The tale of the trashy truck chassis

The tale of the trashy truck chassis

Once upon a midnight dreary, I sat behind the wheel, weak and weary. And while I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, as if someone gently rapping, rapping beneath my truck floor. Such an event thrilled me – filled me with fantastic terrors I’d never felt before. When I brought my truck to the shop, imagine the beating of my own heart as what I’d learned shocked me to my very core.

Actually, it was just the chassis. It was an older truck with no thought put into driver comfort. Eventually, I got a new truck built from the ground up and you’d be amazed how much more comfortable it was.

Click here to watch more of FE’s On the Road video series.

Here is a transcript of the video:

Manufacturers agree: Keeping drivers comfortable and engaged in their work means fleet managers should concentrate on the foundation of the truck—and that means spec’ing the chassis to keep drivers happy.

Fatigue plays a huge role in keeping drivers or operators engaged while on the job. That’s why most trucks – even in the vocational space nowadays, are designed with both quiet and comfortable cabs. Lower noise levels, premium seats and an excellent suspension all add up to greatly reduce fatigue and enhanced productivity, and allows the driver to keep their attention on the road.

The Tale of the Trashy Truck Chassis begins with a truck that doesn’t allow the driver to be comfortable in their environment, and thus the control of the vehicle. An optimized driver environment means OEMs are emphasizing comfort and safety, from the layout of the gauges, placement of the mirrors, seating and even easy to reach switches.

As a fleet manager, consider the chassis as one of the first items on your list to spec; the rest of the truck is literally riding on getting this step right.

Look at the chassis as part of the overall truck system, and work with a dealer who will connect your vision as the fleet manager to that of the truck body builder. Oftentimes, fleet will buy a stock chassis and send it to the body builder, but these chassis may not be configured to accept the intended body. This not only results in extra time and additional expense to have components such as air tanks or battery boxes moved that might be in the way, but it could also lead to an uncomfortable environment for the driver.

Instead, work closely with your body builder of choice to understand their body designs, where they provide additional rigidity, where the body center of gravity is on the truck, and so forth. All together, this will give you the best combination for your fleet, and allow you to avoid your own spooky chassis tale.

You May Also Like

Where we’re at with battery electric trucks

Battery electric trucks are available and charging infrastructure is hard to come by, so where does that leave us?

Freightliner-eM2-electric-truck-unscipted

Let's cut to the EV chase, here's how battery electric truck adoption is shaking out from the view of Rakesh Aneja, head of eMobility, Daimler Truck North America:

"At Daimler Truck, we've been working on zero emission transformation for the last several years, and we are at the point where we have several battery electric vehicle models that are in series production today. We have 10 [electric truck] models in production globally and four in production in the United States. Having said that, at least from our perspective, the transformation is slower than what we would expect and what we would hope."

The importance of wheel bearing maintenance

The wheel bearings are, quite simply, what keep your wheels turning, and with minimal friction.

The proof is in the data: How fleets can use data to their advantage

Sheer data is no good to you on its own. You need to understand what you can do with it, and the ways in which it can help your fleet.

Geotab's Steven White
The pros and cons of wide base tires

For the right fleet, wide base tires may be what you’re looking for. But this only applies to a specific slice of the market.

How to prevent parasitic loads

It’s a delicate balance for fleet managers between providing driver comfort, but having the trucks start in the morning.

Other Posts

Fleet Profile: Ryder uses EVs to focus on zero-emissions fleet

Ryder says it intends to give customers an “end-to-end” solution by adding thousands of GM BrightDrop EVs to it’s lease and rental fleet.

BrightDrop-Electric-Cargo-Van-Ryder-Nov-23
Volvo changes truck spec’ing with new VNL

Trim and powertrain packages, why you shouldn’t panic, and the craziest thing I learned about this truck.

Volvo-VNL-Johan-Agebrand-Interview-wide-shot-TMC
Maximizing ROI in fleet decarbonization

How do we achieve an orderly and economically viable fleet decarbonization at scale?

Electric-Truck-Tire-Generic-1400
Direct labor vs. indirect labor in fleet shops

Keeping tabs on labor expenditures is important, but make sure you’re taking everything into account before assigning blame.

service-technician-generic-maintenance-downtime-repairs