Tag: maintenance: Page 2

Voices

POLL: What’s your typical interval for engine oil changes?

How often do you change the oil in your truck or trucks — do you stick with traditional low-mileage intervals or extend out based on oil analysis and/or manufacturer recommendation in newer extended-interval engines? Weigh in via this poll.

October 30, 2019

Custom Rigs

The trucking history of independent Germann Soeth and his long-running 1998 Kenworth W900B

VIDEO: Soeth runs independent with authority out of Frederick, Md., to points mostly Chicago and east. From That’s a Big 10-4 on D.C. on the National Mall in Washington, he gives a window into his history, extending back to his time in high school, when he met an independent running LTL reefer leased who agreed to bring Soeth on as a helper to show him the ropes of backing, loading, unloading, learning slowly how to operate in the process.

October 24, 2019

Custom Rigs

Glen Rice’s 2007 big-bunk W900 and savings from next-gen oil bypass, fuel treatment

Rice has benefited the last couple of years from a bypass-oil-filtration and fuel-additive system he purchased from the Clean Air Fleet company. The oil filter medium in the system filters out particles down to 1 micron. With it on-board, Rice has extended his typical oil-change interval to 40,000 miles or more.

October 1, 2019

Voices

Preventing convex mirror cracks in winter

The latest “Highway Hack,” with a few preventive measures: Seal the housing when installing replacement mirrors. Manually create moisture drain if there’s not a drain hole that’s obvious upon installation. If one is obvious, make sure any existing drain is correctly positioned.

September 23, 2019

Business

Trailers’ simplicity doesn’t excuse poor preventive maintenance

Trailer maintenance often takes a backseat to servicing the tractor, with its multitude of components and moving parts. Still, a thorough on-time preventive maintenance inspection is the best way to increase uptime, decrease running costs, ensure safety and prevent violations.

September 19, 2019

Channel 19

Where Brake Safety Week, starting Sunday, is something of a year-round affair

Keeping up with your braking systems might be the most important thing you can do when it comes to avoiding the principal violations inspectors are looking for year-round, nationally, and particularly in the states shown here. Window also, here, on brake-related resources available via Overdrive and elsewhere.

September 12, 2019

Business

Be prepared for next week’s nationwide Brake Safety Week inspection spree

If the results of June’s 72-hour International Roadcheck inspection blitz are any indication, Brake Safety Week may not be a pleasant experience for a number of drivers. Braking systems were the top OOS violation, accounting for more than a quarter of OOS violations with 4,578, or 28% of the total.

September 10, 2019

Partners in Business

Panel talks controlling costs and other best practices for owner-operators

This GATS session of Overdrive’s Partners in Business addressed the broad topic of best practices for owner-operators. Controlling costs is perhaps the most effective strategy for success in trucking, panelists noted — not only does every saved dollar go directly to the bottom line, but many costs fall in areas owner-ops have the most control over.

September 2, 2019

Channel 19

Cash flow, freight strategies: Report from the GATS panel of independents, small fleets

PIB small fleet panel at GATS: Substantial profit can be hard-won in the trucking business, though with diligence around business analysis and cash flow, cost control, freight market wisdom and customer relationships, an independent owner-operator or small fleet owner can set themselves up for long-term success.

August 27, 2019

Truck Stops

Kenly 95 Petro gets new TA Service Center

The company says the new 26,000 square-foot facility is fully climate-controlled with heat and air-conditioning in all six bays. The new service center also adds DPF cleaning equipment to the location.

August 13, 2019

Overdrive Extra

Notes on the No. 1 reason for a truck repo — and going out of business

“The No 1. place when someone stops paying me is when the truck is at a repair shop,” one lender recently told Overdrive. Likewise, another take from Truckstop.com’s Brent Hutto, who corroborates that lender’s account. More here…

August 12, 2019

Business

I-24 closed in downtown Nashville Friday night through early Monday

TDOT has a closure set for the I-24 section of the downtown Nashville, Tenn., interstate loop from the I-40 at the Silliman Evans bridge to I-65 on the Northeast side of the downtown area. The closure begins at 9 p.m. tonight, Friday, August 2, and runs through Monday, August 5, at 5 a.m.

August 2, 2019