RicodJour wrote:
On May 15, 10:39 am, Steve Barker wrote:
Pat wrote:
On May 15, 9:21 am, Steve Barker wrote:
You're looking at somewheres in the neighborhood of 20,000 lbs of
weight, (and that's with a real small truck) on 6 tire with a contact
area of approx 50 sq inches per tire. So that's about 66 lbs per square
inch. And remember, the back is probably carrying more than the front,
so the number may be closer to 100 lbs per square inch. You're gonna
have some nice ruts unless the ground is just rock hard dried out.

I agree that the you will probably be around 100 lb/inch^2, but I
think your area calc are off a bit.
I think the inflate tires on trucks to about 90 lbs/i^2 (unladen). If
so, 20,000 lbs on 6 tires would be 37 i^2 per tire, not 50.
50 i^2 at 100 lb/i^2 with 6 tires is 30,000 lbs.
If the inflate to 120 lbs/i^2, then of course your weight per square
inch will well be somewhere above that number.
I was just visualizing a 6x8 inch patch of contact. I've been around
truck tires all my life and don't need a bunch of technical jargon to
know how much tire is on the ground at a given time. Thanks for the input.

Technical jargon? The only term Pat used that you didn't is unladen.

Anyhoo, were you serious about being surprised that driving over tree
roots can damage the tree?

R

yes, actually. I'd never heard that before.