Hi, yes I know silly question time again! 
Over the past week, I have seen several Co-op trailers, with a single axle, mounted right at the rear of the trailer.
What weight do these carry 
They look clumsy, are they difficult to handle/reverse
Thanks for help again
John
When I used to work for a fridge operator we had a single axle trailer like that about 25’ it was a pain to back as it came round very quickly. If you are used to triaxle and tandams the singles come round twice as quick
When I worked for pacelforce(dont laugh, it was a very easy life) we used to run 30ft single axle trailers, trying to reverse them was interesting to say the least, they would come round on you before you knew what had happened. This is made worse by the axle being at the very back as there is no overhang on the trailer to give you a referance point during the turn.
About 14 tonnes, according to the gaffer 28 (yeah right - what plate’s he looking at?) - They’re probably plated for more, but they’r a bugger to keep in a straight line or to get round corners with a lot of weight on. Or the one I had for eight months or so was. It was on a little ex brewery artic and was fantastic. I could get the thing into places that a large bodied rigid couldn’t. Before that I ran it on a old Volvo F10. That was doing Pall - Ex work. They can be interesting to reverse, but thy’re ok once you get used to them and you’ve got an ready made excuse if you stuff up the reverse 
. I only lost it because one of the lads used to cornering a tri axle got to the gate and turned it over 
.
Maximum weight of a two axle unit with a single axle trailer is 26 tonnes and for a three axle unit it is 36 tonnes.
When i was on woolworths, most of our trailers were 33ft single axle trailers, some were double axle 33ft and they reversed lovely.
However, lol, some of them were 20ft single axle 
a turn of the wheel to much and before you knew it, its off in the opposite direction
Metaldrum Co used to run single axle trailers too. Right dogs to reverse as they were full 40fters.
Used to run one out of Wincantons Exeter depot back in the 90’s.Was great in tight places like the co op shop in Oldfield park, much better than a rigid., although it couldn’t carry anymore cages it was mainly used when the weight was too much. Can,t remember what the plated weight was.
Same kind of fun when I was on boxes with a sliding skelly 
. Shrink it up to 20ft and then try to reverse on a bay after pulling it at 40ft 
- a right old giggle .
What makes me laugh as the clowns who pull a 20ft box on a 40ft sliding skelly with 30 tonne in it, shrink it up to 20ft and then attempt to reverse curl it on a bay and wonder why they can’t’ move it .
For those of you not familiar with this scenario, I will attempt to enlighten you with a small (terrible) diagram - might come out okay, fingers crossed.
Typical tri-axle unit and tri-axle 40ft trailer wheel layout :
O…O.O… O.O.O
When you shrink it up to 20ft it looks like this :
O…O.O…O.O.O
As you might have now figured, trying to get the artic to turn when the trailer wheels are so close to the unit wheels just doesn’t happen, as the trailer wheels don’t steer. If the trailer axles were all steer axles (like on low-loader trailer) then it might work, if you’re lucky. So there you go.
I drove in Germany and we had some triaxle skellys that were only 20’ long. no neck on them at all and no landing legs as we know them. just 2 pieces of steel box section that clipped into the front twistlocks.
If you have seen a lot of Foreign trailers that have the axles very close too like the tyres are nearly rubbing the next ones
They were absolute pigs to drive with a 3 axle tractor as well 
o oo ooo
I soon learnt to line a skelly up then shorten it!
givr me a 27’anyday i love them. we have also got a couple of the rear steer things as well and they are a right [zb] to get in a straight line.
jon
the thing you need to remember here cornish, if you are pulling a small trailer and you want to reverse always keep the trl in the mirror as soon as it goes out of sight in one mirror get it back in as soon as possible.you’ll not go far wrong.the smaller the trl the harder it is to reverse.
kitkat:
the thing you need to remember here cornish, if you are pulling a small trailer and you want to reverse always keep the trl in the mirror as soon as it goes out of sight in one mirror get it back in as soon as possible.you’ll not go far wrong.the smaller the trl the harder it is to reverse.
Aye, no kidding - I bought a little trailer for the car; was only about 5ft long and maybe 4ft across if that. Couldn’t even see it in the mirror . Tried reversing that same stylee like my 45ft reefer and it just doesn’t happen. It’s come round before I’ve even got the clutch in . In the end I found it easier to disconnect the trailer, spin the car round and then pull the trailer manually and reconnect it
Rob K:
kitkat:
the thing you need to remember here cornish, if you are pulling a small trailer and you want to reverse always keep the trl in the mirror as soon as it goes out of sight in one mirror get it back in as soon as possible.you’ll not go far wrong.the smaller the trl the harder it is to reverse.Aye, no kidding - I bought a little trailer for the car; was only about 5ft long and maybe 4ft across if that. Couldn’t even see it in the mirror
Those single axle trailers have always made me nervous,Co-op fit singles to the trailer axle, what heppens with one of them blows■■? They get me nervous, I try and stay well clear of one when I see it on the roads. Much better IMHO to have a steer axle as well if you need that manouverability. Safer too, as you won’t drop it on the wheel hubs if a tyre goes.