Gear

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Top tech items for the holidays help truckers fulfill essential missions

Let’s face it, we all could use a little help these days. 2020 has been a year filled with uncertainty, inconvenience, and even fear driven primarily by the COVID-19 coronavirus and the issues it has spawned. Fortunately, there are tools, gadgets, and technologies that help us respond to, cope with, and get beyond most of […]

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Bridgestone’s new Bandag retread tire

Bridgestone has launched the Bandag B123 FuelTech retread, a trailer retread designed to complement the Bridgestone R123 Ecopia tire in design and performance to help reduce fuel cost. The Bandag B123 retread is engineered to fight irregular wear and enab

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Optronics’ new LED Combo Light Bar and Utility Light

Optronics International has introduced its new LED Combination ID Light Bar and Utility Light, which enables a truck’s light bar to serve double duty as a utility and scene light, whether it’s mounted high or low. With a mounting position high on the back

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Keep glasses from fogging while wearing your mask

Like it or not, wearing a mask has become a fairly routine thing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Some places you pick up or deliver require them, as do most major truck stops. And, if you happen to wear glasses, a mask most likely makes them fog.

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Multi-tool includes set of 12 bits

The Gerber Center-Drive Multi-Tool has a number of ways to help you while on the road, as well it should. It also has something else: ease of use. Made in Portland, Oregon, this multi-tool includes a 12 piece standard bit set and black sheath. This makes it more functional and can help solve more on-the-road […]

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Optronics’ new LED Combo Light Bar, Utility Light

Easy-to-install light bar doubles as utility light for trailers

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Latest Gear Guide loaded with tips for holiday giving

It seems like it was only yesterday that we were ringing in the new year and trying to contain our excitement about what was to come. Flash forward and in what seems like an instant — granted one fraught with danger, inconvenience, and uncertainty — we’re planning where we’ll be for Thanksgiving and scrutinizing our […]

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Belmor’s low-profile hood shield

Shorter shield is more aerodynamic, provides more visibility

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AfterShokz OpenComm keeps you in touch wirelessly while on the road

There’s no substitute for good, clear communication while you’re on the road. It may be with your dispatcher or someone at your destination or it could be with the folks back home. No matter who it is, you need to connect easily and well. The OpenComm is the first AfterShokz Bluetooth headset designed specifically for communication. […]

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Lightweight headset delivers comfort and superior sound

As a long-haul trucker logging hundreds of miles in all sorts of traffic and uncertain weather conditions, the last thing you need to worry about is your headset being uncomfortable and unresponsive to your communication needs. When you begin your driving day slip the LG New Tone Style L5 around your neck and have easy […]

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RoadPro Family of Brands

The trucker cap in teacher Amy Watson’s selfie from the day she was tested for COVID-19 later inspired her choice of “long-haulers” to describe COVID survivors with persistent symptoms. “My school’s mascot is a squirrel,” she said, which she finds appropriate, given that her pre-school students, with their short bursts of activity, are “very squirrel-like.”

Trucking’s bit part in the 'COVID long-haulers’ name

A teacher's trucker cap provides inspiration for her to borrow trucking's "long-hauler" designation for COVID-19 survivors who discover they're facing an indefinite period of further suffering.

Small-fleet owner Jesse McGinness was going for originality with the look of this 2021 Peterbilt 389, spec'ing the black Alcoa rims from the factory. After his maiden voyage in a Class 8 tractor years ago, in a Peterbilt 379, he fell in love with the classic square-hood series. He plans to modify the stacks, the grille and more to all-black finish -- committing sacrilege, says the operator who took him on that first 379 run. McGinness'll maintain plenty in chrome/stainless accents, not to worry. The flattop with lift-axle is powered by the X15 Cummins at 605 hp, with an 18-speed transmission. 'I wanted this truck to be a truck that I thought was cool,' McGinness said, in addition to doing the tough over-dimensional/heavy hauling he'll require of it.

'WTF' stresses service for long-term success

The glider market grew from a few hundred sales a year in 2010 to upwards of 10,000 as recently as 2017. Gliders sported pre-emissions-regs engines -- no exhaust gas recirculation or selective catalytic reduction components and, thus, no need for DEF. With simpler technology and refurbished engines, the products were much cheaper than new trucks with new engines, making them attractive buys for small-business truckers.

Glider kit market hits fatal nosedive with latest emissions regs

Fuel Fueling Truck Stop

After weakened demand in 2020, diesel prices jump back to pre-pandemic levels

Junior Elmore’s Marmon caught Christner's eye right off for a very simple reason: 'I’d never seen a Marmon cabover in the flesh before,' he wrote. 'Up close, it’s easy to see why a Marmon cabover was used in the movie 'Transformers: Age of Extinction' as the Autobot Optimus Prime. Elmore’s Marmon COE #31 HDT-BC-86 was Manufactured 03/1977 in Garland, Texas. This is a complete truck with no parts taken off. Still running when parked in 1999. A good honest work truck that’s nicely spec’d out.' Find more details, and history, via this link.

Look back at Junior Elmore's classic 1970s rigs

Beware: Human smugglers luring truckers along the border

More episodes »

The Business Manual for Owner-Operators

Overdrive editors and ATBS present the industry’s best manual for prospective and committed owner-operators. You’ll find exceptional depth on many issues in the 2021 edition of Partners in Business.

Partners in Business Issue Cover