Pull Force

Pull Force is the force that a truck or prime mover can exert onto a transporter or any type of trailer. It has been a subject of much controversy and misunderstandings as truck manufacturers and end-users often do not talk the same language. Marco J. van Daal explains how to arrive from engine power to the actual theoretical pull force of the truck.

A truck salesman talks about horsepower (HP), kilowatt (kW), or torque (lb-ft or Nm) when the end-user is often just interested in how many tons or pounds the unit can pull. In order to go from HP to pull force, many terms and conversion factors are thrown on the table such as number of driven axles, gear box ratio, rear end ratio, differential, tire size, truck weight and fifth wheel capacity, just to name a few. It gets even worse and more complicated if the buyer wants a custom truck with, for example, an auxiliary gearbox (also called a transfer case) to achieve even lower speeds and higher torque, or if he wants to have one of the rear axles retractable.

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