swings out, I prefer a centre lift axle.
John
From memory it seems that both configurations were about equal in numbers until about 93/94 when pusher axle/mid lift/twin steer or whatever you want to call them became exedingly more popular. By this time both Volvo and Scanias chassis for there Tag axle units had become a bit longer and high fuel prices were becoming more and more of a concern so for a closer coupling with the trailer and therefore less drag = more mpg more companies would spec the shorter chassied pusher axle option. These are i think harder on tyres than the Tag axle and im sure with a sliding fifth wheel you can get quite a close coupling with a Tag. I think most mid lift units the lift axle is just that (it only lifts) where Scania have only recently offered this as an option having previously only had a steering lift axle(proberbly better for tyres). I had also thought that a Tag might be heavier than a mid lift as the chassis is longer so more metal = more weight, but have since been told that a pusher is heavier as ther are extra ball joints and stuff.