Life on the Road - Trucking News Blog

Remember CW McCall and the song Convoy? The state of Colorado recruited Mr. Fries (CW’s real name) to narrate Crossing The Colorado Rockies On I-70 With C.W. McCall. Downloadable MP3’s, one for westbound and another for eastbound. Great information for driving the stretch between Denver and Vail, a lot of safety information, warnings of steep grades and sharp curves by mile marker and some really interesting stories about the towns and sights along the way. A really cool driving tour specifically made for truckers, there’s some good information for four-wheelers as well. There’s even information for four-wheelers when they’re driving around big trucks, like -

If you see an eighteen wheeler coming up real fast behind you blowing his horn, he may want to use the runaway truck ramp, you might want to move into the left lane.

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Over the last couple of years I’ve been following the development of the Scuderi Split-Cycle engine with skeptical interest. The four-stroke internal combustion engine, first perfected by Nicolaus Otto 120 years ago, is a study in simplicity and, because of that, has proven to be a design on which it’s difficult to improve; though many, including Rudolph Diesel, have tried. Whether or not the effort put forth by the Scuderi Group will succeed is yet to be seen but, to say the least, it’s certainly interesting.

According to some recently concluded theoretical testing - all indications are that the Scuderi Split-Cycle engine, which can be configured for either diesel or gas operation, is as much as 30% more efficient than current designs and produces 50% to 80% fewer NOx emissions.

Update: 1/25/08

I’ve been offered an opportunity to interview the President of the Scuderi Group for the next Trucker Tech Podcast. Details are still being worked out so there’s no guarantee it’ll happen but, just in case it does, I thought I’d offer Life on the Road readers, contributors and authors the opportunity to submit questions. If you’re interested, just leave your questions in the “Comments section” along with the way you’d like to be credited if your question is used (i.e., Phil from Life on the Road).

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With record fuel prices ( $3.157 National Average this week) owners and fleets are looking for more then fuel surcharges to help them in their war against the cost of expenses in running a business. Aerodynamics may not be the holy grail for fuel savings, but it’s a good foundation to build on. During our first Roadcast we discussed aerodynamics for trucks and our conclusion was that it’s a great idea if you’re pulling a van trailer and with other fuel saving techniques it’s a good start.

There appears to be a little controversy going on between International and Freightliner about who has the most aerodynamic truck. International has gone as far as putting their Prostar on their front page at International Trucks.com and going to an independent third party for head to head testing between Cascadia and Prostar to refute Cascadia claims that they have the most aerodynamic and fuel efficient truck.

I put the poll back online and after reading both sides, Cascadia’s page and Prostar’s page, try and get past the hype and choose which truck you believe is the most aerodynamic and could be the most fuel efficient.

I’d like to hear from you in the comments how important Aerodynamics are to you. Is it something you’re looking for in your next truck? Is it top on the list of features, nice to have or not-so-much? Even if you don’t pull a van trailer are aerodynamics a choice you want to have in your truck?

I would have loved to have written about a device I found, but I couldn’t find one!

Since my article (and ticket) about parking back here. I’ve been keeping my truck and trailer at a nearby truck stop. It’s not the safest neighborhood, so I try and park close to the buildings and on the side that has the fence. There’s security, but he might be too busy breaking up the fights in the casino.

If I need to park close to the house, there’s a dirt lot about three blocks away. Which got me thinking… There are devices to alert you when your truck has been stolen, but the major problem most truckers have is having their truck broken into.

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According to a Logistics Management article; they most certainly could be. The first paragraph of the article states:

Shippers could be enjoying as much as $50 billion in savings through greater productivity from their motor carriers if longer and heavier trucks are allowed when Congress crafts the next federal-aid highway bill in 2009.

Economics are undoubtedly the primary push behind the effort to allow longer and heavier trucks to negotiate America’s highways but there are some environmental issues involved, as well. As ATA President and CEO Bill Graves recently said: “A great deal of the debate on Capitol Hill with the whole global warming thing has brought focus on the kind of fuel savings you get with more productive vehicles….”

The idea apparently being bandied about is to increase the gross weight limit on six (not five) axle trucks in the U.S. to 97000 lbs. If you’re wondering how the powers that be arrived at that number it should be noted that, as per the article, six-axle trucks in Canada and, according to Fleetowner Magazine, five-axle trucks in Mexico are currently allowed to gross 97000 lbs. The article doesn’t ever discuss the “Longer” part, and I haven’t been able to dig up any news articles regarding this aspect of the issue so, as to the new trailer lengths being considered, your guess is as good (or better) than mine.

So I’m thinking…for longer and heavier vehicles to be more productive, in economic terms, truckers will have to haul more freight for about the same amount of money. Doesn’t really sound like a great idea to me. What do you think?

I’ve had and or driven two different brands of truck and I absolutely hate taking a truck to the repair shop, any repair shop. I take my truck to the dealer for anything bigger than an oil change and every time I get the truck back I feel taken advantage of and sorry I had it worked on and not sure if the problem was really fixed. It doesn’t matter what brand, you can hear repair horror stories about any brand.

You would think a dealership would be a dependable place to have your truck worked on. They would service their brand and stand behind any work any other dealership does, because they all belong to the same corporation. Not so much. The concept of franchises and dealers that are “independently owned and operated” make everyone blame the “other guy”.

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Porter already found this, but I’m going to put it here too, and ask, “Why Publicize it?”. Same thing with the annual CVSA three day inspection blitz. Truckers know two months ahead of time when it’s going to happen.

Five-state, 24-hour crackdown on unsafe rigs starts Wednesday
The Trucker News Services 9/11/2007
LANSING, Mich. – On Wednesday, truckers traveling through Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky better have their logbooks in order and their rigs ship-shape, because state police motor carrier officers are mounting a 24-hour coordinated enforcement effort aimed at “unsafe commercial vehicles.”

The reason why it’s not a big secret?

The media “kick-off” for the efforts will take place at 9 a.m. Wednesday at the Richmond, Ind., Platform Scale Facility on Westbound Interstate 70, 10 miles west of the Ohio/Indiana State line.

To make it a media event? Thanks to the advance warning, if I was traveling through those states, I would make sure everything was up to date or avoid the entire region. I know of truckers that take the three day CVSA inspection period off and sit at home rather than take a chance and be inspected.

Leaving his terminal in Monterrey Mexico shortly before 6 pm Friday, Luis Gonzalez headed north, unsure what awaited him as he became the first Mexican driver to participate in the Demonstration program.

Arriving at the border about 10 pm, he was met by officials of the Texas DPS and FMCSA, which because of the occasion, took Gonzalez and his rig to the head of the line for a thorough inspection lasting almost 2 hours.

The one thing Gonzalez did not care for were all the cameras and questions awaiting him. He shuns the celebrity as most Mexican drivers would.

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You’re driving along when you see this, THING in the right hand lane going slow. Sometimes it has a little car,minivan or pickup following it or leading it or both all decked out with cute little amber lites and red or orange flags.

Sometimes it takes up more than one lane sometimes it takes up the WHOLE ROAD. It’s a Heavy Hauler. It might be me. I’m a Heavy Hauler. I’m doing the best I can, it’s not easy being heavy and wide and long and tall.

I have a big motor eighteen speeds and good gear ratios still, them hills is tough. And you wanna talk about fuel economy? It is to laugh. When I’m loaded, maybe 3 mpg, lots of times less, LOTS less.

For example I just come off a project I was on for three months (see here ). On those loads my gross weight was 140,000 lbs, height was about 17ft, width was about 14ft and I was 106 foot long. I had a pilot car the whole way, two part way and I was by no means quick, or agile or fast, sometimes it would take several minutes just to turn a corner.

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What would life on the road be without trucks and what would a site called Life on the Road be without pictures of trucks.

And since it is no secret that I live in Mexico and have long been an advocate of allowing select Mexican carriers access to the United States what better than to show the readers exactly what a Mexican truck really is. I think you’ll be surprised.

I work for a Mexican owned company with operations on both sides of the border. We do line haul in the United States and within the eastern half of Mexico as far south as Toluca, which is a suburb of Mexico City. None of our equipment is older than 5 years old and the line trucks have all been replaced with 2007 Peterbilt 387, such as the one I drive.

And these are not the exceptions to Mexican line haul trucks, but the example.

Over the 4th of July holiday, I took another road trip to visit friends in ReynosaTamaulipas, a border town about 150 miles south of Laredo. And as usual, I chose to drive down Mexico Hwy 2, instead of using the more crowded US 83. Makes for a shorter trip you know.

Leaving Laredo and heading south on Mx 85, all the truck dealers are situated on this stretch of highway. I really wasn’t surprised when passing the Kenworth dealership to see a rather large order of T660 conventional ready for delivery to a Mexican line haul company.

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