He shoots, he scores 
stevieboy308:
And doesn’t everyone lift a none steering axle when loaded and manoeuvring?
From observation less 5% of drivers do this, i can only think of 4 i know of.
the maoster:
^^^ just checked the brake lining display on my 22 plate with 184k km on the clock, 99% middle axle! That’s because with a fridge carrying 26 pallets you have 6 pallets behind the trailer rear axle so the midlift very rarely drops even with for example 26 pallets of ice cubes on.
What unit do you have? As hard as I’ve tried the lift won’t come up on ours with a trailer full of ice. Scanias & Mercs, not tried a MAN yet.
Juddian:
Typical small mid lift max axle weights limits are typically between 4.6 and 5.5 tons, there might be the odd one higher or lower, MANs are at the higher end possibly because the tyre/wheel is slightly larger than on other makes.
Obviously this makes 5th wheel positioning more important than on tractors with full size mid lifts to avoid overloading that axle, but 5th wheel positioning is more important than some realise or care to make safe handling, especially cornering in the wet.Interesting to hear about Dafs cracking the mid lift discs, that rang a bell, colleague’s Daf needed new mid lift pads at 90k, MAN still has 70% of original mid lift pads left @ 580k, half of both mileages will have been at close to max GVW so mid lifts will have spent the same percentage of time in use at similar weights and usage, irregular drivers tend also to drive the things empty with the mid lift down
There was a theory that it was maybe down to Dafs applying too much pressure down the lines for the smaller components. I can see why if the axle doesn’t have ABS.
If you do a unit only brake test on a Merc the lift axle will do absolutely nothing, the rollers would wear out before it locked. Do one on a Daf and it locks as quick as the drive axle 
md1987:
the maoster:
^^^ just checked the brake lining display on my 22 plate with 184k km on the clock, 99% middle axle! That’s because with a fridge carrying 26 pallets you have 6 pallets behind the trailer rear axle so the midlift very rarely drops even with for example 26 pallets of ice cubes on.What unit do you have? As hard as I’ve tried the lift won’t come up on ours with a trailer full of ice. Scanias & Mercs, not tried a MAN yet.
MAN mate. They are the only make of units where I’ve found the mid lift to stay up even heavily loaded. Obviously that’s pulling a standard Euro fridge, it’d be different pulling a tipper or tanker for example where more weight is placed upon the tractor unit.
What a cracking week…
Dozy getting told off by the mods and maoster getting nutmegged by Juddian.
the maoster:
md1987:
the maoster:
^^^ just checked the brake lining display on my 22 plate with 184k km on the clock, 99% middle axle! That’s because with a fridge carrying 26 pallets you have 6 pallets behind the trailer rear axle so the midlift very rarely drops even with for example 26 pallets of ice cubes on.What unit do you have? As hard as I’ve tried the lift won’t come up on ours with a trailer full of ice. Scanias & Mercs, not tried a MAN yet.
MAN mate. They are the only make of units where I’ve found the mid lift to stay up even heavily loaded. Obviously that’s pulling a standard Euro fridge, it’d be different pulling a tipper or tanker for example where more weight is placed upon the tractor unit.
Presume your mid lift drops again at 20mph when suitably loaded Maoster? i’ve had MAN where the mid lift has got ‘stuck’ in the raised position loaded but switching off the engine and restarting again usually sorts that glitch out, probably needed turning off at the mains for a while to let it clear its faults.
Yours being the latest model is beyond my grasp mate, too bleedin complicated for me 
The only modernish tractor i’ve driven where the driver had total control of the mid lift at all speeds was the square Axor…i know they were universally hated but in manual form the 430 engined square Axor was a tough and simple working vehicle.
Of the vehicles i’ve driven with mid lifts, MAN and Daf will lift the mid lifter completely after a few seconds fully loaded but will auto drop it again once 20mph is reached.
Latest Mercs i can barely start and get the bloody things to move let alone work out such trivia 
, simpler new shape Actros circa 2015 build wouldn’t even dump the mid lift air, slippery conditions relying on some sort of judder effect in the transmission 
what the hell was that all about.
Iveco Stralis i last drove around 15 years ago, again couldn’t find any suitable way to dump the mid lift air once loaded but that might have been me now knowing how.
md1987.
Scanias dump the mid lift air (again up to 20mph) and show you on the dash the amount of weight transfer which is quite useful but won’t actually raise the axle loaded, the tyre’s only resting on the ground at that point with no weight imposed so still an effective operation.
Good luck to you with Mercs, just can’t get on with the things.
Volvos, i haven’t driven one for years, last ones were retor fitted with aftermarket small mid lifts of which the driver had no control over whatsoever…until we wrote to the company pointing out how dangerous such lack of traction was and they were retrofitted with dump valves, what genuine OE axles do i haven’t a clue.
No Juddian it doesn’t drop when over 20mph or 50mph for that matter either. I pulled onto a weighbridge a while back where it read 40000kg give or take and the midlift was still up. Mind you having said that if I’m carrying a diminishing load and tip for example six pallets at my first drop it will drop then. As I said I think it’s to do with the weight behind the rearmost trailer axle that does it, something you’ll not encounter on your job.
At least it keeps officials away from us when they’re cruising for victims I suppose.
^^^, interesting, benefit of powder tanks we can shift the weight about a bit before it settles too much via a quick sharp brake to make sure there’s plenty of weight up front, my previous work had enough of the tail wagging the dog to last several lifetimes 
don’t ever want that again.
Most trucks over here that have lift axles are tippers, it being lifted/dropped by the driver. Some turnpikes charge by the axle and there’s been some disagreements between trucking companies and the turnpike whether the truck should be charged for the axle that’s lifted. If it’s a tipper with a steering axle and two drive axles with a lift axle stuck in front of the drives the turnpike consider it a four axle vehicle whether the lift axle is up or down.