Euro Trucks ROCK!

[Thor's Hammer]

this is the most awsome truck I have ever seen. absolutely incredible terrain ability, carrying nearly 50,000lbs....
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[sotc]

that is cool, very impressive pulling that trailer up hill in the sand! when trailered is it running off the front axle?

 

[lumberjack]

What kinda cost?

 

[lumberjack]

Yeah Jer, front wheel drive. I don't see provisions for activating the trailers' brakes though?

 

[Paul B]

cool truck but not exactly new technology.

 

[sotc]

no big squishy flotation tires in the front, obsolete

 

[Frans]

no big squishy flotation tires in the front, obsolete

Those 'big squishy' tires are called super singles. You see them on concrete trucks and some fuel hauling trailers. Same footprint as duallys, but alot better for tight access

 

[Thor's Hammer]

Not those Frans. Those are much bigger than super singles, and I reckon they are fitted with a central inflation system.

 

[sotc]

Those 'big squishy' tires are called super singles. You see them on concrete trucks and some fuel hauling trailers. Same footprint as duallys, but alot better for tight access

our concrete trucks have the wide tires but not mushy like that. they allow 20k pounds on the front axle with them here

 

[Frans]

ah, I see. The only time I have seen larger super singles is on road paving equipment rigs.

 

[lumberjack]

Willie, you think the mushiness could be a factor of the air pressure in the tire?

Refered to as "airing down," offers better traction in all conditions except air or floating in water.

 

[SkwerI]

I concur, Carl. Looks like they dropped the air pressure waaaaaaay down for the demo video in order to reduce the chance of getting the truck stuck. Notice that the tires weren't so severely underinflated in the highway scenes.

 

[Thor's Hammer]

Willie, you think the mushiness could be a factor of the air pressure in the tire?

Refered to as "airing down," offers better traction in all conditions except air or floating in water.

Not those Frans. Those are much bigger than super singles, and I reckon they are fitted with a central inflation system.

 

[sotc]

figured they were large 4wheeler type tires.

 

[lumberjack]

Airing down is way common in the offroad world, especially for rocking.

The more pressure increases the speed a tire can carry a given load before the heat buildup shreds the tire.

A downside to lower pressures is reduced sidewall stability..

 

[sotc]

i do that on my quad to ride dunes, makes sence. seems it would shorten tire life?

 

[Thor's Hammer]

http://www.ctibigfoot.co.nz/h00731.htm

 

[sotc]

is that just an inflation system or different tires also ed?

 

[Thor's Hammer]

Dunno. I imagine it must have some sort of special rim or someting.

 

[lumberjack]

CIT(I)S is just a hub (or portal) setup, any tire/wheel combo can typically be used.

With lower pressure on pavement/hard surfaces, radial's sidewalls won't like it one bit. On either bias or radial, the tread would most likely wear funny.

 

[sotc]

some of our newer autos have a similar system. i know the new toyota tundra does

 

[stehansen]

I've seen a similar system used to haul potatoes out of the field in eastern Washington.

 

[lumberjack]

Fairly certain no production vehicle has CITIS, even as an option. They do have tire pressure and temp monitoring systems, which are fairly mundane unless you're running runflats on a light duty vehicle.

Figure it costing $8k+ for 4 wheels.

On HMMWs, Mogs, and Volvo's the air is ran through the stub shaft in the portal box, giving you air to the center of the hub. From there it's a simple hose/tube (normally two hoses 180* from each other) to the wheel.

There is some bootyfab/backyard tech trying to figure out how to run it through the hub's casing on a typical straight axle, but as far as I have seen it's sketchy at best.

I'll stick with getting out and doing it manually.

 

[Paul B]

The original Hummer had/has central tire inflation system no?

 

[Thor's Hammer]

As do production Unimogs.