Heavy Duty Trucks News
Minimizer releases rear center light panel

Minimizer has announced the release of a new rear center light panel that comes in several different finishes. The rear center light panel comes in several different poly finishes, including four different colors (black, red, white, green), as well as paintable, liquid platinum, carbon fiber, silver mirror finish and smokey black mirror finish. The rear center light panel

Cummins adds ash cleaning interval, protection plan for ISX15 engine

Cummins Inc. has announced two enhancements for the ISX15 engine: an extended diesel particulate filter (DPF) ash cleaning interval and the Encore Xtra protection plan. According to Cummins, these will increase customers’ equipment residual value and reduce the total cost of ownership (TCO). “Cummins is dedicated to customer-focused innovation in everything we do,” said Amy

Cummins Logo
International Truck launches HX series

International Truck has launched the International HX Series, a new line of Class 8 vocational trucks, the first new line of trucks from International in five years. The HX series will replace the International PayStar model. “The launch of the HX Series is an opportunity for International to recapture a leading position in the vocational market—a segment we

Navistar International HX520 HeavyHaul
Outtakes from our interview with Navistar’s Bill Kozek

Regular readers of Fleet Equipment know that we can’t squeeze all the great info we cull for our feature stories onto the printed page. Often times, we have to leave editorial gems on the cutting room floor in order to deliver a great print story. But anything goes online. So here are some outtakes from

International Trucks Navistar Bill Kozek Outtakes
Double Coin RLB450 tire receives EPA SmartWay verification

The Double Coin RLB450 drive position tire has met the requirements for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) SmartWay Technology Program. The EPA has verified that the RLB450 has met the low-rolling resistance tire performance criteria for new tires being used in the drive position on a line-haul Class 8 tractor trailer. Since 2004, EPA’s SmartWay

Peterbilt installs its first production PACCAR MX-11 engine

Peterbilt’s first new PACCAR MX-11 engine was installed recently in the company’s newest vocational truck, the Model 567 in a set-forward front axle configuration. This first engine and truck were presented to North Dakota-based contractor Knife River, who drove it off the assembly line at Peterbilt’s Denton, Texas, manufacturing facility. “The PACCAR MX-11 will bring new

Truck orders end 2015 on a high note

Class 8 booked 28,150 net new orders in December, while Classes 5-7 posted 22,450 net orders, according to the numbers from ACT Research Co.’s latest State of the Industry report. “The U.S. Class 8 sleeper tractor segment had its best production and sales year in history,” noted Steve Tam, ACT’s vice president for the commercial vehicle sector.

Cash Money Dollars
Sales of natural gas fueled heavy-duty trucks down in 2015

U.S. and Canadian natural gas (NG) Class 8 truck retail sales started 2015 with slow growth and are ending the year in the same fashion, according to a recent report from ACT Research. The “Natural Gas Quarterly” attributes this to the continuing decline of diesel prices, making the return on investment for adopting of natural

Kenworth Natural Gas Heavy Duty Truck
Watch: FE’s On the Road Season 1 Supercut

Last year, Fleet Equipment traveled the globe to take stock of the latest and greatest equipment in the trucking industry, and we gave you a passenger seat view. Cameras in tow, we detailed the spec’s and talked to the men and women who were responsible for bring today’s truck technology to life. Check out our

Aftermarket brake friction: Know what you need and what you are getting

When replacing brake friction material, Dan Dunkleberger, Haldex Friction’s product manager, says that fleets “need to understand the application, duty-cycle and environment in which the vehicle in is performing. These three key things will give the end-user the necessary information needed to spec the correct friction material for the job. Application and duty-cycle are also

TMD
Kenworth 40-in. sleeper now available for order

Kenworth’s new 40-in. sleeper is now available for order with either the T880 or T680. According to Kenworth, the new 40-in. sleeper with the T880 is suitable in vocational applications that use straight trucks, such as petroleum haulers or the tow industry, and for tractors that transport flatbeds, lowboys or other trailers where length and weight

Kenworth 40 in. sleeper
Load, inflation regulation and underinflation overview

As of April 1, 2015, a new regulatory update was posted that says an inspector must have a load/inflation chart for the given tire size and load range, and the jury is still out on how has this impacted the CSA violations. According to Al Cohn, director of new product development and engineering support at

Tire-Maintenance-Michelin-Tire-Care-visual-inspection