{"id":6156,"date":"2020-06-18T14:17:32","date_gmt":"2020-06-18T12:17:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/?p=6156"},"modified":"2020-06-18T14:17:32","modified_gmt":"2020-06-18T12:17:32","slug":"the-right-truck","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/2020\/06\/18\/the-right-truck\/","title":{"rendered":"Avoid Headaches by Spec’ing the Right Truck"},"content":{"rendered":"
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It costs a dollar a minute to keep a truck in the shop. You\u2019re money ahead to spec premium and long-lasting components up front than to pay for shop time in the end.\u00a0<\/strong>Photos: Jim Park<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The only people who like maintenance are those who are paid to do it. At a cost of about a dollar a minute, maintenance is an expensive proposition. But smart operators can spec some of that cost out of the truck before it even rolls down the assembly line. The cost reduction strategy begins with establishing a purchase\/lease schedule that aligns with the fleet\u2019s financial goals and continues with ordering components that will help reduce the time trucks spend in the shop.<\/span><\/p>\n

There\u2019s little benefit in spec\u2019ing a bulletproof truck if you plan to keep it only four or five years. If you can keep a truck running for 500,000 miles without any significant maintenance or replacement cost, you\u2019ll come out money ahead. But that doesn\u2019t mean you can simply ignore the truck for five years.<\/span><\/p>\n

Preventive maintenance schedules were once based largely on oil change intervals. Not long ago, the average interval was 10,000-15,000 miles, or about once a month. With some of today\u2019s engines capable of going 40,000-50,000 and even out to 70,000 miles between oil drains, PM intervals can be safely extended only if the rest of the truck can be left alone that long \u2013 and that\u2019s not often the case.<\/span><\/p>\n

The long and the short of it<\/span><\/h2>\n

You need to look at maintenance from the long and short view. Long-term considerations involve spec\u2019ing components that can be expected to last the anticipated first life of the truck. The short view demands that you regularly inspect the consumables, top-off fluid reservoirs and check for progressive wear, such as with tires and components likely to corrode.<\/span><\/p>\n

Disc brakes are a good example of the long-view spec\u2019ing decision. The full life-cycle cost of discs compared to drums is about the same. You pay more up front for discs, but you\u2019ll spend more maintaining drum brakes over time. \u201cLooking purely at the numbers, the two almost neutral themselves out,\u201d says Valparaiso, Indiana-based Greg Hart, principal of Hart Consulting. \u201cDiscs are far more reliable than drums and there are way fewer parts to worry about. They\u2019ll also keep you out of trouble during roadside inspections. So, are disc brakes a smart spec\u2019ing decision in the right application? Hell, yes!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Be warned, though, that while disc brakes are nearly maintenance-free, they do require regular inspections. And there\u2019s a risk to ignoring them. Should you try to avoid the inevitable mid-life pad changes \u2013 a quick and cheap PM item \u2013 you run a high risk of destroying a $3,000 rotor, which more than negates the savings.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Solar<\/span>
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Solar panels, extra deep-cycle batteries, and high-efficiency, high-output alternators will offset additional electrical loads and prevent no-starts.\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Hart\u2019s spec\u2019ing philosophy is to look at the trucks\u2019 historically most expensive time frame, years three and four. \u201cIf you look at years three and four, years one and two will take care of themselves,\u201d he says. \u201cExperience has taught me that spending a little extra money up front always pays off in the end.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Take alternators, for example. The upcharge for a high-efficiency, high-output alternator when ordering new might be a couple of hundred dollars more than the standard spec, but it will more than pay for itself in fewer battery problems, fewer no-starts and even in fuel efficiency.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIn certain applications, a high-efficiency alternator can save $100 a year in fuel alone,\u201d says Joe Puff, vice president of truck technology and maintenance at NationaLease. \u201cIf that alternator has kept the batteries charged, you might not need to replace them in the third year, and you may have eliminated or reduced the non-start problems. When you factor that in, the more expensive alternator starts to look like a real bargain.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Hart says vertical integration has limited spec\u2019ing choices in many instances, but it hasn\u2019t eliminated them. \u201cYou will have to pay more for a premium item, but upgrading the major electrical components \u2013 batteries, cables, alternators, starters and the like \u2013 is always money well spent.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Straying from standard<\/span><\/h2>\n

Fleets like to stick with what they know and have become familiar with, but occasionally those components are dropped from the data books or they become custom-order items. Bruce Stockton, principal of Stockton Solutions, Joplin, Missouri-based transportation fleet consultants, says fleets should trust the OE when it comes to spec\u2019ing certain components, unless you have data or experience that suggests otherwise.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYour current fleet will have its share of problems, so draw on that experience in spec\u2019ing the new trucks,\u201d says Stockton. \u201cAsk what the OE has done about the problem you\u2019re having and whether it\u2019s been resolved in the new generation of trucks.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The other danger in straying from the standard spec is availability of parts. Standard parts are generally well-stocked; rarer items might not be. That can lead to downtime while waiting for inventory, warns Hart.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Galvanized<\/span>
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Galvanized wheels don\u2019t look as good as aluminum, but they\u2019re cheaper and they last longer than powder-coated steel wheels.\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Stockton says on the whole, trucks are pretty well made these days, and stuff that we once worried about is no longer an issue \u2013 drivelines, transmissions and axles, for example. Most of the problems are going to come from engines and aftertreatment systems and their associated electronics and sensors. \u201cYou can\u2019t delete those from the spec, so you need to learn everything you can about them to minimize the problems.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

One possible solution is adding an auxiliary HVAC system to sleeper trucks. This will lower idle time and reduce soot buildup in the DPF, says Chris Marks, director of maintenance at Ryder.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou need to pay special attention to things that affect the exhaust aftertreatment system, like fuel economy, speed, loads and duty cycles,\u201d he says. \u201cIf you get it wrong, not only does it affect the vehicle\u2019s reliability, it can really drive up maintenance costs. When ordering add-ons like auxiliary power units or power take-offs, we always have it done at the factory to avoid installation issues with third parties and the problems they can lead to later in the vehicle\u2019s life.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

One of the big things that has changed with trucks in general today is that there is no longer any such thing as a general-purpose truck. You\u2019ll pay a big price over time if you try to run an over-the-road truck in a P&D operation or vice versa. Today\u2019s spec has to be duty-cycle dependent, factoring in annual miles, application and everything else, says Marks.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf you get the spec wrong from the start, the cost will be substantial,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd it\u2019s very expensive to try to fix it after the fact. You have to get it right from the start, or the maintenance budget will be eaten up.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

So, when considering the cost of spec\u2019ing possibly premium components or long-life or maintenance free, keep in mind that maintenance costs today are at a dollar a minute in a well-run shop. That should be good incentive to think twice about scrimping on your spec.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

by Jim Park<\/a><\/p>\n

Source: https:\/\/www.truckinginfo.com<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

CUT COTS OF THE FLEET WITH OUR AUDIT PROGRAM<\/strong><\/a><\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The audit is a key tool to know the overall status and provide the analysis, the assessment, the advice, the suggestions and the actions to take in order to cut costs and increase the efficiency and efficacy of the fleet. We propose the following fleet management audit.<\/p>\n

FLEET MANAGEMENT AUDIT<\/strong><\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It costs a dollar a minute to keep a truck in the shop. You\u2019re money ahead to spec premium and long-lasting components up front than to pay for shop time in the end.\u00a0Photos: Jim Park The only people who like maintenance are those who are paid to do it. At a cost of about a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6157,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18],"tags":[333],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6156"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6156"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6156\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6158,"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6156\/revisions\/6158"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}