Citation

Tennich M, Falah B. Heavy Vehicle Syst. 2001; 8(3-4): 218-237.

Affiliation

Universite du Quebec a Rimouski, Canada

Copyright

(Copyright © 2001, Inderscience Publishers)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This paper presents a complete analysis of the behaviour of a heavy tow truck-towed vehicle combination during towing manoeuvres. Both static and dynamic simulations are carried out to investigate the effects of adding a tag axle to the tow truck. The tag axle is intended to ensure that a minimum load remains on the tow truck's front axle during towing manoeuvres. The results presented in this paper show that the tag axle improves the manoeuvrability of the loaded tow truck but must be carefully used since it also significantly reduces the load on the drive axles, which could limit the traction capacity of the tow truck.