Q You recently illustrated a four t axle
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artic with a claimed gross weight of 32 tons. As I have always thought a fiveaxle outfit was necessary under the new regulations to enable 32 tons gross to be carried, I would be glad of your comments.
A It is possible under the Construction and
Use Regulations for a four-axle artic to gross 32 tons. But for this weight the outer axle spread needs to be 38 ft. and it is virtually impossible, and normally impractical, to have a 32-ton-gross four-axle outfit because the maximum legal overall length is 42 ft. 7.75 in.
It can, however, be done with a tractive unit like the Scammell Himalayan which has a front axle well forward, though the semitrailer also needs to have its rearmost axle at the extreme end of the frame. The outfit to which you refer can be acceptable dimensionally, although the rear overhang might seem short.