Equipment

By Diana Britton, Managing Editor

Contenders for the title of best medium-duty and heavy-duty truck gathered at the St. Louis Regional Airport last week to strut their stuff to the panel of judges made up of eight magazine editor

Tags: Light & Medium

By Jim Park, Equipment Editor

If you were serious about getting the best odds on a pro basketball bet, you'd research the heck out of the starting lineups, and know in advance that Kobe Bryant's sprained ankle doesn't seem to be much of a liabilit

Tags: Tire Report

By Tom Berg, Senior Editor

It would be a good idea if fleets and truckers had some way to judge how good trailer aerodynamic products are, and to properly install what's available

Tags: Trailers

By Tom Berg, Senior Editor

One of the things we expect from 3/4- and 1-ton pickup trucks is a stiff ride. Strong springs are needed to haul heavy loads, so when the truck's empty it's got to ride a little rough

Tags: Test Drive

By Steve Sturgess, Executive Editor

There's a mighty transition going on at an old, established North American supplier to the trucking industry. Holland from Michigan is now a combined company with SAF of German

Tags: Trailers

By Tom Berg, Senior Editor

Dart Transit, a pioneer in high-cube trailers for hauling low-density freight, is now seeking lower tare weight to serve customers who ship heavier cargoes

Tags: Trailers

By Tom Berg, Senior Editor

Premium is as premium does, and at least for the driver, Freightliner's Coronado does things very well

Tags: Test Drive

By Jim Park, Equipment Editor

Prominent Canadian journalist Allan Fotheringham offered the following bit of advice to aspiring journalists: "If your mother tells you her age, check it out." But the advantages of a little skepticism aren't limited to journalist

Tags: Tire Report

By Steve Sturgess, Executive Editor

The terminal tractor - yard jockey, hostler, whatever you call it - has to be one of the most used, abused and under-regarded vehicles in any fleet

Tags: Equipment Issues

By Diana Britton, Managing Editor

While the used truck market is seeing some strong improvement in demand and volumes, prices are at their lowest levels ever, according to Carl Heikel, president and CEO Arrow Truck Sale

Tags: Equipment Issues

By Tom Berg, Senior Editor

Eaton's electric-drive system is the one usually used by truck manufacturers who offer a medium-duty hybrid, including Freightliner, Freightliner Custom Chassis, Kenworth, Peterbilt and Navistar International. One builder that doesn't make hybrids is Ford Motor - but it does suppl

Tags: Test Drive

By Deborah Lockridge, Editor

What does the next decade hold for the commercial vehicle industry? How will trucks and the way they are marketed change? What will be the driving factors behind those changes? Heavy Duty Dialogue '10 tried to answer that question

Tags: Equipment Issues

By Steve Sturgess, Executive Editor

Lars Frantzich refers to his container carriers as "machines," not trailers. This gives a hint of the capability and versatility of the Hammar Lift self-loading container-hauling trailer, new to the U.S. market

Tags: Trailers

By Jim Park, Equipment Editor

Running two tires of different circumference, diameter, or tread depth in a dual assembly is a sure-fire way to kill two tires for the price of one

Tags: Tire Report

By Tom Berg, Senior Editor

Humans have been cursing the darkness and the real and imagined horrors it hides since before recorded tim

Tags: Equipment Issues

By Tom Berg, Senior Editor

Some manufacturers have enough existing trucks to last well into the new year, so are delaying the start of their 2011 model years, while others will begin them as soon as January

Tags: Light & Medium

By Steve Sturgess, Executive Editor

If it hadn't been for the development of copper zeolite as a catalyst to use in reducing nitrogen oxides (NOx), Cummins might have been right alongside Navistar in using increased levels of exhaust gas circulatio

Tags: Test Drive

By Tom Berg, Senior Editor

For much of the history of trailer-on-flatcar operations, semitrailers had to be beefed up to take the beating of rail service

Tags: Trailers

By Tom Berg, Senior Editor

Municipal trucks have to work all year round, and they work especially hard when heavy snow falls. "Plow trucks" keep motorized civilization moving, and for this task and others that demand strong specifications, Kenworth has the T470

Tags: Test Drive

By Jim Park, Equipment Editor

Empty miles can chew up more than your balance sheet. Running empty one way may be good for fuel consumption, but it's hell on tires

Tags: Tire Report

By Tom Berg, Senior Editor

Daylight's great for as long as it lasts, and then we switch on electric lights. But for lighting up the insides of trailers, forget old-fashioned incandescent and even late-model fluorescent types

Tags: Trailers

By Tom Berg, Senior Editor

Look for altered model years from many builders after Jan. 1 as they prepare to begin installing EPA 2010-legal diesels in their commercial trucks at various points next year

Tags: Light & Medium

By Tom Berg, Senior Editor

Advances in gasoline and diesel engines for pickup trucks are just in time to catch the beginning of the end of the recession, the worst downturn since the Great Depression of the 1930

Tags: Light & Medium

By Steve Sturgess, Executive Editor

Eaton's UltraShift has been updated and upgraded with a new, two-plate, electronically activated clutch and revised logic for the electronic controller that makes it a much sweeter transmission that will learn - or coach - according to driver deman

Tags: Test Drive

By Jim Park, Equipment Editor

Here's a quick quiz: What's your tire cost per mile? How many miles per 32nd do you get out of a steer or drive tire? How many miles do you expect from a steer tire

Tags: Tire Report

By Tom Berg, Senior Editor

Falling from a tall trailer will almost certainly result in broken bones or worse for a driver or maintenance person, and will cost thousands of dollars in medical and worker's compensation claims

Tags: Trailers

By Deborah Lockridge, Editor

Fifth wheels often get taken for granted.

Tags: Equipment Issues

By Jim Park, Equipment Editor

Trying to get drivers actively involved in tire maintenance programs is like pushing rope uphill. If you're lucky, the good ones will kick or thump the tires during a pre-tri

Tags: Tire Report

By Tom Berg, Senior Editor

What makes a semitrailer easy to sell at a good price? Structural soundness, with emphasis on the floor and roof, and good appearance that comes from regular maintenanc

Tags: Trailers

By Tom Berg, Senior Editor

A Transit Connect is roughly 2 feet shorter and weighs about 1,500 pounds less than an E-150 van. The TC's high roof makes it roomier than it might look in a photograp

Tags: Light & Medium

By Tom Berg, Senior Editor

The gasoline share will only increase, because Ford Motor Co., the market leader, is dropping the Navistar-built PowerStroke diesel following lawsuits over warranty claims and competitive issues, leaving its E-series vans with gasoline-only power in the new yea

Tags: Light & Medium

By Jim Park, Equipment Editor

Call it pre-need planning. When Detroit Diesel rolled out its DD15 engine in October 2007, the company said it was a clean-sheet design, birthed EPA-'07-compliant and 100 percent ready for EPA-201

Tags: Test Drive

By Bob Johnson, director of fleet relations, NTEA

Maximizing fleet productivity starts with getting the most out of your vehicles.

Tags: Light & Medium

By Jim Park, Equipment Editor

Unlike their relatively pampered long-haul cousins that run all day long on flat, straight Interstates, tires that earn their keep on city streets get up close and very personal with all manner of road hazards, including curbs, potholes, piercing grave

Tags: Tire Report

By Tom Berg, Senior Editor

Not many owners of semitrailers have bought aerodynamic fairings and low-rolling-resistance tires to save fuel, but a lot of them will have to under new rules from California's Air Resources Board

Tags: Trailers

By Steve Sturgess, Executive Editor

Opportunities to evaluate natural heavy-truck gas alternative power have been few to this point

Tags: Test Drive

By Tom Berg, Senior Editor

If it weren't for what's being nicknamed "The Great Recession," news in the Class 8 truck business would be all about engines

Tags: Equipment Issues

By Tom Berg, Senior Editor

Testimonials are fine, but repeat business is the best endorsement for a product. Wayne Klink, founder and president of a fleet with his name, likes his 90 Volvo trucks and the latest component in three of them, the I-Shif

Tags: Test Drive

By Tom Berg, Senior Editor

The California Air Resources Board is following through on its promise to clamp down on emissions from reefer diesel

Tags: Trailers

By Tom Berg, Senior Editor

A bill to allow states to authorize heavier tractor-trailers has been introduced in Congress, and the idea might also be part of highway reauthorization legislation. But chances for passage are iffy, observers sa

Tags: Trailers

By Tom Berg, Senior Editor

One look at this truck tells what it is - a big hauler of large and dense loads - and what it's not - a posh over-the-road freighter

Tags: Test Drive