Trailer Talk

Last week we ran a news story about the hauling of long, heavy concrete beams for reconstruction of the Interstate 5 bridge over the Skagit River in northwestern Washington. You may recall that a section of the aging steel truss bridge tumbled into the water on May 23 when an oversize load hit an upper support beam. READ MORE

Tags: Trailers

With tractors getting heavier, Monarch Distributing in Indianapolis needed to lighten up its trailers to recapture payload capacity. Its latest group of 53-foot vans from Great Dane accomplish this by scaling 2,000 pounds lighter than previous units. READ MORE

Tags: Trailers,

Makers of trailer aerodynamic improvers are well aware of truckers’ suspicions that the devices will be damaged, sooner or later. That’s why many of the latest ones are made with materials that are flexible and impact resistant. READ MORE

Tags: TrailerTail

It takes a tractor to move a trailer, which is why we’re looking at this new product from a small company: Tractor AeroKit from Flow Below Aero Inc., in Austin, Tex. The kit saves fuel by smoothing air flow around the vehicle’s drive wheels. READ MORE

Tags: Aerodynamics

It’s 11 p.m. Do you know where my load is? That’s a shipper asking a trucker the whereabouts of the trailer or container carrying his cargo. He’s not asking about a tractor and its driver; he wants to know about his load. From that point of view, it’s odd that trucking companies attached the first satellite and cellular-based tracking devices to tractors years ago, when products became available. READ MORE

Tags: Qualcomm, Technology, Trailer, Schneider,

It looks like a common western belly-dump trailer, but this new model from American Carrier Equipment is 30% lighter, has 300% greater structural integrity and accommodates a 12.5% greater payload than competitive offerings, according to the builder. READ MORE

Tags: Trailers

Household goods movers haul not just furniture, but sometimes automobiles owned by the people making the move. This of course enhances truckers’ revenue. READ MORE

Tags: Trailers

Senior Editor Tom Berg offers some personal insight into trailer underride guards and why they're so important in his "Trailer Talk" blog. READ MORE

Tags: IIHS, safety, Trailers, Underride

Maybe you saw it in March at the Louisville truck show – that transparent trailer in Ancra International’s booth. I spotted it earlier in the month, at the TMC’s annual meeting and expo in Nashville. Story-wise, the why of it is obvious: It’s a rolling stage on which Ancra displays a number of its freight handling and tie-down products. READ MORE

Tags: Trailers, Ancra

Heavy-haul equipment has always fascinated me, ever since I was a little boy watching “steam shovels” dig basements in our then-expanding neighborhood in post-World War II Milwaukee. The shovels (which were actually gasoline- and maybe diesel-powered) were carried to job sites on low-slung pull trailers. The trailers were pulled by dump trucks which, after parking the trailers on the street, also carried away some of the dirt from the new holes. READ MORE

Tags: Trailers, Mid-America Trucking Show, Talbert

In his latest Trailer Talk blog, Senior Editor Tom Berg takes a closer look at what first glance might look like an ordinary equipment trailer. READ MORE

Tags: Trailers, Heavy Haul

Here’s a novel approach to making trailer skirts: Use reclaimed materials, consult with a veteran fleet executive to be sure you get the design right, and employ U.S. military veterans to assemble them while they attend school. READ MORE

Tags: Aerodynamics, Trailer Skirts

Here’s a new twist on aerodynamics: curved blades inside a rectangular structure that smooth air flow as it leaves a trailer’s surfaces. Called the VorBlade Invisible Fairing, the device is combined in rows at the trailing edges of a box trailer, reducing turbulence and the suction effect at the vehicle’s rear. READ MORE

Tags: Trailers, Aerodynamics

Last week a tractor-trailer carrying a memorial to veterans of the Vietnam War came to town, reports Senior Editor Tom Berg in his latest "Trailer Talk" blog. It was part of ceremonies marking the 40th anniversary of the United States’ official withdrawal from Vietnam. READ MORE

Tags: Featherlite, Van Trailers

Kenworth designers have turned to the trailer part of their T680 Advantage rig, integrating the smoothly styled tractor's aerodynamics into the lines of a 53-foot Utility van. The tractor has mechanical and electrical equipment meant to save fuel, but reducing air drag across the entire vehicle is almost as important, they said. READ MORE

Tags: Kenworth, Trailers, Utility, Fuel Economy, Aerodynamics, Laydon

Forget that headline. Comparing a product to a container for an alcoholic beverage isn’t politically correct on a website that’s concerned about trucking safety, as this one is. But I wanted to get your attention because this thing, called the Sixth Wheel Ratchet, seems like a better idea than a pop-top can, whether or not you’re thirsty. READ MORE

Andy Smith is seeing more and more of his TrailerTails moving down American and Canadian highways, and soon he’ll see them in Europe. The founder and CEO of ATDynamics on Sunday said that to reporters on the eve of the opening of the Technology & Maintenance Council’s annual meeting in Nashville, Tenn. It was his latest briefing since he launched the fuel-saving folding-panel device in 2008. READ MORE

Tags: TMC, ATDynamics, Aerodynamics, Trailer Tails

Is your insurance company out to save you money? It is if it’s Progressive Commercial Auto Insurance, which has a special offer on trailer skirts. READ MORE

Tags: Trailer Skirts

A unique bottom-dump design widely used in the West and elsewhere is the Beall Bullet, fashioned of aluminum sheeting and interior bracing that is attractive in appearance and aerodynamic in performance. READ MORE

Tags: Beall, Trailers, Dump

Kirk Altrichter, vice president of maintenance for Gordon Trucking Inc., can tell you more than a few things about trailer skirts and how to choose the right ones. Senior Editor Tom Berg has the story in the Trailer Talk blog. READ MORE

Tags: Aerodynamics

When a badly corroded upper coupler assembly on a tank trailer caused a roll-over several years ago, Elvin Knollman began thinking of ways to prevent that insidious and almost invisible damage READ MORE