Tire Pressures and Tag Axle Loadings

[Dick Simonis]

OK guys, hope you can help me out here.

Following are the axle wts:

Front axle--- 12,950
Tag Axle----    9250
Drive Axle--- 15000

I have Toyo 12R22.5 tires and have attached the Toyo infoation chart.  Then I look the chart it appears the rear axle and tag is very lightly loaded and would take pressures down around 60 to 70 psi.  Firsit, am I doing this correctly and, if so should I decrease wt on the tag am move some wt back.  This tag thing is very new to me so please bear with me.

Thanks,

Dick

[Robert Mathis]

Dick, first congrats on the new rig. Very nice. What are the axle weight limits on this one? I would probably reduce the tag pressure a little which would unload both the tag and the front axle, unless you are close on the drive axle limits. On my Contessa, I tried to keep the weight on the tag around 7500#. I would give you the exact weights but the rig is in Wildwood and is under contract for sale.

[Dick Simonis]

Dick, first congrats on the new rig. Very nice. What are the axle weight limits on this one? I would probably reduce the tag pressure a little which would unload both the tag and the front axle, unless you are close on the drive axle limits. On my Contessa, I tried to keep the weight on the tag around 7500#. I would give you the exact weights but the rig is in Wildwood and is under contract for sale.

Axle ratings are:

Front     14,000
Rear      23000
Tag       10,800

The tag air pressure set to 40 psi.  

I suspect I need to be careful not to unload the front too much or it might affect handling but I'm just guessing here.

[Robert Mathis]

Looks like you are well within limitations. I ran about 25-30 lbs of air in my tag, and tried to. Keep the front end a little light. I normally ran with a full fuel tank and about 1/3 H2O, but wanted enough capacity up front to fill the water tank, have passengers and extra gear without overloading the front. I also ran. My tires a little over the inflation chart as a safety buffer. Normally 80 in the tag, 85 drive and 110 steer tires. That gave me a good ride, but still had enough air pressure to avoid too much sidewall flex which builds heat.