With all that product branding you guys should be on the NASCAR circus.
Trailer Tail
- Thread starter TeamCaffee
- Start date
I'm no longer wondering why I'm not quoted at the bottom of your posts.
I think it's just great that Bob and Linda are taking the lead in the industry by investing in this new technology straight trucks...,, They are in uncharted territory with very little statistics. Someone has to be first. There are risktakers and there are followers.
paullud
Veteran Expediter
As long as the technology is proven, which the Trailer Tail has been, the risk goes down a little. Now all the other ST owners will get to benefit by seeing real world numbers without risking their money if the ROI is not there. I'm not exactly sure how much a ST spends on fuel but I would guess a .1MPG improvement would mean about a 1.5 to 2 year time frame to recover the cost. If it were me, financially speaking that would be a toss up because the risk of damage or broken parts would extend it further than 2 years. If there is a .2MPG or better increase then to me it would be an easy choice to invest in. Even a .1MPG increase coupled with better handling might be worth it to many.
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Exactly Paul..,. What the caffees will be doing is supplying real-time real-life numbers in regards to a straight truck it just may not be beneficial or work out financially...
Murraycroexp
Veteran Expediter
Kudos to them for making the leap!!!
Seeing the numbers will be interesting. For me the numbers would not be the entire story. I would be concerned with gadgets. MORE moving parts. MORE stuff to break. Maybe problems with snow and ice build up. I don't like moving parts. Don't know how much trouble they would be at loading docks.
The technical aspect is very important as well
moose
Veteran Expediter
All good things trucking somehow makes there way to become mandatory. and once they do they becomes an O/O worst enemy.
Linda, IF ever a suggestion is made to make those mandatory ON A STRAIGHT TRUCK, will you be willing to give us your word that YOU will fight it to the nail ?
Linda, IF ever a suggestion is made to make those mandatory ON A STRAIGHT TRUCK, will you be willing to give us your word that YOU will fight it to the nail ?
Far too much of this crap is being forced on us these days. It is getting REALLY OLD!
Oh yeah I don't see air tabs mandatory yet!
They don't cost enough and they are not a gadget. It also depends on who buys off who. They are also not junk, which is often a key criteria for government mandated "toys". All you have to do is slow down and good mileage you will get, without all the gadgets and junk. Take off some of the other mandated crap on the engines and mileage would go up as well.
This is all about driving up costs to a point where single truck O/O and small fleets won't be able to compete. That will leave only big companies and union drivers. It is all just a scam.
Yep take the reefers off...the power tailgates ...storage boxes underneath and fuel mileage Will really go up
This is one of the best product-information posts I have seen from you, Linda. It is thorough, objective and includes hard data that would be important to anyone considering such a purchase. Thank you.
Good post. That is a LOT of cash. A WHOLE lot of cash! It had better deliver a WHOLE lot of fuel savings for that kind of outlay. I still want to know how it performs in adverse weather, heavy snow and or ice. I have a feeling that they may not work too well when frozen. They may also collect a lot of snow weight which would offset fuel savings and maybe interfer with loading. Looking forward to reports over the next year. Glad you guys are doing it, I would not. I don't like gadgets with moving parts. Sure hope they don't become mandatory. I am quite happy with my 9-12MPG any way.
These devices are not new. They have been seen on some semi-trailers for a few years now. I have not heard driver comments about how these things are to work with one way or another, but drivers using them would not be hard to find and ask. One driver posted this account of them here.
I want to hear it from someone I know and trust. I trust Bob and Linda.
Also, the account you posted was for a trailer. I want first hand reports from trucks that are similar to mine.
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Jim they have reflective tape on them and they are made to collapse upon impact. A car or pickup would go under the tail, a trucks hood would catch it and then we also have the fact that they have rear ended us.
Here is what I learned from Brendan at T/T
The tail was crash-tested before it was allowed by the DOT, and the full sized van we crashed into the rear of the trailer barely even glanced the tail because of the angle of the panels, so the entire impact was the same as it would have been without the tail. The collapsible nature of the tail also satisfied the DOT that it wouldn't cause any damage in a collision (this is one of the things that has kept the roll-door version in the test phase)
In the other half of the world (i.e. Europe and Canada) they actually herald the tail as a safety device first and a fuel saving device second as it creates a buffer that results in drivers keeping back an additional 2 to 4 feet (or whatever that is in meters).