Phil D

On my truck I consider Crossfires money well spent just for the convenience of the single inflation point. The old Kenworth-exclusive Alcoa wheels with semi-triangular hand holes were unique, but a bigger PITA than regular ol' round holes, so removing and replacing pressure sensors on those inner duals was a nightmare. All of the other benefits that they offer are just gravy.

That's traditionally been the case, and it still works as a general rule-of-thumb, but they now offer a T880S model for certain vocational applications (most likely the same ones for which the W900S was developed) that has a set-forward axle.

In my experience, as long as you're having them filled on a regular (in-season) basis, most providers do not charge demurrage on the tank, and generally price the propane that goes into it at a reasonable, per gallon price. It's a much better deal, not to mention more convenient, than trying to keep 40# or 100# tanks full when this service is available.

The two common settings for truck tractors are either 120 or 135 PSI.

If you're going with a Garmin, choosing a Desl over an RV model won't gain you a thing as far as routing. The RV Garmins use the same road and highway database as the Desl versions. The only difference is the POI database, with the RV models having POIs that matter to RVers, and the Desl models having POIs that matter to truckers. When you're RVing with an HDT it would be convenient at times to have both available at times, but that's not an option. I was on the fence like you are when I bought mine many years ago, I chose the RV version, and I'm convinced that I made the right choice. When I'm navigating to any given night's destination I'm headed for an RV Park, not a truck stop, and that's what the Garmin RV models provide.

The Resource Guide doesn't get updated with campground information because that's not the designated repository for that data. It's for information regarding HDTs and towing with HDTs only. What you're looking for is the Heavy Haulers RV Campgrounds web site, which is located here: http://hhrvcampgrounds.com/.

One wheel and tire per wheel position has been discussed here many times. You may want to search the forum for some of those discussions in order to make an informed decision. To summarize, engineers (most notably, the engineers that work for the companies that make the hubs on which you'd be mounting those wheels and tires) hate the idea, unless it's done "right" -- and nobody that does it does it "right" because that involves purchasing new zero offset wheels for all four drive tire positions. The weight ratings of the hubs is drastically reduced when operated with a standard offset truck wheel.

Best of luck on that CWI, Glenn! Maybe I'll see you somewhere down the road.

Many of us with air over hydraulic brakes on the trailer can't readily "hook up" to a commercial trailer's air system. In the commercial world the convention is to hard-plumb the air lines to the tractor, with gladhands on the air lines to attach to gladhands on the trailer. In the RV world, many (and I'd dare say most) have found it more convenient to plumb the air lines to the trailer, to connect to a pair of gladhands on the tow vehicle. A tractor in RV service plumbed this way has no way to connect to a commercial trailer unless someone has rigged up a special set of hoses with gladhands on both ends.

There's a reason that Volvo doesn't install nor include provisions for seat belts in the workstation benches, beyond just the cost of the belts and hardware. Lap belts are designed to restrain a human sitting so that they're facing the likely forces that the belt would impose in an accident -- forward forces, not lateral. You would be risking potentially severe injuries to your kids in the event of a serious accident, were they to be belted sitting sideways.

That caught my eye, too. But in the pic in his signature it appears that he's tandem.

Cory, the Hercules dealers that I referred you to earlier will also be able to give you information on the Ironman tires that Dollytrolley is referring to. Ironman is Hercules' third-tier brand, along with Dynatrac, their mid-tier brand. Their dealers typically have access to all three brands.

Cory, I last bought tires (both truck and trailer) in the fall of 2018, and I'm sure that prices may have gone up since I bought, but nearly $500 each for an unknown brand seems to be extremely high to me. I don't blame you for not wanting to pay a premium price for name-brand tires that are going to "age out" instead of wear out -- I did the same thing when I bought mine. I bought Hercules tires for my truck and trailer, and on the trip home from northeastern Pennsylvania back to the Rio Grande Valley, I was well pleased with them. You might call one of the two Hercules commercial truck tire dealers in Las Vegas (according to the Hercules web site there's one north of town, and one west of town, whichever is closer to you), and see what they can do for you. Based on what I paid a year and a half ago (about $310 each, installed), I can't imagine that they'd be almost $500 each now.

Modern transmissions should always be "learning", and its programming becoming more efficient as runtime increases.

EGR came with the EPA04 emission package engines, which, for most manufacturers, went into production in the fourth quarter of 2002, per a consent decree. They can be found even in some late 2003 model year trucks.

Unfortunately, in my experience there are no bargains at a Kenworth dealership, either.

No, he clearly doesn't know what he's doing. He's a career bureaucrat that thinks he knows more than he really does, and worse yet, one so close to retirement that he doesn't care that what he's doing is preventing you from doing what needs to be done. What you're trying to do has been legal to do in Texas for many years. He's just inventing "rules" as he goes along, not following the manual.

Ray, the Seagate/Western Digital thing is just another Chevy/Ford type of deal -- everybody has an opinion, but there's no telling on what those opinions are based. Personally, I've always had good experiences with Seagate drives, and I tend to prefer them over WD products. The next guy to weigh in, though, may tell you the opposite. Fact is, the failure rate of major brand hard drives is extremely low these days.

And she'll hit you again if she sees this!

If 1989 is what they said, then yes, it's definitely "fake news". I first heard of glider kits during the 1974 model year, and it may well not have been an entirely new concept then, although that most likely was the first time that they were used to evade an unpopular and ultimately unworkable governmental mandate. 1974 was the year that NHTSA first imposed an anti-lock brake requirement on heavy trucks, despite the fact that the technology to make them work properly did not exist at that time. The resulting vehicles were so unstable that many customers eventually refused to buy any more new trucks, and all of the manufacturers got into the glider kit business in a big way to both provide their customers a way to replace their trucks without the new, FMVSS compliant brake systems, and to keep their own production lines going.

Texas is just as easy as is South Dakota, and they're just as familiar with both the concept and the process (not all county Tax Assessor/Collector's offices where there have been few conversions titled are experienced, but those that aren't and can't find the appropriate section in the manual can readily obtain procedural guidance from Austin). In fact, for years Texas was more flexible than was South Dakota, since they continued to allow the conversion to a motor home while SD went through a period of quite a few years when the only option available for HDTs was registration as a private truck -- even going as far as revoking the titles of trucks already titled as motor homes. Now that South Dakota once again allows HDTs to be titled as motor home conversions, the two states are pretty much equal. That being the case, it makes no sense for a Texas resident to register in South Dakota, or vice versa.

Reprogramming of the ECM is necessary to keep all functions that are dependent on calculated road speed (speedometer/odometer/cruise/fuel economy display, etc.) working normally and reasonably accurately. No gear setup should be required when pulling the axles and exchanging the carrier as a complete unit. The "setup" doesn't change as long as none of the internal components are adjusted or removed from the carrier.

I recognize that place, too. When I was living and working in the Burlington area for a few years, the thing that I most looked forward to every year was the public tour there during the Tulip Festival. It's a fascinating place, and a guided tour with a company retiree made it even more interesting.

We're currently in Battleground Campground, Ringgold, GA, through 3/3, then on to northern Virginia for a few months of work.

Welcome, Rod. If you're certain that all you'll ever want to haul is an ATV and your fifth wheel, the 6 X 2 version would be an ideal setup, because it could easily handle what you're proposing to haul, and it's essentially "pre--singled". The rigs that are "marginal" that Jim alluded to, are trucks hauling a smart on board, often along with a large, jam-packed drom box, and a trailer with a lot of pin weight, that was singled by separating a tandem set, so its 20k axle is very near its limit.