As we’ve noted before, length, max weight and axle loading fluctuated drastically back in the day, although there are still variations today. Michigan was generous with overall length and total weight, but had restrictive axle loading. The result was the “Michigan Train”, a semi trailer and straight trailer combination with more axles than usual. This rig’s max. weight is 76,000 lbs, quite high for 1956. Powering it was the DD 6-71, with some 230 hp.
Here’s a somewhat newer version of Michigan trains, with GMC Crackerboxes hauling the loads.
My first thoughts on these units were the tire bills. 38 tires, It would take probably 1.5 hours to just check all the tire pressures and damage inspection. Probably wouldn’t get a free tire rotation with the oil change. Or from the old days, fill ‘er up and check the oil and tires.
Watch out for the turtle trying to pass you, acceleration, whats that?
If the top unit had Budd wheels on it at all positions there is 380 lug nuts.
Looks like the truck has Budd’s at all corners but the trailers appear to be cast spoke.
Tractor would have 100 lug nuts and trailers would have 70 or 84 depending on if it has 5 or 6 spoke cast wheels. I’m sure the tire shops appreciated the spoke wheels for service work although I never seen balancing done on the rims for cast spoke rim and tire assemblies. I can imagine all the shimmy and shaking the trailer wheels did if the installer wasn’t checking the run out when he installed the wheels back on the trailer.
Checking brake adjustment would certainly keep you busy too!
I’ve been looking at the wheels for a few days. LoL
I’m not so sure they are Budd (proper) wheels. They may be GM’s own or another single-nut type.
Some speculation on the trailers too… are we seeing spokes or hand holes?
Notice that the drive wheels don’t seem to have the same hand holes as the steer?
Big tubeless rubber; hot stuff for the day.
By the way, this combination was three axles short of the then-allowed max.
Where i am in Mid-Michigan, the gravel haulers are still set up this way. Flatbeds for coil steel seem to have gone to just one regular length trailer but with 6-8 axles some of them liftable.
When you have this many tires to check for air pressure, you don’t carry a guage, you carry a large ball peen hammer. Properly inflated tires sing a sweet note when hit. Underinflated tires sound dull and flat.
Called a “Thumper” or “Knocker”. Usually made of wood, carried close to driver.
A trucker knows what a thumper is, and what it is used for but some in law enforcement think that they are too much like the Billy clubs that they carry and consider them to be weapons. That is why I prefer a ball peen hammer. Right or wrong, I just don’t need the hassle.
Called an A train here a semi towing a pull trailer absolute bastards to back and there arent any on the roads now they went the way of the dinosaur many years ago,
checking tyres I do it with a nail bar and our normal rigs have 32 tyres,8×4 truckpulling a 5 axle trailer. and I do that every time I leave the landfill
A 38 wheeler? Other than the front tires, I wonder if the driver would ever realize that one was flat?