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Attention: Shadow the Cat's Owner

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  • Member since
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Posted by Shadow the Cats owner on Wednesday, August 14, 2019 6:42 AM

The tires on a tandem axle are rated to carry up to 7K lbs each tire and while the loss of 1 is a problem if the driver is lightly loaded which most Fed Ex trucks are they can normally get away with it as long as they do not come apart and throw parts of the flat into the second tire in the duel.  With the way Fed Ex hauls their loads with a tandem truck here is how they can be loaded per the Axle loading setup according to the FMCSA 12K on the steer 34K on the drives 20K each on the single axles up to 80K gross weight.  

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Posted by Paul of Covington on Wednesday, August 14, 2019 11:37 AM

   This all reminds me-- I haven't noticed them lately, but a few years ago, I noticed that the dual wheels were sometimes replaced by a single big fat wheel.   What happens if one of those fails?   It would be like having both tires of a dual set failing at once.   Seems like it could be catastrophic.

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Posted by Shadow the Cats owner on Wednesday, August 14, 2019 1:01 PM

It depends on how severe the failure is and how heavy your loaded.  We run them and tell our drivers if you blow one to stop when it is safe to do so and wait for a service truck.  But then we are pulling hazmat most of the time with the trucks equipped with them and do not want the headaches of dealing with the DOT that causes.  Most carriers are dropping them do to costs and not saving enough money from replacement.  A set of drives is 1200 bucks one of these super singles is 1400 each.  So the costs are higher and the weight savings just are not there for the mega fleets.  Also you run into some traction issues come winter and wet weather they tend to not want to grip the road as well as 2 tires and can spin out more.  My drivers prefer the dual wheel setup and we are switching back to them and cutting fuel capacity on the trucks we can to compensate for the slightly heavier tire package overall about 300 lbs per truck so we are dropping about 50 gallons of fuel from 250 down to 200 gallons.  

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Posted by BaltACD on Wednesday, August 14, 2019 1:08 PM

Training session for the Shadow's 'Expidited Delivery' drivers

https://www.facebook.com/brian.l.duke/videos/10220170781280175/?t=158

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by Shadow the Cats owner on Wednesday, August 14, 2019 6:45 PM

Nah we call that one the See What I F'up Today and Crash Roll Stunt Teams Driver training School Videos around here.  Swift somehow managed at a local DC for Petsmart to take out 20 trailers at one time by hitting one and causing it to collaspe sideways into 19 more and breaking their landing gear.  The cargo was yet to be delivered in some of them and needless to say Aqueon and Marineland are beyond angry with SWIFT right now.  Why the Black friday sale aquariums for most of the midwest were in 2 of the trailers and we are talking 125 and 150 gallon tanks that were destroyed.  I got that bit of news from our UPS driver that was making a delivery there.

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  • From: At the Crossroads of the West
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Posted by Deggesty on Wednesday, August 14, 2019 7:33 PM

That Swift driver wasn't too swift, was he?

Johnny

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Posted by tree68 on Wednesday, August 14, 2019 8:10 PM

Deggesty

That Swift driver wasn't too swift, was he?

I was a little concerned the other day in Deshler when I saw a container from said company on a train...  

LarryWhistling
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There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...

  • Member since
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  • From: Sterling Heights, Michigan
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Posted by SD60MAC9500 on Wednesday, August 14, 2019 9:45 PM

An extra row of pallets with slimline units installed.. This could be a game changer.

Rahhhhhhhhh!!!!
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Posted by Shadow the Cats owner on Wednesday, August 14, 2019 10:31 PM

Tare weight of the container is 18500 alone then you have another 6k for the chassis. So your at 24500 for the combo. A OTR reefer trailer can be under 14 k wet weight with an ice cream spec unit and then 18.5 k for the tractor to get 46500 lbs of cargo. Prime specific lightweight can haul 48k in all states and their normal load is 47k for their fleet. So yes they've solved the cargo carrying issue however they're still way too freaking heavy for most OTR industry customers and carrier's. FFE hauls a lot of Kraft foods and Oscar Meyer products. KLLM hauls a lot of fresh express salads. All I know is England has not been expanding their own fleet of containers only replacement of older units.  It's the 3 ton weight penalty that is the issue. You see most produce pays so much per hundred weight moved. So leaving 6k pounds on the dock isn't going to help the bottom line on the accounting department. 

  • Member since
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  • From: Sterling Heights, Michigan
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Posted by SD60MAC9500 on Wednesday, August 14, 2019 11:22 PM

Shadow the Cats owner

Tare weight of the container is 18500 alone then you have another 6k for the chassis. So your at 24500 for the combo. A OTR reefer trailer can be under 14 k wet weight with an ice cream spec unit and then 18.5 k for the tractor to get 46500 lbs of cargo. Prime specific lightweight can haul 48k in all states and their normal load is 47k for their fleet. So yes they've solved the cargo carrying issue however they're still way too freaking heavy for most OTR industry customers and carrier's. FFE hauls a lot of Kraft foods and Oscar Meyer products. KLLM hauls a lot of fresh express salads. All I know is England has not been expanding their own fleet of containers only replacement of older units.  It's the 3 ton weight penalty that is the issue. You see most produce pays so much per hundred weight moved. So leaving 6k pounds on the dock isn't going to help the bottom line on the accounting department. 

 

CIMC 53' Reefer comes in at 13,890 Lbs. Tare, with a 7,000 Lb chassis=20,890 Lbs. So under 5,000 Lbs. or better difference. Containers won't ever match trailers tare weight dry, and/or reefer we know this... Though this is a step in the right direction. Even though I'd prefer RR's get back into TOFC for domestic IM, but that's a dream that won't happen... Not enough multi-speed capacity available..for fast frequent TOFC service..

Rahhhhhhhhh!!!!
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Posted by Shadow the Cats owner on Thursday, August 15, 2019 6:55 AM

Most containers are weighed in dry without the reefer unit according to the people I have talked to.  The unit is about 2500 pounds extra since they are trying to get people to believe that they are as light as a trailer.  The loss of the 2 tons is still way to much in the reefer carrier business where every pound is needed to sometimes make a profit in hauling.

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