Is "single"ing Out An Axle Legal.

If I Throw a cap or have a damaged tire, can I have the tire removed from the rim and keep going? I see it a lot of containers/chassis up and down the I-10 corridor CA to AZ and many have no tire on one or more rims. Obviously weight would be an issue but If I'm empty and have a two axle trailer that won't come into play. Thanks in advance for any input.

If I Throw a cap or have a damaged tire, can I have the tire removed from the rim and keep going? I see it a lot of containers/chassis up and down the I-10 corridor CA to AZ and many have no tire on one or more rims. Obviously weight would be an issue but If I'm empty and have a two axle trailer that won't come into play. Thanks in advance for any input.

In short, yes it is legal. We have dry bulk trailers here that have removed one of the rims entirely from each side of an axle because there is no way they can get enough product in the tanks to be overweight on that axle. Would you get hassled, probably.

can I have the tire removed from the rim and keep going?

If it was something you could just 'kick' off yourself and keep trucking, that would be one thing. But if you have to stop long enough to have someone remove it, how long would it take them to put another one on? Probably less time than you would lose getting pulled over and possibly ticketed for it.

One thing you would have to look out for is weight. Even if your axle weight is legal, the fact that it's only spread across three tires means you have to make sure you don't exceed the load limit of any of the tires. That will get you a ticket also, and it's obviously extremely dangerous.

Remember, it's trucking - safety is always the most important thing and protecting that license of yours is second. If you make decisions that put time or money in front of safety it's going to bite you sooner or later. You have to ask yourself if something like that is worth doing.

And never make the mistake of thinking, "They can't give me a ticket for anything anyways. I'm not doing anything wrong." Trust me, they can always give you a ticket for something. There's no such thing as a truck they can't find something wrong with. So don't push your luck in that regard either.