Keeping an eye on brake wear
A vehicle cuts in front of your truck and stops abruptly. The truck driver slams on the brakes only to find that the truck’s stopping distance isn’t what it once was—these brakes haven’t been inspected recently. Without the proper stopping distance, an accident becomes inevitable. It’s an extreme example to be sure, but it’s just
Preventative maintenance to avoid brake wear
It’s important that your technicians are trained on how to spot brake wear, and that your shops have systems and schedules in place aimed at avoiding wear issues on brakes. “The only real way to keep an eye out for irregular brake wear is visual inspection on both drum and disc systems. Spotting irregular wear provides
Truck tire inflation tips and tricks
“An engineer told me something early in my career–the tire isn’t what carries the load, the air is what carries the load,” said Jason Miller, national fleet channel sales manager, Cooper Tire and Rubber Co. Miller is keenly aware that tire inflation isn’t the most exciting topic in the truck tire world, but it’s definitely
Seasonal trailer maintenance advice as summer turns up the heat
If your trailer inspection and preventative maintenance checks are on point, you’ll likely catch a lot of the summer-maintenance checkpoints as the seasons shift. Coming out of winter, wheel end and electrical issues will be the most apparent. “During the winter, salt and road chemicals can work their way into small nooks and start to
Tackling the new demands of on-site vehicle service
Even before COVID-19, performing on-site service was never the same as rolling a truck into a bay. “There are certain things that go into doing a job in a mobile situation that you have to be cognizant of,” said Ed Peterson, chief executive officer of Wrench, a mobile vehicle maintenance and repair solution that brings
That run-down feeling: Dealing with diesel APU issues
It is worth the time to make APU service a regular part of maintenance.
Must-do trailer maintenance when times are tough (and even when they’re not)
Given the latest industry trailer order numbers (April was the lowest order month since 1990), it’s clear that many fleets are making do with the trailers they have, at least until there’s some certainty in our pandemic-impacted world. To ensure your trailers roll productively and safely, you’ll need eagle-eyed focus on maintenance. So we picked
How service keeps rolling through the changes
While many of our country’s businesses either shut down or saw business slow significantly this spring due to the COVID-19 pandemic, one area of the economy that has had to stay resilient is truck service. To borrow from the famous motto of the United States Postal Service, neither rain nor snow nor pandemic can keep
PACCAR Parts opens new parts distribution center in Las Vegas
PACCAR Parts announced the opening of a new 250,000-sq-ft parts distribution center (PDC) in Las Vegas. The facility, which includes a 20,000 sq-ft small parts mezzanine, became operational in May and has increased parts availability and uptime to dealers and customers. This PDC serves 95 Kenworth, Peterbilt and TRP locations in the Southwest United States
Wrench mobile vehicle maintenance service to offer full contactless service
Wrench is now offering its full contactless services to fleets. Wrench will provide a disinfecting service, which involves a technician who will wipe down high-touch areas, including door handles, consoles, steering wheels, and more with a CDC-approved disinfectant. In addition, the company says it will provide an automated on-site diagnostics service within 24 hours of
How electrical system reliability impacts aftertreatment performance
Proper maintenance leads to long battery life and less downtime.
Understanding and improving your truck fleet health
Fleet health means understanding how fault codes interact with each other, what that means and what you should do about it to ensure your trucks can work productively. Connected remote diagnostics allows you to take a bird’s eye view of your overall fleet health and then dive into the troubled trucks, getting them into a
