Jim Park

Former HDT Equipment Editor

Jim Park served as Heavy Duty Trucking's equipment editor from 2006-2024. Specializing in technical and equipment content, Park is an award-winning journalist who has been covering the trucking industry since 1998.

Before joining HDT, Park was a truck driver and owner-operator for 20 years and served as an editor for HighwayStar magazine, which ceased production in 2011. He maintained his commercial driver’s license to bring a real-world perspective to Test Drives, as well as to features, videos and podcasts about equipment spec’ing and trends, emissions regulations and developments, maintenance and drivers.

He is the recipient of 16 Jesse H. Neal honors (both finalist and Neal awards), including “Best Range of Work by a Single Author” in 2020.

Articles•by Jim Park•July 9, 2013

Which Drivers Make Good Lease-Purchase Candidates?

While capacity is important, the DOT's new CSA enforcement regime and ever-nosier agencies like the IRS make it clear that you simply can't take people that need to be led by the hand into a lease-purchase program.

Articles•by Jim Park•July 8, 2013

4 Ways to Get More Miles from your Tires

Irregular tire wear is usually a symptom of some other malfunction such as poor alignment, improper inflation or even poor driving habits. The peril with mechanically induced irregular wear is that it begins the day you install the tire, though it won't produce any visible signs until weeks or perhaps months later. By then, its progress is almost irreversible.

Articles•by Jim Park•July 8, 2013

Buy Used, Build Equity

Here are two things you need to know about buying a truck: it takes big bucks to play with big trucks, and there no such thing as a free lunch. Keep those two things in mind while planning your business strategy and you'll double your chance of success.

Articles•by Jim Park•July 3, 2013

What Exactly Constitutes an Underinflated Truck Tire?

Why should we worry about defining underinflation? Because of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's CSA (Compliance, Safety, Accountability) enforcement program.

On the Road•by Jim Park•July 3, 2013

The 1.6 MPG Epiphany, Part II

This story is a follow up to a blog Jim Park wrote a little over a year ago about a fellow, Carlos Cruz, who was a struggling lease-purchase driver. He wasn't making any money and was about to walk away from the truck when he decided to try some of the fuel saving tips he had read about and heard about on the radio. Today, his 90-day average is over 8 mpg, and his personal loaded best at 75,000 GVW is 9.7 mpg.

Articles•by Jim Park•July 2, 2013

Wheel-End Problems: Beyond the Obvious

Wheel-ends function as a system: the spindle, hub, and rim (or wheel), as well as the bearings and the fasteners, all work in concert to keep the wheels in place and the tires running straight and true. If one part of the system is out of whack, the results will be seen and felt elsewhere in the system - usually at the tires themselves.