I have mostly pulled spread axles. I pulled a tanker with tandems for a few months. The tandems turn a lot quicker than spread axles. Also, with a spread axle, if you turn too sharp with a heavy load, you run the risk of tipping the trailer at the front and/or pulling the tire(s) off the front spread axle, since it slides across the surface rather than rolling like a tandem.
A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".
A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".
Thank you Bud, that's good to know, it helps alot
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Does anyone know if backing a flatbed is a lot different than backing a van trailer? I heard it was, but I'm really not sure.