if you had to spec a high power truck (2nd hand, thinking v8 scania / fh16) that is going to run at full weight, that would be regularly driving up steep tarmac roads but also perform off road duties, what axle configuration would you be going for and why?
this is what i’m thinking so far, but other than one day using a tag on road work, i’ve only got experience of the midlift setup
double drive - limited choice, weight penalty, as i’ve never driven one how do they compare to a 6x2? i’m guessing tyre wear and mpg suffer? can you get them on air / is it the norm?
tag - better off road traction, better maneuverability, compromised ride quality, will it want to wheelie on steep hills?
midlift - i’ve drove midlifts on farm delivery contracts and only had the odd issues in extreme snowy conditions
if you had to spec a high power truck (2nd hand, thinking v8 scania / fh16) that is going to run at full weight, that would be regularly driving up steep tarmac roads but also perform off road duties, what axle configuration would you be going for and why?
this is what i’m thinking so far, but other than one day using a tag on road work, i’ve only got experience of the midlift setup
double drive - limited choice, weight penalty, as i’ve never driven one how do they compare to a 6x2? i’m guessing tyre wear and mpg suffer? can you get them on air / is it the norm?
tag - better off road traction, better maneuverability, compromised ride quality, will it want to wheelie on steep hills?
midlift - i’ve drove midlifts on farm delivery contracts and only had the odd issues in extreme snowy conditions
cheers
Personally it’d be a double drive first choice, especially in tipper work the ability to lock the diffs and both axles can be very helpful. Second choice would be a tag axle with twin wheels on the lift axle.
If goin off rd it has to be double drive all day long, I used to drive on landfill in a class1 foden(boss truck) anyway the extra drive really helped especially if there’s no-one around to assist gettin out of the sticky stuff
Double drive for me.
Only downside is, if you’re on the loose and try to screw it round hard, it’ll tend to push you straight on.
One of our motors has the front axle permanently ballasted and runs at 10.5 tons on the front. Still ‘understeers’ when you lock it round, the double drive wants to go in a straight line.
Having Diff locks and cross locks and hub reduction far outweighs this minor downside though.
Get a tag with twins on, You can have them fettled so they transfer most of the weight onto the drive when things get sticky, twins help stability, look better & dont scrub as bad. No need for a double drive unless your off road an awfull lot or running over 80 tons.
maestro:
If goin off rd it has to be double drive all day long, I used to drive on landfill in a class1 foden(boss truck) anyway the extra drive really helped especially if there’s no-one around to assist gettin out of the sticky stuff
but did you drive a 6x2 on the same job for a comparison?
fly sheet:
Get a tag with twins on, You can have them fettled so they transfer most of the weight onto the drive when things get sticky, twins help stability, look better & dont scrub as bad. No need for a double drive unless your off road an awfull lot or running over 80 tons.
i would of thought that you’d need to dump the air in the tag just as much as you would, if not more than you do in a midlift to get it up a steep tarmac road, but then i’m thinking is it just going to want to pick the front of the unit up, am i anywhere near?
i’m thinking the double drive is slightly on the overkill side of things, but not ruling it out. i would of thought the tag would be the ideal weapon of choice, but it’s just the wheelying thing that i’m unsure of. the offroad side of things would more than likely nothing that a midlift couldn’t cope with
No but I did use to drive round them a lot while they waited for the bulldozer to give them a push. Honestly there is a massive benefit for double drive if that’s the kind of off rd driving your doing, I used to go on landfill 4 times a day single drive performs ok in the dry but when the rain comes that’s when single drives will get stuck. But like someone said they can push you straight sometimes during tight turns but that’s less off an inconvenience than bein stuck
maestro:
No but I did use to drive round them a lot while they waited for the bulldozer to give them a push. Honestly there is a massive benefit for double drive if that’s the kind of off rd driving your doing, I used to go on landfill 4 times a day single drive performs ok in the dry but when the rain comes that’s when single drives will get stuck. But like someone said they can push you straight sometimes during tight turns but that’s less off an inconvenience than bein stuck
We’ve had this dicussion before and from my experiance i’d go for either midlift or rear lift . I wouldnt go for double drive off road it limits your option too much when stuff gets slippy . I’d prefer to be able to get all the weight on one drive axle . I know it sounds wrong but ive be stuck in the ■■■■ more times with double drive than i have with single drive .
stevieboy308:
double drive - limited choice, weight penalty, as i’ve never driven one how do they compare to a 6x2? i’m guessing tyre wear and mpg suffer? can you get them on air / is it the norm?
We used to run a double drive and it got well over 300,000km out of a set of drives, on some of the tires the sidewalls cracked up before the tread got too low. As for MPG the 6x2 that we have now at most gets .2-.3 mpg better but most weeks is pretty much spot on what the double drive got.
As all the others have said, I was always a bit tricky doing tight turns in the wet with a the double drive however it never got stuck so we could live with the under steer. The only benefit of the 6x2 so far appears to be its a few 100kgs lighter than the double drive for the work that we do, others will say different depending on what you’re doing with it.
I would go for a Scania with double wheels on the Tag. Scania for the reason that you can chose how much weight you want on the drive. With say Volvo it’s just nothing or all. Don’t worry about the steering, a rightly built tag you still have around 4.5t on the steer with 19t on the drive…
Double drive is nice but the cost of it and the extra weight can’t really justify. + it’s a bit harder on fuel even with the rear axle disengaged. Also double drive is worthless when you are empty since you can’t lift the rear axle if your not going for a Sisu
