Watch: What’s in store for the future of retread manufacturing
Today, retread tires rival their new tire counterparts in both quality and safety, but just like with any other product, there’s still room to build a better mousetrap. Fleet Equipment caught up with a few retread experts to ask: What’s in store for the future of retread tire manufacturing?
Watch: Integrating your truck’s axles with the powertrain
While many truck OEMs today provide a fully-integrated powertrain that includes the axle, maybe you’re in a position where you want to fully customize your axles yourself. As a key part of the powertrain, it’s important the axle is spec’d to work with the truck’s engine and transmission if you want to maximize efficiency.
Watch: The Rolling Resistance-Fuel Efficiency Target Conflict
Although tire manufacturers are making technological leaps in tire design and rubber compounding year after year, they all still face what they call the “target conflict” between mileage and rolling resistance. This means that improving one of these characteristics in the tire typically reduces performance in the other area. Is it possible to find a tire that’s the best of both worlds?
Watch: Don’t neglect your trailer tires
Drivers don’t feel trailer tires in the same way that they do tractor tires, so even though it might not be on purpose, the fact is that it’s just easier to not think much about trailer tire inflation. They are, unfortunately, easy to neglect. But, this is a mistake!
Watch: Which fleets should be investing in wide base tires?
There are three big reasons a fleet might decide to go with wide base tires: weight savings, fuel efficiency, and load efficiency. However, we also know that wide base tires are more expensive, so which fleets should really be considering a swap?
Watch: Three lessons learned from the ELD mandate
If your fleet has drivers who are currently required to keep records of duty service, Dec. 16, 2019 is a date with which you should be very familiar. That’s the day your fleet must start to use the electronic logging devices known as ELDs that are registered with the Federal Motor Carrier and Safety Administration, or FMCSA.
Watch: The future of trailer tracking solutions
Software companies that create the trailer tracking systems fleet managers are familiar with know that having the ability to see the real-time location and status of your trailers can have a direct impact on your business’s productivity. So, we caught up with some of these companies to ask: What trailer tracking solutions are coming in the near future?
Watch: Fleet Equipment’s top five truck tire maintenance tips
Tires are one of your biggest costs. If you want to get the most life and the best ROI out of them, there are important maintenance checks you should be making on a regular basis.
Watch: Technician training in a virtual world
In the past, digital training opportunities in the industry meant leveraging video- and computer-based training. While these are still tried and true methods, today we can take it one step further by using virtual and augmented reality to train technicians.
Watch: In-house or outsourced fleet maintenance?
Your trucks are complex, expensive pieces of equipment. So, when it comes to your maintenance needs, deciding whether to go in-house or to use an outsourced provider can also be complex.
Watch: The difference between air ride and leaf spring suspensions
There are two major styles of suspensions for heavy-duty trucks out there, air ride and leaf spring, and knowing the difference between the two can be important based on your application.
Watch: Aluminum or steel wheels – What’s best for your truck?
Wheels basically fall into two categories – aluminum and steel. And like every other part you spec for your truck, the right choice for you might not be the right choice for your neighbor. Instead, it all depends on your application.
