Business has boomed for glider vehicle assemblers since 2007.
Companies such as Fitzgerald Glider Kits, Harrison Truck Centers and Ervin’s Equipment have offered small fleets and owner-operators new trucks equipped with older, rebuilt engines that don’t use exhaust gas recirculation or require diesel exhaust fluid.
Federal regulations taking effect Dec. 27 restrict that market by allowing only much smaller sales after 2017. The expansive emissions standards finalized in October effectively close the loophole that allowed glider kit sales to flourish. That leaves glider kit makers scrambling to alter their operations or shuttering their glider business altogether.
That’s the case with Ervin’s. Perry Propst, head of marketing for Ervin’s, says the company closed its glider vehicle sales business in January, citing emissions regulations and market conditions.
Current standards require gliders to meet only the regulations in place the year the engine block was cast. Fitzgerald, the country’s largest glider vehicle supplier, uses almost exclusively 2003 model-year and older Detroit Diesel Series 60 engines. Fitzgerald remanufactures the engines and pairs them with Eaton-Fuller transmissions purchased directly from Eaton’s reman division.
With no further modification, those engines would not satisfy the new Phase 2 emissions standards, known as Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Fuel Efficiency Standards for Heavy-Duty Engines and Vehicles – Phase 2. They call for engines installed in glider vehicles to meet 2010 standards for emissions of greenhouse gases, particulate matter and nitrous oxide (NOx). If Fitzgerald is able to upgrade its older engines for 2010 compliance, buyers could have concerns about reliability if the system is relatively untested.
