Ady Williams:
Is it ok to lift/lower the drive axle to give the lift axle a bit of clearence and drive with it? I normally use road position on the remote.
Road position is fine. It can have it’s settings altered at the dealer, so if the company wanted it running at a different height, they can get it altered, but as a driver, green button and go 
espresso:
First time we got Scanias, they sent a guy out to show us the ropes, and he said it is good practise to always leave the middle axle down except for when unit only, which is what I have always done since.
I got the same bloke, he told me to always have the trailer legs down when loaded…those where the days we had metal wheels on the legs.
For the average nowadays driver … the side of the vehicle you get in to drive it is the the one on the left hand side as you look at the front of the truck, the big round thing in front of you when sitting in the cab is what you guide it with, the little pedal on the floor to the right near your feet makes the lorry go faster and the … yawn 
Hiya…at one time if you got the cheap tax for 6 axles you run all the time empty or loaded
with all wheels turning. we had a driver who loved his front trailer axle up…ops nicked.
that was awhile before the smaller wheel mid axle units apeared
Ady Williams:
Is it ok to lift/lower the drive axle to give the lift axle a bit of clearence and drive with it? I normally use road position on the remote.
The problem with this would be variable trailer height, as said it’s really a dealer set in stone job, that way its two standard heights (depending on tag up or down) when you press the green button, if you whacked a bridge for instance someone could argue that you’d set the drive axle height too high.
You can temporarily alter the drive axle height if needed (eg rough ground or bridge too close for comfort), but it’s not something i would suggest for normal driving.
I think if you purchased your own" boots" then it would always be up unless it had to come down!
5RRF:
I think if you purchased your own" boots" then it would always be up unless it had to come down!
Spot on, they’d sharpen up their blind side reversing too instead of leaving rows of black rubber all over the concrete performing unecessary U turns to get in the simplest of spaces on their own side.
Does anyone else raise the tractor non steer mid lifter when they are going to be doing some tight manoevering fully loaded, you can ‘feel’ the vehicle much lighter turning with it raised.
Quite noticeable the difference in mid lift wear pattern and rate of wear with the sister fleet lorries who’s drivers don’t practice this, must affect, albeit far less, the wear rate of the drive axle tyres too over time.
Did this with my previous CF Daf too, after watching the tortous indeed alarming angles the tiny mid lift wheels assumed on tight turns.
raymundo:
For the average nowadays driver … the side of the vehicle you get in to drive it is the the one on the left hand side as you look at the front of the truck, the big round thing in front of you when sitting in the cab is what you guide it with, the little pedal on the floor to the right near your feet makes the lorry go faster and the … yawn
That can’t be correct, my mate pyotr gets in the other side in his unit & it goes just fine! I think you’re trying to wind us up.
Alcpone:
In theory it shouldn’t go down until you are over 38t, but that is in an ideal world and you are pulling a tri axle trailer and the load is loaded properly, i.e weight is spread evenly.
Corrected for accuracy.
wheelnutt:
Alcpone:
In theory it shouldn’t go down until you are over 38t, but that is in an ideal world and you are pulling a tri axle trailer and the load is loaded properly, i.e weight is spread evenly.Corrected for accuracy.
Oh I do apologise for my inaccuracies, I was always led to believe 5 axles meant you could be 40t MGW and 6 axles meant you could be 44t MGW.
Alcpone:
wheelnutt:
Alcpone:
In theory it shouldn’t go down until you are over 38t, but that is in an ideal world and you are pulling a tri axle trailer and the load is loaded properly, i.e weight is spread evenly.Corrected for accuracy.
Oh I do apologise for my inaccuracies, I was always led to believe 5 axles meant you could be 40t MGW and 6 axles meant you could be 44t MGW.
2 axle unit, 3 axle trailer, depending on plate can be - and usually is - 40t.
Some are plated down though, since if they buy that configuration, they’re not normally going to get anywhere near 40t - foam companies etc.
waynedl:
Alcpone:
wheelnutt:
Alcpone:
In theory it shouldn’t go down until you are over 38t, but that is in an ideal world and you are pulling a tri axle trailer and the load is loaded properly, i.e weight is spread evenly.Corrected for accuracy.
Oh I do apologise for my inaccuracies, I was always led to believe 5 axles meant you could be 40t MGW and 6 axles meant you could be 44t MGW.
2 axle unit, 3 axle trailer, depending on plate can be - and usually is - 40t.
Some are plated down though, since if they buy that configuration, they’re not normally going to get anywhere near 40t - foam companies etc.
So I was right aswel as clever clogs?
The gross train weight has nothing to do with when the midlift goes down ,it’s the weight on the drive axle that does it .
wheelnutt:
Alcpone:
In theory it shouldn’t go down until you are over 38t, but that is in an ideal world and you are pulling a tri axle trailer and the load is loaded properly, i.e weight is spread evenly.Corrected for accuracy.
Still not correct, the overall vehicle weight has nothing to with when the axle drops. it drops when the relevant axle weight has been reached. It is all about the pin weight, put 10 pallets of tomatoes on the headboard then 16 pallets of peppers in the rest of the trailer overall weight not much over 30t yet your lift axle will drop, put that combination on a two axle unit and you will get done for being overweight on the pin.
Still not correct but getting there 
Dipper_Dave:
Still not correct but getting there
LOL
mazzer:
wheelnutt:
Alcpone:
In theory it shouldn’t go down until you are over 38t, but that is in an ideal world and you are pulling a tri axle trailer and the load is loaded properly, i.e weight is spread evenly.Corrected for accuracy.
Still not correct, the overall vehicle weight has nothing to with when the axle drops. it drops when the relevant axle weight has been reached. It is all about the pin weight, put 10 pallets of tomatoes on the headboard then 16 pallets of peppers in the rest of the trailer overall weight not much over 30t yet your lift axle will drop, put that combination on a two axle unit and you will get done for being overweight on the pin.
So back to what I originally said about the load being spread evenly
Contraflow:
espresso:
First time we got Scanias, they sent a guy out to show us the ropes, and he said it is good practise to always leave the middle axle down except for when unit only, which is what I have always done since.
+1^^ with the cheekey monkey.
Remember the bint who drove for Stobarts who jacknifed in the snow on the motorway? She was empty and had her middle axle down.
I do remember hearing once that Stobart wanted all their motors to run with middle axle down, so people thought they were always loaded (this was quite a few years ago)
Juddian:
rigsby:
espresso:
First time we got Scanias, they sent a guy out to show us the ropes, and he said it is good practise to always leave the middle axle down except for when unit only, which is what I have always done since.i’ll bet he’s moved on now to running dcpc courses .
pffft…
great for empty wet grip, must be a barrel of laughs pulling out on a wet busy junction.
Or climbing a wet hill
kindle530:
Contraflow:
espresso:
First time we got Scanias, they sent a guy out to show us the ropes, and he said it is good practise to always leave the middle axle down except for when unit only, which is what I have always done since.
+1^^ with the cheekey monkey.
Remember the bint who drove for Stobarts who jacknifed in the snow on the motorway? She was empty and had her middle axle down.
I do remember hearing once that Stobart wanted all their motors to run with middle axle down, so people thought they were always loaded (this was quite a few years ago)
I never heard that at all when I had a mid lift. The only time I would drop it when empty was if I had a decker fridge on. It seemed to sit better on the road. Or if needing to save the 3 inch extra ride height to get under bridges or to stop clattering trees!
As for that bint… quite standard brainless driving for a majority of our company.
