05-08-2011, 09:08 AM
Mr Fixit Wrote:Thanks for the info Callum.
Im a bit worried that the nice and shinney dog trailer tanker is short at least one or two axles given its size. A tanker that size here in Australia would probably have a tandem axle 5th wheel unit and definitely tandem rear axles.
Liquids are heavy afterall. Mind you a lot of stuff is transported using B Double units as opposed to truck and dog trailer, except for dirt and aggregates, those guys still like their dog trailers. We do have some B Tripple units here in Victoria, but until recently they were limited to the Ford trucks running between the Geelong plants and the main plant at Broadmeadows in the Northern suburbs of Melbourne.
I just wonder what they used for a prototype model?
Mark
That prototype is common throughout the U.S. I think he is modeling Southern Cal, and have never ever seen a tandem axle 5th wheel "dolly" in use in California, except on some of the heavy equipment, over sized load, flat bed trucks used for special movements. The tanker trailer is probably 18-20 feet long, not counting the tongue if I remember correctly, and the truck is probably 30-35 feet long from front bumper to the hitch. The maximum gross combination weight allowed on California roads without special permits is 80,0000 lbs. Some states in the northern part of the country, and Canada have different weight standards in the spring months that require extra axles to spread out the weight and reduce individual axle weights when the ground is soft, but California and the southwest don't have such restrictions, since we don't have a winter freeze or a spring thaw except in the higher elevations.