Question about Line Trucks

[thrasher]

First some background, our Cooperative is a distribution only Coop no transmission. We like everyone else are building taller and heavier distribution lines, for a variety of reasons. This in turn means heavier and longer reach booms on the digger/derrick trucks. However with DOT limiting us to a maximum of 20,000 lbs per axle, we are hitting a limit on moving poles. Traditionially we have used a single rear axle with dual tires on the back of the line truck and due to desire to be able to put out a "max" effort during storms the truck has been equipped with full bins and all tools plus some materials. Now that means we are at 19,000 lbs on the rear axle before we hook on a trailer. Consequently we can only haul 3 40 foot poles at a time without exceeding the rear axle DOT limit on our newsest and biggest Line truck.
What are other companies doing? Do you buy your digger/derricks with no bins? Do you buy digger/derricks with dual rear axles? What are others doing and what are the pros and cons?
Just trying to get some ideas before we start looking at our next truck.

[Nyblast]

Can you add an air tag axle? To the truck. Might be a good option. Check out the link.http://www.stengelbros.com/RidewellLiftAxles.htm just a thought.

[Pootnaigle]

If you are gonna haul multiple poles on a headache rack on the truck itself they require dual axles on the rear. for A trailer I aint sure as that has been all but eliminated.Most jobs only require a few poles and they are hauled on the headache rack rather than a pole trailer.A single axle truck can only carry one pole at a time here.Using the headache rack one doesnt really need a guard vehicle following behind, The excess can be loaded in front of the cab.Plus a dual axle truck usually can go where a single just wont make it... I am of course speaking about distribution stuff here.Transmission poles are a whole nuther ballgame.

[heelwinch]

If your moving 50's or better all the time, a tandem axle truck is what you need.

That's all I ever dealt with for the most part ( transmission) and that's all we ever had for trucks over my last few years.

And like Poot said those 4 extra ballons will get you in places where you couldn't before.

[rcdallas]

Any new line trucks we get have tandem axles due to the weight issues.

[hotwiretamer]

All but one of our line trucks have tandems and all wheel drive except one.

[thrasher]

The only digger we have with a headache rack is our off-road tracked digger. We have just always used trailers. Part of this is probably because we are rural enough still, that probably half our jobs have 3 or more poles on the one job. We have built 27 poles to a single service within last three years. For those type jobs a headache rack doesn't cut it.
Thanks for the comments sounds like most are going to dual rear axles.

[lewy]

We are also a distribution only utility & most of our digger trucks & all of our double buckets are tandems with a full assortment of bins, our average pole is a 60' so we need the bigger boom. What is a headache rack?

[heelwinch]

We are also a distribution only utility & most of our digger trucks & all of our double buckets are tandems with a full assortment of bins, our average pole is a 60' so we need the bigger boom. What is a headache rack?

A rack right on the truck to carry a pole or two.

[Pootnaigle]

Ummmmmmmm a headache rack is device that kinda is over the cab( made of stout metal) and directly behind (it over the rear axle ) where you can load a pole with the top hanging over the cab and the butt extending behind the rear bumper of the truck.Usually the one over the cab is built a foot or so higher that the one over the rear axle. Ummmmm Yall just get a chain n drag them poles This here splainin stuff iz too hard.

[Trbl639]

We were limited with the Headache rack to 40's or shorter..anything else required a trailer..............we finally got rid of the old style where we used a 35 ft pole for a tongue pole and got the trailers with the extension type steel tongue, the advantage to the old tongue pole, if ya got a broke pole call and were a long way from the yard and needed a 35...well ya had one!!:D

[ratbastard101]

We have actually gotten away from the dual axle linetrucks with bins and all. I work for a muni and most of our work is residental areas. We haul all our poles on a trailer, although I wish we had a rack on our line trucks for hauling the occasional service pole. We also went back to flatbeds on our line trucks due to not having operators assigned to them. What ever crew or crews need to set poles or have a need for a line truck take them out as needed. Ours have two bins on each side for slings, chains, and a little of material for grounding, etc while setting poles. The flat bed is nice when having to haul transformers and other material like ABGOs. I do agree with the previous ones who stated the double axles will go more places, they definately pull better off road but when they get stuck...well it is that much worse.

[Rammstein]

Tandem axle trucks are nice for hauling weight and great for extra traction but they do not turn as tight and are harder to get in out out of some places.
While I have not seen any yet on line trucks an air operated tag axle works great for dump trucks and such and might be something we start seeing in utility trucks as well as they are usually cheaper then another complete drive axle in the back.

Another thing to look into to keep the weight off the rear axle is putting your heavy items in the front bins to keep the weight off the back of the truck. Or instead of going with a flat bed truck as some have get one with bins in the front but a flat deck in the rear to save some weight.

I have seen some companies in the past use aluminum bodies on their trucks to not only make them lighter but also so they don not have to deal with rust on the tool bodies. Yes aluminum is a more expensive body but what is the extra cost associated with a tandem vs a single axle truck. Also what is the cost to keep them from rusting out if its a truck you are going to own for a long time especially up here in the north with all the road salt. I do not know the exact prices for this items but would be something to look into and see the cost difference and the weight difference.

[230kv_barehand]

If you are gonna haul multiple poles on a headache rack on the truck itself they require dual axles on the rear.

Here its different. We use to pull both headache racks with poles on a single axle "center mount" that was of course, trash.

Being a cooperative with no transmission I would say a "rear mount" with a single axle should get the job done. It always did us well during pole changeouts and re-strings. Ours had like half and half, with I think 3 big bins up front then before the axles had no bins. Most digger/derricks you shouldn't really need a bunch of bins IMHO.

[rcdallas]

Tandem axle trucks are nice for hauling weight and great for extra traction but they do not turn as tight and are harder to get in out out of some places.
While I have not seen any yet on line trucks an air operated tag axle works great for dump trucks and such and might be something we start seeing in utility trucks as well as they are usually cheaper then another complete drive axle in the back.



We have transmission trucks with the 3rd tag axle...big mammer jammers. Hell I'd use one as a service truck just to say I have one, though I enjoy not having to jack with outriggers.

The tandems we have in distribution turn just about the same as the single axles...don't have any problems in alleys with it, at least not around here.

[dooghi]

We are a rural co-op and have our own three men construction crews. Not alot of people but we get the job done. We havegone to a 6x6 digger truck with a rear mount boom. It is an Altec 2050 with remote so it helps a bunch. When we go to do rebuilds and system improvement we will build three or four miles at a time, and some og the new services are ten to tweleve pole jobs. So we need to sarry more poles. We have had as many as 20 35-3 on during storms and had no problems. Like they say though when you get one stuck you are stuck.