How come they all use car wheels on their trucks? I thought it might be something to do with saving money by buying smaller tyres but obviously they are not going to last as long as normal size truck tyres and going to use up more fuel so not really a money saver. :-/
europe has a max running height of 4mts where ours is 4.8mts, and its heavly inforced
I doubt they are car wheels and tyres as they wouldn’t last 5mins 
To get the maximum load space within the 4.0 metre height limit.
Bridge heights on most routes in europe were built to just over the 4 metre mark, newer motorways around 4.2 so the lowrides maximize on space!
bubsy06:
How come they all use car wheels on their trucks? I thought it might be something to do with saving money by buying smaller tyres but obviously they are not going to last as long as normal size truck tyres and going to use up more fuel so not really a money saver. :-/
I think the fuel will be the same because of diff ratios etc. I think they will more likely go through more tyres due to them doing more revolutions per KM?
bubsy06:
How come they all use car wheels on their trucks? I thought it might be something to do with saving money by buying smaller tyres but obviously they are not going to last as long as normal size truck tyres and going to use up more fuel so not really a money saver. :-/
the smallest lorry tyre is probably 205/75R17.5, which can look like a big car tyre but it is not. lorry tyres have higher load index - 120 that is 1400kg per tyre is probably the min you’ll find between lorry tyres and it’ll go onto a 7.5t - and lower speed index (max M, 130km/h)
the reason for using smaller wheels is clear - to max loading space.
btw, some of those british double/triple hi-cube trailers use even smaller wheels, 16" ones.
while there are plenty car drivers that will fit anythin onto their car as long as it fits, there are very few truck operators that would fit tyres other than those specified by manufacturer onto their trucks. especially in europe where two brands on one axle mean mot failure.
HomoFaber:
bubsy06:
How come they all use car wheels on their trucks? I thought it might be something to do with saving money by buying smaller tyres but obviously they are not going to last as long as normal size truck tyres and going to use up more fuel so not really a money saver. :-/
the smallest lorry tyre is probably 205/75R17.5, which can look like a big car tyre but it is not. lorry tyres have higher load index - 120 that is 1400kg per tyre is probably the min you’ll find between lorry tyres and it’ll go onto a 7.5t - and lower speed index (max M, 130km/h)
the reason for using smaller wheels is clear - to max loading space.
btw, some of those british double/triple hi-cube trailers use even smaller wheels, 16" ones.
while there are plenty car drivers that will fit anythin onto their car as long as it fits, there are very few truck operators that would fit tyres other than those specified by manufacturer onto their trucks. especially in europe where two brands on one axle mean mot failure.
■■■■■■■ ell, I know they are not car wheels, they just look like them compared to uk truck wheels, and the reason for using them is not clear if you have no knowledge about truck driving in euroland
We have run on small wheels for 5 years now but because of the need for cube & not weight the motors perform the same on fuel as a normal tractor & tyre wear is less!
has this anything to do with why most foreign trucks I see have the top of their wheel arches missing around the king pin level? - something I noticed but never been brave enough to ask
ebabes:
has this anything to do with why most foreign trucks I see have the top of their wheel arches missing around the king pin level? - something I noticed but never been brave enough to ask
I think you can only remove the top of the mudflaps on uk registered trucks if the clearance between the unit wheels & the trailer is less than 100 millimetres! Our trucks are within that measurement so we remove ours coz any adverse camber
or slope normally results in them being ripped off!!!
Our European cousins don’t have to keep to this law-it’s a UK only thing.(so i’ve been told anyway)
Or perhaps they have shorter drivers 
zippy!:
I think the fuel will be the same because of diff ratios etc. I think they will more likely go through more tyres due to them doing more revolutions per KM?
they definitely use more fuel, because the lowrider trailers use 425-465mm tyres and their rolling resistance is much more than that of a regular 385mm tyre. The steers and drives don’t usually last much more than 150tkm, some only ca 80tkm, as opposed to the regular 385/65 steers, which last for up to 400tkm.
The tops of the mudflaps can be removed when running with a trailer, you must use them while running without the trailer.
milodon:
zippy!:
I think the fuel will be the same because of diff ratios etc. I think they will more likely go through more tyres due to them doing more revolutions per KM?they definitely use more fuel, because the lowrider trailers use 425-465mm tyres and their rolling resistance is much more than that of a regular 385mm tyre. The steers and drives don’t usually last much more than 150tkm, some only ca 80tkm, as opposed to the regular 385/65 steers, which last for up to 400tkm.
not all megacube trailers run 425-465 tyres
ive only ever pulled 2 trailers in my life with tyres that big. one was a megacube with 445 tyres. the other was for nightfreight with 445 tyres but normal profile.
the other megacubes had twin wheels at the back which i prefered as the twin axle with the 445s cut in alot quicker than the twins
I don’t think any major trailer manufacturer specs their products with twin wheels anymore and the twin wheels create the same resistance as a single 465mm tyre. The swedish company who’s trailer I pull has around 10 mega trailers, all of them on 465-s.
philgor:
europe has a max running height of 4mts where ours is 4.8mts, and its heavly inforced
I thought the UK didn’t have a max height limit ■■?
It says ERF not RAF:
philgor:
europe has a max running height of 4mts where ours is 4.8mts, and its heavly inforcedI thought the UK didn’t have a max height limit ■■?
It doesn’t, yet.
It says ERF not RAF:
philgor:
europe has a max running height of 4mts where ours is 4.8mts, and its heavly inforcedI thought the UK didn’t have a max height limit ■■?
We have a minimum height for bridges with no height indication, and its a higher level than your average european bridge!
zippy!:
It says ERF not RAF:
philgor:
europe has a max running height of 4mts where ours is 4.8mts, and its heavly inforcedI thought the UK didn’t have a max height limit ■■?
We have a minimum height for bridges with no height indication, and its a higher level than your average european bridge!
Indeed, 1.03 metres higher in fact.
Recent conversation with a transport clerk after I had a hire unit with small wheels and height adjutable 5th wheel for towing a low floor DD
clerk. “your MPG is bad today, 7.5 MPG whats the reason?”
Me “my truck had low profile tyres and wheels on it”
clerk (puzzled) " what difference does that make?"
Me " well, the tyres are about 50% smaller than normal truck tyres, so they need to go round faster, so logically for every 1 mile a normal tyre does, these need to travel 1 and 1/2 miles, which means the engine has to drive them further, so there fore the economy should be about 25% below normal. now, you take 25% off MY normal MPG and compare it with todays, you’ll see that, actually, my MPG was very good considering"
clerk " …" (stunned silence) " hmmm …ok…er …well …er hmmm, ok so what should your MPG be today?"
me “shall we just round it off to 10MPG?”
Clerk"ok"