Possibly a silly question RE truck wheels.

Possibly a silly question RE truck wheels.

Author
Discussion

sebhaque

Original Poster:

6,404 posts

182 months

Monday 4th August 2014
quotequote all
Apologies if it's a stupid question.

Was walking past a truck parked up at work earlier and I started wondering - why do trucks have different front wheels and rear wheels (both on rigid and artics)? I always thought that unsprung weight on the driven wheels should be relatively low compared to non-driven wheel - and you see trailers on both single-axles and duallys. Most trucks have front wheels that "poke" outwards and recessed rear wheels.

What's the reasoning behind it? I would assume the dually trailers are due to the weight of the loads the trailer's expected to carry - but I'm sure I've seen big rigid trucks with the same wheels front and back. Is the main reason for the difference in wheel due to the load the vehicle's designed to carry?

Appreciate it's not the most interesting of subjects for a Monday night but I'm curious.

TIA

sebhaque

Original Poster:

6,404 posts

182 months

Tuesday 5th August 2014
quotequote all
Thanks for the explanation. So if you were to take the wheels off the front axle of a lorry and swap them over, you'd be looking at something akin to the rear wheel setup?

Also, hello new forum!