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•June 10, 2009

Cool It! Cooling system maintenance

We demand much of our cooling systems these days. Not only do they dissipate the heat generated by combustion within the block, but chances are they also cool large volumes of really hot exhaust ga

Articles•by Jim Park•June 10, 2009

A Question of Balance

Do we really need to balance our tires? Predictably, and depending who you ask, the answers are yes. Or no. Improvements in manufacturing processes guarantee a much better tire comes from the factory today than even a decade ago

Articles•by Jim Park•June 10, 2009

Crud Catcher: Fifth Wheel Maintenance

As we head into winter, springtime may seem far away. But it's the aftereffects of winter's messy roads and de-icing compounds that lead to one of the sounds of spring: drivers complaining about their fifth wheels

Articles•by Jim Park•June 10, 2009

Ticking Time Bomb? NOT!

Two major television news reports within the last year cast a shadow over aging passenger-car and light-truck tires. Fatal accidents allegedly resulting from age-related tire degradatio

Articles•by Jim Park•June 8, 2009

Miles Ahead for Pennies a Day: Automatic Tire Inflation Systems

Meet your new handy-dandy tire filler-upper. We're not talking about a knuckle-dragger named Earl, here, with eyes that gaze off in two different directions and a plug of tobacco in his cheek big enough to choke a horse

Articles•by Jim Park•June 8, 2009

Retreads: Play 'Em Again, Sam

Despite their manifest advantages, retreaded tires continue to struggle with an image problem. It's widely assumed - wrongly - that much of the tire debris seen lying at roadside are the remains of a retreaded tire

Articles•by Jim Park•June 8, 2009

What's New In Tires

Round and black. That's about the extent of the similarities between today's marvels of engineering and yesteryear's truck tires. I think I'm safe saying we probably take our tires for granted. When they're doing well

Articles•by Jim Park•June 3, 2009

Running Lean: Lightweight specs no longer just for payload

Weight, and what we're willing to pay to shed pounds, is relative. Tare isn't quite as critical to a typical truckload carrier as it is to a bulk or beverage hauler

Articles•by Jim Park•May 26, 2009

Airing on the Side of Safety

How much force would it take to hurl a 16-pound bowling ball three-quarters of a mile? About the same amount of potential energy packed into an 11-by-22-inch truck tire inflated to 100 psi, says the Tire Industry Association

Articles•by Jim Park•May 26, 2009

Tires & Fuel Economy: Playing by the Numbers

Spec'ing considerations for tires run the gamut from application to serviceability, and from life cycle costs to anticipated fuel savings. No two fleets will have exactly the same considerations, but at year-end, fuel costs will factor into most spec'ing decisions

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