Keys to keeping your brakes up to CSA standard
With the exception of tires, few components can get truck fleets and operators into as much trouble as brakes and lighting, according to Fred Fakkema, Zonar’s vice president of compliance. Zonar is maker of the 2020 Mobile Tablet, which provides an electronic vehicle inspection reporting system (EVIR). “Brakes and lighting represented 13 of the top
Spec’ing the proper suspension support
A range of factors impact air suspension design, notes Reyco Granning’s vice president of Engineering, John Stuart. “One requirement showing no signs of diminishing is the ever-present demand for weight reduction,” he says. “If you had told me 10 years ago that the market required a 1,300-lb. slider air suspension, I would have said it
Meritor adds dedicated customer support to Drivetrain Direct program
Meritor is expanding support for aftermarket differential and transmission component rebuilders enrolled in its Drivetrain Direct program by offering more personalized service and quicker response from a single point of contact. “Each member of the Drivetrain Direct Support Team will build a commercial relationship with rebuilders and know their history and business needs,” said Tim
Protecting tire PSI: Adding TPMS, ATIS, TiS helps protect your investment
Fleet managers are well aware of the importance of proper tire inflation to protect tires. Many are earlier adopters of tire pressure monitoring systems (TPMS) and/or automatic tire inflation systems (ATIS or TIS). Choosing the right systems for each application is important part of protecting your investment, but which one to choose? Picking the right
Optimizing suspensions to lower total cost of ownership
As fleets continue to seek new technology that lowers their overall total cost of ownership (TCO) while improving safety and performance, notes Bill Hicks, director of product planning/market development for the Trailer Suspension Business Unit at SAF-Holland, suspension/axle suppliers are responding with a total system integration approach. “This presents opportunities for matching and optimizing the
Meritor, Meritor-Wabco driving simulator demonstrates new technologies
Meritor and Meritor Wabco have purchased a reconfigurable engineering driving simulator from Mechanical Simulation Corp. The QuadDS driving simulator features Mechanical Simulation’s flagship vehicle simulation software product – TruckSim for Driving Simulators. The simulator will be used by the two organizations as a tool to test, evaluate and demonstrate mechanical modifications and adaptive control systems
The importance of tire pressure monitoring
Keeping a close eye on tire pressure can also impact your bottom line. Under-inflated tires flex excessively under load, producing heat and increasing rolling resistance, which wastes fuel. Tires inflated 10 PSI below recommended levels can reduce truck fuel economy up to 1%. In addition, stress from flexing causes fast and uneven wear, shortening the
Spec’ing suspensions and lift axles to meeting bridge formula laws, improve durability
Enacted by Congress in 1975 to limit the weight-to-length ratio of a vehicle crossing a bridge and to provide a consistent way to determine the maximum allowable weight that any set of axles on a vehicle may carry on the Interstate highway system, the Bridge Formula has had an impact on axle and suspension design
Designing programs to avoid CSA violations
A 2013 CSA Violation Study by Vigillo, which provides a widely used CSA reporting system that aggregates, organizes and delivers fleet safety information in a suite of CSA Scorecards, reveals that maintenance related issues make up over 80% of all violations among all seven BASICs, or Behavior Analysis Safety Improvement Categories. Furthermore, notes Steve Bryan,
Managing tires matters: Products and systems to ensure uptime, lower operating costs
With well over one million tires on the road, it’s highly appropriate that Ryder System’s vice president of supply management, Scott Perry, uses the word “dynamic” when he’s describing the company’s extensive Total Tire Management program. “With a commercial fleet nearing 200,000 vehicles, we have approximately 1.25 million tires in our system,” he says. “Needless
Meritor mobile training truck travels to St. Louis for city-wide training session
Meritor‘s mobile training truck, unveiled at HDAW 2014, will be in St. Louis on June 18 for a city-wide training session covering eight distinct brake subjects. The sessions will be lead by Rick Martin, training manager. The event is a part of Meritor’s larger initiative to provide truck technicians with necessary training. More than 731 truck technicians
Meritor renames braking systems and announces product enhancements
Meritor is renaming and enhancing two braking products to help customers identify these products and improve their total cost of ownership. As part of a new naming structure, Meritor drum brakes that had been branded QPlus are now Q+; and air disc brakes are renamed from EX225 to EX+. The company also outlined new enhancements