Quote:
Originally Posted by MetroMPG
This is a really cool thread. Welcome to the forum.
Do you have any say in how tight your cab/trailer gap is? I have read that the smaller the gap, the better.
|
Usually yes. With this company, all the 5th wheels are fixed, and are as close as they can be without damaging the cab.
Quote:
I sometimes see trucks from the same company traveling really close together on the freeway (less than a truck length apart). Presumably they're doing this to save fuel. In that case, the two drivers would have to agree to split the prize. 
|
I'm going to have to say no on the fuel mileage part. Although if done correctly, drafting would probably work, but it's just drivers being stupid and/or impatient.
It's better to take the loss, back off, allow the following distance as to not have to "brake - fuel, repeat". It's awful hard to follow that close and not be a nervous wreck. You'd have to be pretty trusting of the driver in front of you, and even then, he cannot control what happens in front of him.
In '05, I rearended the driver I was running with (go ahead and joke), but I wasn't technically tailgating, but I didn't have as much distance as I needed. An empty flatbed in front of him nearly stopped in the middle of I-26 in Columbia, SC, because there was a retread laying across the lane. My friend narrowly missed hitting him, and I narrowly missed stopping. lol. Hitting another truck is terrifying at any speed. I'd slowed to less than 10mph, yet when pulling 46k lbs in a shipping container, it's hard to stop it. It took me a couple of years to feel comfortable in a truck again. The point: take the following distance; It will pay off more than the mpg.