Grain Truck Question....

[Anonymous-0]

Hi.. from SE Indiana and have heard all my life of "twin-screw" trucks... however never had an understanding of what the "twin-screw" meant. Thought at one time it was a type of hydraulic but starting to think different... can anyone clarify?

 

[RODGEinIL]

Hey James, the twin screw moniker comes from the fact that you have two driving axles at the back of the truck. A common driveshaft drives the front axle then goes thru the differential to the back drive axle.

 

[Roger H]

Hi James whether its a straight truck or a semi, a twin screw is the only thing to have, there are tandem trucks out there that are only a "single screw" meaning that only one of the rear axles does the pulling while the other one just follows along carrying half of the load, those are called a tag axle, some tags can be raised to put more weight on the drive axle if in an "almost getting stuck situation" some tags do not raise. Some trucks may have another axle in front of the drive axle that may only have one tire on it instead of two and it looks like a front axle from another truck, that is a cheater axle, they are made to contact the ground after a certain load is put on the truck

 

[Anonymous-0]

Would I be correct then in assuming that a "live tandem" and a twin screw are indeed one and the same? I've always referred to tht as a live tandem, and the tag axle I am familiar with also, on our small farms around here we don't differentiate... we call single axles straight trucks, and tandems tandems, although both types are straights, just how we came to know them I suppose. Thanks for all your info!

 

[Anonymous-0]

James, a tandem rear setup that only had one drive axle was sometimes referred to as a "dead tag" so a "live tandem" would probably be the same as a "twin screw".