3/10/2010  Vertical Integration: Friend or Foe?
By Steve Sturgess, Executive Editor

There is a creeping vertical integration in North American truck manufacturing. The model is changing from assembly of a wide diversity of components to a more structured and integrated whole, where more of the components are captive to the manufacturer. That means options for the customer are becoming more and more limited.

It is still worlds away from the European model. Over there, the truck customer explains his or her needs to the dealer or fleet sales engineer and the horsepower is determined. From that point, the specifications are virtually locked in. Options may include the color and trim -- and maybe the decision whether it will have a manual or an automated transmission.

Even though we are nowhere near that point, integration is happening here in response to market conditions, changing regulations, escalating fuel prices, and cost. Truck makers can no longer afford the complexity of four engine options, several transmissions, with different drive axle and brake suppliers, neither from a development cost perspective nor from a regulatory standpoint. A host of external influences have the end result of limiting truck specifiers' options.

The end result also tends to limit the repair options, as more of the truck becomes captive to the original manufacturer. Fleets struggle with a lack of software to support diagnostics and repair. Even when brand-specific tools and software are available, they chafe under the cost of the licenses needed for all the technicians and the different shops.....

3/5/2010  Four Ways to Make Onsite Product Training More Effective

When you spec a component, often training is part of the package. Training helps established suppliers set themselves apart from those selling cheap parts without any customer support, and generally there's no out-of-pocket expense to the fleet or dealer.

But if you're going to pull technicians off the shop floor to meet with one of your supplier's instructors, take steps to ensure that hands-on time is productive from the beginning. ArvinMeritor's Rick Martin offers these four ground rules for efficient on-site instruction:

1. Request a lesson plan to address a specific installation, diagnostics, or repair issue. If the instructor has given his talk a thousand times, it's probably general material that your technicians are better off learning online.

2. Ask how much time will be spent in the training room versus on the shop floor. "Technicians learn by doing, and effective instructor-led training is focused and hands-on," Martin says. "The instructor should leave the long PowerPoint presentation at home."....

2/16/2010  Pursuing a Tank Rust Mystery
By Tom Berg, Senior Editor

Is ultra-low-sulfur diesel fuel causing rust in steel fuel tanks? A shop foreman in Georgia believes that the relatively new fuel, or perhaps biodiesel blends, are to blame for the damaged saddle tanks he's seen in the last year or two. Rust gets into fuel lines, clogs filters and lowers fuel pressure; that, in turn, causes low power and damage to injectors.

An industry trade group says it's gotten similar reports about underground storage tanks, and that the federal government is looking into it. A maintenance consultant says aluminum tanks are corroding, too. Steel tanks are widely used on vocational trucks, and Ford Motor Co. uses them exclusively on its medium-duty models used for all hauling tasks.

Ford tanks is where Chris Sands, who runs the repair shop at a multi-brand dealership in suburban Atlanta, sees the problem. Rust usually forms when water gets inside tanks and owners don't take steps to remove it. Rust shouldn't happen in otherwise clean tanks but is, on F-250 to F-750 trucks his mechanics work on.....

2/11/2010  Make Supplemental Filters Pay
By Tom Berg, Senior Editor

Cleanliness is next to godliness, so some truck operators change motor oil religiously according to manufacturers' recommendations. Others extend drain intervals but use supplemental filtration and oil analysis to do it safely and make sure the oil stays clean and effective. But adding a bypass filter to any engine should include considerations of cost effectiveness, according to a new set of recommendations from the Technology & Maintenance Council of the American Trucking Associations.

A task force of TMC members wrote Recommended Practice 359, "Qualifying Questions for Evaluation of Supplemental Engine Oil Filtration Systems," and TMC will soon publish it. Karl Dedolph, an automotive industry veteran who runs D3 Consulting out of Bloomington, Minn., chaired the task force, which included truck users and representatives of the filter business.

Supplemental filters are commonly called "bypass" because they draw a small percentage of the motor oil from the engine's circulatory system and eventually process all of it. The idea is they can take out more contaminants over time than the standard full-flow filters, which treat all the oil all the time.

A supplemental filter can help lengthen engine life and extend drain intervals by three or four times what manufacturers cite. But they must pay for themselves to be financially effective.....

1/6/2010  The Path to Parts Savings: Five Ways to Get the Most Out of Your Budget
By Deborah Lockridge, Editor

Times are tough. Fleets are scrambling for freight to fill trucks, shippers are beating up carriers on rates, and truckers are keeping their equipment longer because they can't afford to buy new. Maintenance managers are cannibalizing parked trucks for parts when they can, and looking harder than ever to find the best deal on the parts they do buy.

"A lot of fleets are facing parts-buying decisions they've never had in the past," says Jeff Sass, general marketing manager at Paccar Parts. That's because many fleets that previously traded in their trucks every three years are now keeping them longer, which takes a lot of those trucks out of warranty. "Now they're on their own," Sass says.

The simplest option has always been to buy original equipment parts - the exact same brands that were on the truck when you bought it.

"Vehicle manufacturers have rigorous requirements they demand of their suppliers that take into consideration durability, cost, reputation of the supplier, and a battery of testing before it goes onto their vehicles," explains Bob Phillips....

12/30/2009  Where Does Underhood Heat Go? Into the Cab
By Gary Hansen, Vice President, Red Dot Corp.

As engineers, one of our biggest challenges is how to deal with underhood heat. Because of aerodynamics and other styling changes, the engine box on trucks is smaller and more densely packed than it ever has been. Add a hotter-running diesel engine (the result of emission controls) and a smaller grille area, and the thermal environment can get downright nasty.

It's particularly true of 2007-model and later on-highway diesels, which you'll see more of as these trucks come off warranty.

While heat under the hood is an issue for the durability of hoses and other components, we're especially concerned about the effect on the cab and the operator inside.....

12/23/2009  Rush Technicians Compete For Top Spots in Skills Rodeo
By Steve Sturgess, Executive Editor

In the by-now familiar holidays ritual, Rush Enterprises held its fourth Technician Skills Rodeo, drawing techs from across its far-flung 62-facility truck center empire. All-Around Heavy-Duty Tech Randy Hughes from Texarkana, who won his category in each of the previous three contests, will have a very merry Christmas indeed, with $8,000 in prize money, $5,500 worth of top tools to make him even more effective as a technician, and a dollar boost in pay rate to make it a prosperous New Year.

The All-Around Medium-Duty Tech is Billy Stanley from Houston, who takes home $5,000 in cash and $5,500 in other prizes.

Other winners included Chris Zweifel from El Paso, Texas, Wayne Owens from San Diego, Brian Noska from Sealy Texas, and Matthew Pogue from San Antonio, Texas, taking the top honors in Caterpillar Tech, Cummins Tech, Eaton Tech and Medium-Duty Tech, respectively.....

12/21/2009  Suspension Maintenance
By Jim Park, Equipment Editor

The key to keeping suspensions working for you rather than against you is to keep everything tight. When suspension components work themselves loose, tires wear badly, springs break, fuel economy suffers, and drivers complain. Regardless of the type or brand of suspension on your truck or trailer, the most critical aspect of suspension maintenance is fastener torque.

John Knutson, tech support manager, on-highway products, at Hendrickson says retorque intervals will vary by suspension type and especially by application.

"Hendrickson offers guidelines on inspection and retorqueing intervals, but every application is unique. What would serve one customer well might be overkill to another, he says. "The user knows what the suspension is up against in that application and is the best judge of when periodic maintenance might be required."

Visual inspections should be done at a minimum every three to six months, and retorques at least annually, he suggests.....