53-foot van trailer questions

[Generic Name]

1) Has anyone ever seen 53-foot van trailers in the US with three dually axles arranged like the three single axle trailers in Europe? Never did in my OTR driving days and wonder why they are in ATS.
2) Likely the most common (and inexpensive) trailer in the US is a 53-foot dually twin axle *uninsulated* aluminum or fiberglass walled dry van trailer, something oddly not offered in ATS. Pulled loads everywhere east of the Rockies in all four seasons, including liquids like beer, soft drinks and water in such trailers and never lost a load.
3) FYI, there may be chaos in near future US trucking if California goes through with a proposal to limit any trailers traveling within their state to a maximum of 48 feet. Think about the logistics and cost increases this would cause nationwide. i.e. NYC did the same thing some years back because of Manhattan's confined and congested nature and the cost of goods shot up to new highs there as a result.

[v1cV3Ga5]

We use the 53' tri axle quite a bit up here in Canada but I've never seen one in the US in all my travels.

It's funny CA wants to go backwards on trailer length.... We've gone to allowing LCVs up here (2 53' trailers.... With restrictions) and 60' tried axles are on the road being tested

[Zero [是鷺]]

I've never seen any tri-axle dry vans around my area in Southern Virginia, just regular old 53' tandem trailers. Only thing usually tri-axle round here are lowboys. A reason I heard for restricting trailers, and this came from my dad who got a ticket in a completely different state for having a 53' trailer from DOT, is because 53' trailers are causing damage to the roads. This is what happens when Washington gets bored.

[toto3002]

i saw a 4 axle with lift axle

[TwinShadow]

Here in North Texas, all I really see are flatbeds, 53' trailers with dual axles, double pups (STAA double), 28' trailers, and maybe the occasional 40' and 48' trailers, but those I don't see as often.

But I like how for a while in the US, there were length restrictions which gave rise to cabovers here in the states for a while. (I actually say a cabover the other night which was the first I've seen in almost 2 decades) Then of course, now we got states wanting to go backwards now after a lot of those restrictions were lifted.. just baffles me sometimes.

[Mechanic_Wolf]

I saw a cabover daycab pulling a 53' trailer with dual axles just yesterday. I did see one tripe axle only once here in Cali, but I think it was a 48' or less dry van trailer.

[Calisthra]

For a time back in the mid 90s I pulled a 56' tri-axle chip trailer (walking floor). The tractor had a 300" (or 310"?) wheelbase and a steerable 10k drop axle centered between drives and steers. Licensed weight was only 92k because the boss didn't want to buy the upcharge for 98k.

Not many companies ran those and I haven't seen them much since I left the state around '04. I do know another small company up that way (WA-OR-ID) that runs 53' trailers with 4 axles, but those are single tire per side, not duals or super singles.

[Hylton Trucking]

As for #2, they do have regular dry cans, insulated & reefers

[metromaster]

Originally posted by American Rider:

1) NYC did the same thing some years back because of Manhattan's confined and congested nature and the cost of goods shot up to new highs there as a result.

They must have rescinded it, because I see 53 foot trailers on local New York city streets on a regular and ongoing basis

[v1cV3Ga5]

Originally posted by metromaster:

Originally posted by American Rider:

1) NYC did the same thing some years back because of Manhattan's confined and congested nature and the cost of goods shot up to new highs there as a result.

They must have rescinded it, because I see 53 foot trailers on local New York city streets on a regular and ongoing basis

Funny you should mention this... Just jogged an old memory

When I used to run long haul we had a permit book full of stuff for all the lower 48 and 10 provinces.

In the section for New York you could clearly see no 53 footers were allowed in the 5 boroughs..... It was also stated that it was "understood" we would haul 53's in because it wasn't an enforced law

God I'm glad I don't do crap like that anymore!

10th and 6th in Manhattan delivering a load of paper to a printing company on US Thanksgiving Day.... Oh the memories I can't forget regardless of how much I drink

[Calisthra]

Just don't get caught on the Whitestone bridge. That was an expensive bit of tuition one night....

Edit:
My bad, I was pulling a 48'x102" spread-axle stepdeck. The 102" width is what got me.

[metromaster]

I should have known it would be something like that. NYC is great for having laws on the books that are not enforced.