Magazine for the professional tire industry
Issue link: https://mtd.epubxp.com/i/714120
51 www.moderntiredealer.com year, probably because of lower fuel prices. Still, we're up from about 2.3% market share back in 2013." Similarly, Kelly Gedert, marketing manager for Detroit-branded products at Daimler Trucks North America, says the take rate there for 6x2s on Freightliner Cascadia trucks delivered in 2014 is less than 5%. So what's causing the wear issue? "On the driven axle of a 6x2, the torque will all go through one axle as opposed to two axles on a 6x4," explains Paul Crehan, director of product marketing at Michelin Americas Truck Tires. "Fleets should operate a drive tire that can handle the tractive forces that will be transmied through one axle as opposed to two in a 6x4 setup. As well, some tread designs may handle the torque of a 6x2 beer than other designs." In reality, a 6x2 behaves much the same as a 4x2 — a single drive-axle tractor. ere are tires designed for those applications, such as Goodyear's G572 1AD, but they aren't as common as typical long-haul drive tires found on most 6x4 tractors. Michelin says it offers several tires well suited for single-axle applications that would perform well as 6x2 drive tires, such as the Michelin X Line Energy D or the Michelin X Multi Energy D for optimum fuel efficiency, the XDN2 for beer traction or the XDS2 for extreme snow or mud conditions. A couple of other factors compound the wear problem on 6x2s. e drive tires can suffer tread damage if the drive wheels on the tag-type 6x2 see a lot of slippage in gravel or other rough surfaces. Tires on the non-driving axle can suffer, too. ey will see wear symptoms typical of a free-rolling tire, such as river/erosion wear, diagonal wear (from lightly loaded conditions), shoulder step/ chamfer wear and shoulder wear (from tight turns). Interestingly, because the non-driving tire does not experience the torque- related scrubbing, its wear rates might actually be quite slow, but free-rolling type wear may appear sooner than expected. Many fleets run trailer tires on the non-driving axle to reduce costs. Using a lower cost tire at this position can partially offset the increased drive tire costs associated with the faster wear rates. A 6x2 chassis configuration is a three-axle tractor with power going to just one of the tandem rear axles. Only two of the six wheel positions are powered. Early versions of the configuration featured a dead axle that went along for the ride until it was needed for carrying capacity. Quik-Link: 800-687-1557 ext. 19126