Wide tires v's duallys

[desi arnaz]

What is the advantage or disadvantages of a real wide rear tire and rim v's  two tires and rims?
I saw a  rather large mh today with just one very wide tire and thought there must be something to it.

[Oonrahnjay]

     Three quick disadvantages.  1)  Converting with new wheels and tires is breathtakingly expensive (or at least it was when I looked a few months ago).  2)  If you lose pressure, you've lost it all.  With two separate tires, you have the option of "limping" on the shoulder of the road to a tire changing place at 12 MPH.  3) If you have six (or eight) identical tires, you have the possibility of carrying a spare (Coach-Net can get it going for you quick); trying to find a big single may be a big issue at 9PM on a Saturday night just off the Interstate.

     But that's just a quick response.  There will be more, I'm sure. 

[HB of CJ]

Yep.....The $expense$ comes to mind first, "super single" tire costs are in the four figure range.  Special wide alloy wheels are also very expensive.  Apparently the factory trucks with super singles have a special front and rear axle track widths.  I know fire apparatus do on the front 20,000# axles.

Others will probably give other good answers also.  About the only thing I can think of that gives the super singles an advantage would be with the decreased footprint.  This may allow a  Crown SuperCoach 40' 10-wheeler the limited ability to drive on the beach with firm sand.  HB of CJ (old coot)

[desi arnaz]

so much for that idea.....

[Joe Camper]

The trucking industry has other benefits from doing this primarily bringing down the empty weight. Every hub that you convert from a tandem tire to a single reduces the weight by 100lb approx ( on my trlr I lost 380 lb by doing all 4 hubs/both axles.) Do the tractor too and that's 800 may not seem like allot but when your getting paid by the ton and the law has a limit on how much you can haul over a long period of time the added revenue of additional product eventually becomes way more than covers the initial costs. Usually this is combined with aluminum HUBS  and lightweight Centrifuge drums and if you do this and do the entire tractor trlr in this manner you are aproaching a 1500 lb lighter empty weight and that is pretty significant and will realize added revenue immidiatly and continually.

I used to get 385's for under 500each so compared to buying 2 new regular tires if you do your homework the cost of the rubber will be slightly less, mounting is going to be half. The security of duels is gone but , as evident by the popularity of the singles now,Ii would say that the general concensus in the industry is reliability of a single is great and I would agree. I ran them for a decade on my dump trlr. They really did allow me to make more money. They actually have sidewalls that are very very strong. Very strong. I had a couple flats but I never blew one.

All that said, would I want them on the drives on the bus absolutely not I think it would look weird. Thought my dump trlr looked way better with duels too but......... Would I want them on the steer or tag. Absolutely but not for any other reason other than I like the look. The new XL's have 365's on the steer and tag and that would look perty dern good on the old 85 we have. I think it would be 5000 bucks and axle to get there with the studs and everything. LOT of doe.

[Lin]

I think that when you start seeing the super single wheels and tires you need on Craigslist, it may be worth looking at.  Same thing with personal rocket packs.

[uncle ned]

I wanted to put two on the back of "HUGGY" but I could not find any tall enough.  also I could only find hub centered no stud centered.

I though the super singles would look so like a old hotrod small on the front and big on the back.

Also all the truckers that I talked that owned their own truck loved them.

uncle Ned

[luvrbus]

You see Prevost with super wides except on the drive axle, A Eagle owner that passed away had super singles on the drives with wide on the front and boggies sharp looking but he didn't care for driving characteristics of the bus much

[buswarrior]

Orleans Express in Quebec, a high line coach company, is running 445 super singles on the drives and 365 on the steers and tags of some of their Prevost XLII.

In comparison, the new MCI J I was driving had 315's all around.

Orleans runs an hourly service between Montreal and Quebec City, as well as lines to many other locations throughout eastern Canada. Leather passenger seats, power outlets at each seat and WiFi since before anyone knew what that was, you get the idea. Innovators and not afraid to try new things.

I can't get the pics to load... need more practice!

happy coaching!
buswarrior

[TomC]

The true super singles that you'd want to use are the 445/50R-22.5 that replaces the 275/80R-22.5 or 295/75R-22.5 low profile. Or the 455/55R-22.5 that replaces the 11R-22.5.  They do make a 2" offset rim that keeps the super single at the same outer placement as a dual tire-but we (Freightliner) found that the outer bearing was being over loaded with premature failures.  So now on new trucks, the only way you can get a super single is also ordering a wide based axle that allows a 0" offset wheel to be used.  If you want to convert back to duals, they would be out at about 101". The main reason the Super Singles are used is for weight reduction.  As to lowering rolling resistance, there are dualies that come very close to the Super Singles.

Although the construction super singles are much taller with slower rpm, they are rated only to 65mph.  These are the 385/65R-22.5, 425/65R-22.5, and the 445/65R-22.5.  Also very expensive.  If you do anything, I'd suggest switching to the tallest tire available but still rated at 75mph-and that is a 11R-24.5.  Good Luck, TomC