Heavy Duty Trucking, May 2018

worry about Theyll also keep you out of trouble during roadside inspections So are disc brakes a smart specing decision in the right application Hell yes Be warned though that while disc brakes are nearly maintenance free they drum brakes over time Looking purely at the numbers the two almost neutral themselves out says Valparaiso Indianabased Greg Hart principal of Hart Consulting Discs are far more reliable than drums and there are way fewer parts to SPECING S AVINGS EVERY MILE Detroit engines are designed to deliver the best in power and efficiency no matter which one you choose Pair it with a Detroit transmission and axles and youll have a package engineered to work together as one backed by a single manufacturer for greater efficiency and profitability Find out more at westernstar com powertrain 4C 1 3 Page Heavy Duty Trucking 92173_ DET_ WS_ SavingEveryMile_ HDT indd 1 3 13 18 10 41 AM MAY 2018 HDT 75 WWW TRUCKINGINFO COM Want to save money on maintenance Get rid of your trucks before they start costing you big bucks A recently published white paper from Fleet Advantage suggests the longer you keep a truck the more it costs in maintenance and repairs The whitepaper Mitigating Rising Maintenance Repair Costs for Class 8 Truck Fleets Effective data strategies to leverage newer trucks to reduce M R costs uses data culled from 5 billion miles of real world fleet operations including food service grocery distribution and chemical tank When you look at typical maintenance costs over a vehicles lifecycle in the accompanying graph the first three years are fairly flat but theres quite a jump between years three and four and between years four and five It levels out in year six and then takes another jump in the seventh year According to Fleet Advantage fleets adopting a three year lifecycle replacing with new equipment in year four could see savings of 42830 in maintenance and repair costs alone compared to a fleet driving the same truck for a full seven years Switching from a five year to a three year lifecycle would produce savings of 17150 On a new tractor theres minimal maintenance expense tires and PM mostly but a few corrective maintenance items are included and that tends to vary with the make and model of the tractor says Matt Hendrix director of fleet services at Fleet Advantage Based on the data we collected we believe its beneficial to trade the asset some time in its third year of life before the big costs appear Starting with a new truck at that point keeps the maintenance costs as low as possible Cost aside the increased maintenance requirements of older equipment also put a strain on shop resources Service bays and mechanics are tied up longer dealing with older equipment and equipment is down longer and ultimately less productive On average Hendrix says a tractor requires 25 hours a month to maintain in its first year but 45 hours in year three nearly doubling the demand while the available resources remain the same This will become an important consideration in the future with the shortage of qualified technicians and shop managers he warns It follows that as repairs costs go up so too will labor costs which is a proxy for labor hours If youre short of qualified technicians how will you be able to keep up with the needed repair on the truck in the later years of its life While some may take issue with the figures Fleet Advantage uses in the white paper the upward trend in cost with age is undeniable Fleets today have the advantage of data driven analytics to see exactly what a vehicle costs to maintain in their own operation and thus make better decisions about when a truck might become economically obsolete The whitepaper is available on request from Fleet Advantage or it can be downloaded here http info fleetadvantage com mitigating rising fleet maintenance and repair costsfor class 8 trucks RUN EM AND GUN EM 2070 20000 15000 10000 5000 0 YEAR 1 YEAR 2 3 YEAR LIFECYCLE M R COSTS 3 YR LIFECYCLE vs 7 YR LIFECYCLE 7 YEAR LIFECYCLE YEAR 3 YEAR 4 YEAR 5 YEAR 6 YEAR 7 YEAR 8 YEAR 9 YEAR 10 YEAR 11 5530 6625 2070 5530 6625 2070 5530 6625 5530 10520 14230 14560 19815 2070 2070 5530 6625 10520 M R SAVINGS YEARS 4 7 42830