July
2010
"STORIES"

One of the rules of life if you're self employed or run a small or large corporation is you must remain flexible and willing to make changes.

During my travels to and from truck shows, Pete and I frequently eat at Cracker Barrel Restaurants.  Those of you who have eaten there know Cracker Barrel decorates their walls with lots of old signs from past businesses.  As I wait for my food I think about what happened to all those companies and why they are out of business.  Could it be that as the times changed these companies were NOT willing to change with them?  Then I think about our little diesel engine shop in Saxonburg, PA and how we have been in business since December of 1977 and the changes we have made to diesel engines, semi trucks, diesel powered pick up trucks and motor homes and even diesel boats.  As we get older it gets harder to make changes, however we make several changes every year at Pittsburgh Power, Inc. The hundreds of phone calls we get everyday keeps us all very busy but also allows us to maintain a very close relationship with the industry. You, the owner-operators of the world speak and we listen. The things we try and the changes we make are efforts to try to solve problems you tell us about every day.  Now we recently asked the Peterbilt Corporation to please release the new 386 Peterbilt to us in a glider kit.  At first the answer was NO, we are selling every one we can build. Peterbilt did not want to make this change. They were not listening to their customer.  However I can be quite persistent and have a hard time accepting the answer NO.  I finally got to the right man in the Peterbilt organization and they agreed to build 386 Peterbilts for us, however there will be no piping for the coolant to travel to and from the radiator and the charge air cooler.  No problem, we can make anything and the piping will be quite simple.  So now we can build you an Aerodynamic 386 Pete with a 2002 or older engine of your choice. After all, you are the man who is going to pay for the truck and spend most of you life in the truck, shouldn't it be built to YOUR specifications?

Kenworth Corporation, what are you thinking? The glider kit business is bigger than it has ever been in the history of trucking in North America and you still refuse to build glider kits for us.  Can't you see the problems with the new engines since 2003 with the EGR systems and the Diesel Particulate Filters?  Many owner-operators would love to have a new KW with a 2002 or older engine, and YOU won't build them for us.  Business is business, and I know you don't count a glider kit as a completed truck leaving your assembly line; however there is still profit in building a glider kit. Look what Peterbilt did, raise the price $8,000 on a glider kit as of January 2010 and we still continue to build them. Kenworth CEO's, please remove your blinders, think about your customers and listen to them. Reconsider the glider kit business.  We don't want you to be a sign on the Cracker Barrel Restaurants walls and be out of business like so many other businesses have because you're not willing to make a change.          

Now that summer is here and the heat and humidity is high, coolant temperatures will run higher than during the cooler months. We don't need to check the weather report to know this. The phone calls have already started rolling in about heat related problems.  Please keep in mind that an engine multiplies the temperature by 3, and a 40-degree change in temperature is a 120-degree change to the engine.  Humidity displaces oxygen and hot air contains less oxygen by volume so you will lose power when the humidity and heat are high.  Listen to your truck. Your truck will talk to you. Your gauges don't lie. Salesmen will tell you to lug your engine to obtain fuel mileage.  These salesmen are wrong. Bring up the RPM, back your foot out of the throttle and allow the engine to run free.  A free running engine is a cool running engine. So you may need to run 1 gear lower in the intense heat than you would in the winter. So what? Drop a gear and raise the RPM and allow the engine to breathe.  When it's hot it gets harder for you to work outside. Your body has to work hard to keep cool and your energy is drained by the heat. In this case your engine is no different.

We often get phone calls where the owner-operator says that he and his friend have the same kind of truck with the same specifications and the same equipment.   They run the same load but his friend gets 1.5 mpg more than he does running the same trip. Why the difference in fuel mileage, we get asked.  In some cases it could be one truck has a problem.  In most cases however the only difference really is who is driving the truck.  A fact about fuel mileage in the trucking industry that isn’t often discussed is the number one variable factoring into what fuel mileage you will get is YOU. How you drive your truck. Back in 1965, when my father was teaching me to drive, he insisted that I hold the throttle steady and pre-accelerate for the hills.  How about YOU, do you hold the throttle steady?  If I ride with you in your truck I always have one eye on your turbo boost gauge and I can tell how good you are with the throttle.  Don't think just because you have been driving a truck for 35 years that you're good with a throttle, some people just don't have it.  Take your truck off cruise control and look at your turbo boost gauge or manifold pressure gauge and when going up a long grade or hill, try to keep the boost steady at 25 psi and see how good you are.  You want to drive a truck, then be a truck driver and NOT a steering wheel holder, leave that cruise control off unless you are on very level terrain.  Caterpillar even says that on rolling hills leave the Jacobs Brake off and allow the weight of the truck going down hill to gain speed in order to cruise up the next hill with less throttle and back out of the throttle just before you crest the hill.  Now when I say back out of the throttle, I don't mean take your foot off of the throttle, just reduce your turbo boost required to pull the hill by 50% and allow the momentum to pull the truck over the crest of the hill. Now if your friend with a truck identical to yours gets better fuel mileage than you do, you might want to ride with him for one trip and watch his boost gauge and pyrometer and compare his driving technique with yours.

Think about this when you're cruising at 65 - it takes about 100 hp to buck a 15 mph head wind at 65 mph, so why not slow down to 60 mph when the wind is blowing. What do you think happens when that 30 mph wind is hitting you and your trailer at a 45-degree angle and trying to push you sideways? Your truck and trailer are acting just like a sail blowing you backwards and in the wrong direction. Drop a gear or ½ gear, back out of the throttle and slow down when it's windy.  Save your fuel, the load will still get delivered.

Written by Bruce C. Mallinson; Pittsburgh Power Inc.; 3600 S. Noah Dr.; Saxonburg, Pa. 16056. Phone 724-360-4080.