Understanding the misunderstood alternator
Most alternators today are more durable than ever. So why are so many alternators failing? Or, are they really failing?
Building a smarter alternator
In the past 15 or 20 years, as fleets began facing stricter legislative and power requirement changes in their trucks, the OEMs in turn began facing demands to produce higher-quality alternators that could meet these standards. “So, what they’ve demanded from us is higher efficiency and lower cost,” says Clive Harley, vice president of engineering
How to save $1,000 per truck, per year
What if there was a simple way to save as much as $1,000 per vehicle, per year on fuel and maintenance costs? Depending on the state of your tires, there might be. That’s how much you could be losing out on just because your trucks and/or trailers are running on improperly-inflated tires, according to the
The test of time: Why durability drives success
What does it take to face down uncertainty? To diversify and stay on top of the industry’s ebb and flow? It’s equal parts ideas and vision mixed with a hefty helping of grit; durability to weather the oncoming storm. To learn more about Minimizer’s approach to delivering on its product promises even in the toughest
Don’t let parasitic loads take a bite out of your truck batteries
More on-board, electronically-driven and controlled systems means more strain on your batteries that are already faced with tackling tough applications and pandemic-driven changing duty cycles. “Parasitic loads are ever-increasing,” said Vicki Hall, director of transportation technical solutions for EnerSys. “The more electronics and creature comforts are being added to trucks, especially sleeper cabs, the higher
How digital connections are impacting trucking’s hand-shake business
Riding along with two of Meritor’s DriveForce team–a crew of more than 110 Meritor sales and support representatives across the United States, Canada and Mexico–to visit fleet customers in Michigan meant spending long stretches in the car traversing the state. It was worth it–the face time with fleets helped the DriveForce team stay connected with
From pen and paper to data automation: A quick-start guide to truck service dashboards
Glance around your office and tell me if this sounds right: The room is stuffed with stacks of service documents and hand-written notes, whiteboards covered in ink, a few filing cabinets filled with years of archives, and a desktop computer with folders full of Excel sheets. To the untrained eye it’s a daunting, unorganized jungle
A service dashboard data use-case: Truck tire maintenance
If you’re just dipping your toe into the dashboard deep-end, finding a system to help provide visibility and control of your fleet’s tire program is a good place to start. To that end, Dana has developed its Rhombus TireAnalytics dashboard, which was created to give a fleet visibility and control of its tire program to
How do you know that your service dashboard data is accurate?
James Griffin, chief operating officer and chief technology officer of Fleet Advantage, says he advises his clients to invest in a service dashboard because it keeps data secure and consistent. “The data used to create dashboards is generally sourced from defined data sources and not easily modified by multiple users,” Griffin says. “A spreadsheet can
How summer heat drains your truck batteries (and what you can do about it)
Ask any heavy-duty truck battery or electrical system expert about the summer heat’s adverse impact on battery performance and they’ll likely share the age-old adage: “Summer heat and sun are what kills a battery; it just doesn’t know it’s dead until it gets cold.” (Seriously, I asked five experts and that was every single answer.)
Truck diagnostics: Don’t jump to the wrong conclusion
It’s a lot like déjà vu. For technicians who are fortunate enough to maintain a fleet of similarly-equipped vehicles, it comes as no surprise when they see the same fault codes and failures occurring on those vehicles. Typically, there are a limited number of potential codes that ever set, even though some vehicle systems have
What the Super Ball can teach us about truck tires
Remember the Super Ball? Invented by chemist Norman Stingley in the ’60s, these toys are known for their extreme bounciness, taking the classic rubber bouncy ball to much higher heights (literally). But there’s no secret spring inside. It’s made of just rubber like its classic cousin. So, what makes it bouncier? The answer, according to
