Heavy Duty Trucking, May 2018

The long and the short of it You need to look at maintenance from the long and short view Long term considerations involve specing components that can be expected to last the anticipat MAY 2018 HDT 73 WWW TRUCKINGINFO COM YOUR AWAY With maintenance and repair costs running at a dollar a minute and half that again for parts does it make any sense to scrimp on your spec Solar panels extra deep cycle batteries and high efficiency high output alternators will offset additional electrical loads and prevent no starts ed first life of the truck The short view demands that you regularly inspect the consumables top off fluid reservoirs and check for progressive wear such as with tires and components likely to corrode Trailers like tractors wear out in time maybe five years maybe 10 or 15 Truckload carriers tend to have the shortest trade cycles while some grocery companies keep trailers 12 years or more says Darry Stuart contract fleet maintenance manager and a former general chairman of the Technology Maintenance Council of American Trucking Associations The food service fleets will keep trailers in service for a long time because they build them to last in low mileage high cycle operations he says The truckload fleets build them light and cheap and after five years they are done Maintenance practices differ accordingly Trailers tend to run fewer miles than tractors in truckload service because of tractor to trailer ratios so running gear wont wear out as fast Electrical problems can be greatly reduced with high quality wiring harnesses but electrics are subject to impact damage and often improper repairs Stuart warns The harnesses are not the issue he says The suppliers are building good product today but we still see problems with the connectors after five years The problems usually start where somebody has made an ugly repair on one of the wires Moisture gets in there once its opened up and the wicking starts Theres not much you can do from a specing point of view but a lot of fleets could do with a review of their trailer electrical repair procedures Stuart says the trailer spec really depends on a fleets maintenance program If its spotty then specing more reliability into the trailer will pay off such as automatic tire inflation systems and air disc brakes Neither will eliminate the need for regular maintenance but they might get you through longer periods without touching the trailer he says Fleets that see trailers regularly might not see the benefit of up specing equipment There are a few ways to spec more reliability or durability into a trailer but of course there will be an upcharge Galvanized running gear At this years Mid America Trucking Show there were several galvanized trailers including vans and flatbeds Some had galvanized wheels too something new to the market Galvanize everything under a trailer insists Stuart People are smart enough now to know that trailers rust out If they dont galvanize everything they are making a huge mistake More batteries and solar panels for liftgates When you add a liftgate you need to think about the reserve capacity of the batteries or even add batteries says Joe Puff vice president of truck technology maintenance at NationaLease In many cases spending an extra few hundred bucks up front on more or better batteries higher output alternators and even solar panels can save thousands of dollars over the life of the asset People will often blame a failed component for a breakdown but the problem often starts with not understanding the duty cycles and the demand on a component when specing the truck THE LOW MAINTENANCE TRAILER Galvanizing is a cost effective hedge against corrosion but the upcharge might not pencil out on a short life cycle trailer Disc brakes are a good example of the long view specing decision The full lifecycle cost of discs compared to drums is about the same You pay more up front for discs but youll spend more maintaining