What are those diddy little wheels on the lift axles of some DAFs all about?
Is it to save weight? It hardly seems worthwhile to me so is there another reason? Do they handle differently to a tractor fitted with standard 22.5 inch wheels?
Why doesn’t anyone else apart from DAF use them? Or do they and have I just not seen them?
Yours,
Baffled of Turnham Green.
harry theyre to save weight and space.if you order a daf and want a non steering lift axle thats what ya get with the little wheel youve still got space for decent sized tanks,nedexco have alot of volvos with em and the little wheel seems very popular with the dutch fridge boys
sorry, I think they look orrible…they ruin the look 
Since when have third axles been specced on aesthetic grounds? 
Lucy:
Since when have third axles been specced on aesthetic grounds?
Even so, the still look, well, weird… 
quite a few get hidden behind side skirts and when raised you dont see them.
We have 2 plated at 56 tons with those little wheels. They don’t steer, But you can have total control over them, so you can lift them for reversing instead of dragging the tarmac and ruining your tyres.
They keep you legal, and you can have bigger tanks, but that’s about it.
You can’t beat 80’s for stability though.
have driven a 57 erf with it as well it is meant to be space saving for things like bigger tanks and the one i drove it give the room for a blower for a belly tank on cement
Hoyers have them on their day cab scannys on the petrol tankers as well
Didn’t think they needed bigger tanks…(Can’t get much bigger than the ones they pull 
)
Harry Monk:
Is it to save weight? It hardly seems worthwhile to me so is there another reason?
Several manufacturers have them as an option, and yes it is pretty much purely there for the weight saving. One of the places I drive has some XF105s and comparing one with a non steering mini midlift to a normal sized twinsteer gives a saving of around 800Kg which on bulk work is very significant (potentially gives the wagon up to another 60+quid a week of earning capacity depending on what work you’re doing).
They’re not a new thing either, Turners had an awful lot of 1999/2000 model ERF EC11s with them on their powder tanker operation. Currently they’re an option on DAF, MAN and Scania trucks at least, and possibly others.
Paul
This is Klunks motor, there are pictures of mine around somewhere with the Estepe axles.
My next motor will have one of those axles. Not that i have to explain, but i see a lot of valid points.
Weight saving,
less wearing parts,
better ground clearence,
the steering lock of a 4x2,
cos i can hide it behind a side skirt,
cos it appears to get up peoples noses! (not really, just bemuses me that some go on about it don’t look nice!)
heres my wagon, yes its looks weird at first but you get used to it, handy for tankers and tippers though…pete
if i’m honest i prefer the looks of a proper 6x2 midlift tractor unit.
It’s for new drivers who need stabilizers
There is a Dutch company who i cant for the life of me remember their name (Although Huismenn or something like that is in my head) They have MAN TGA’s and the bloody drive axle aint much bigger than that midlift, they look very perculiar!
But then they are cubed out with massive tilts, so for their operation it makes sense i suppose. I saw a Polish DAF on tiny wheels with a mega low loader plant trailer carrying a big shovel. For their application again this maded sense, it wouldn’y have made it home on the ontinent on a standard flat or even a normal low loader.
I think they are great as they show an engineers ability to adapt and solve problem!
Trubrit:
sorry, I think they look orrible…they ruin the look
Thats the sort of thing a boy racer would say if the dangling dice were removed from his 1 litre hotrod
Tiger
One of the strangest looking trucks I saw was a fleet of Renault Magnums with baby wheels and a hydraulic 5th wheel used for pulling Mansped mega trailers in Europe.
They did a trip with these megas and came back with a standard height euro trailer. These were the same trailers seen running between Purfleet and Ellesmere Port with the suspension jacked right up to reach the 1200mm height of a british tractor
Ah yes the Jeremy Beadle Wheels as I call them (I know I will burn in hell). Look naff, particularly behind side skirts (Sorry Mr.Vain) but if it saves money… The new Magnums look mint in 6x2 and especially 4 x 2 with sideskirts. Also nothing like a tag axle to make a motor look pants, a tear comes to my eye for what could have been every time I see a George Green go past.