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Old 02-27-2012, 05:37 PM   #11 (permalink)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ps2fixer View Post
I agree that truckers see the most benefit from small gains. I have yet to see one with smooth hubcaps though .
schnider is doing some good stuff. a lot of there trucks have full fairings the fairings even have brushes at the bottom that are less than an inch off the road. they have wheel covers that cover the drive wheels that zipper on and off (let me tell you how much crap builds up in those things). they also have there own tire bank to retread there own tires. a lot of there trucks also have the trailer fairings that drop down. (california actually requires trucking companys to have them now) and they are starting to use the boat tails on the trailers also.

the big problem with the trailer fairings is that soon as a new driver takes a turn to tight in a parking lot or somewhere the trailer fairings break off.

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Old 02-27-2012, 05:59 PM   #12 (permalink)
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A local company that was an early adopter of many of the things you guys are talking about.

Mesilla Valley Transportation

Their first super singles on trailers looked pretty scary, they sat in too narrow and the trailer would rock pretty bad on even calm days. Now it looks like they are getting either a different offset on the rims or are getting trailers with wider axles to make up the difference.

They have a few with the colapsable boat tails on their trailers, but by in large the only visible mods are... Smooth covers on the drive wheels, trailer skirts and super singles in place of the duallies on both the trucks and most of their trailers.
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Old 02-27-2012, 09:39 PM   #13 (permalink)
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ps2fixer -

I see those side skirts all the time. I think that if it's proven then they'll do it. The Aeroflex is also a model for our side skirts, aka taper in at the front.

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Old 02-27-2012, 10:01 PM   #14 (permalink)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ps2fixer View Post
I agree that truckers see the most benefit from small gains. I have yet to see one with smooth hubcaps though .
I have seen a few.
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Old 02-27-2012, 11:51 PM   #15 (permalink)
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Oh yea, I saw one semi with a boat tail, I was amazed O.o.

Makes me want to go for a kammback .

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Old 02-28-2012, 08:54 AM   #16 (permalink)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TheEnemy View Post
A local company that was an early adopter of many of the things you guys are talking about.

Mesilla Valley Transportation

Their first super singles on trailers looked pretty scary, they sat in too narrow and the trailer would rock pretty bad on even calm days. Now it looks like they are getting either a different offset on the rims or are getting trailers with wider axles to make up the difference.

They have a few with the colapsable boat tails on their trailers, but by in large the only visible mods are... Smooth covers on the drive wheels, trailer skirts and super singles in place of the duallies on both the trucks and most of their trailers.
Ive heard truckers say the big down fall of running the super singles is that if they have a blow out they are stuck there on the side of the road. where if you have the dual tires they can atleast drive it to a safer location.

I have seen a lot of trucks around here that have the wheel covers, trailer skirts and even seen a few of the kambaks/ boat tails. I think everyone should encourage the trucking industry to do what they can to save fuel because in the end its us the consumer that pays more, more for anything and everything that gets transported by truck.
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Old 02-28-2012, 02:33 PM   #17 (permalink)
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Supersingles also wear unevenly pretty easily so you have to change their places a lot if you want to use all thread depth. That is the case at least is Finlands bad roads...
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Old 02-28-2012, 06:40 PM   #18 (permalink)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cfg83 View Post
ps2fixer -

I see those side skirts all the time. I think that if it's proven then they'll do it. The Aeroflex is also a model for our side skirts, aka taper in at the front.

CarloSW2
NASA's research demonstrated an 8.7% drag reduction @ zero crosswind,and 19% drag reduction under a 6 mph wind @ 6-degrees yaw.
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Old 02-28-2012, 11:27 PM   #19 (permalink)
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I don't know any truck drivers that own their own trailer unless they are flatbed/consetoga trailers. the 53 ft Van trailers we see on most of the roads are owned by the company those drivers work for due to many many loads require the trailer to be dropped. So unfortunetly 99% of truck owners don't get to choose to put trailer mods so they can save on fuel. At my company we have about 15 trailers with skirts and 30 without. The owner did this because he owns 90% of the trucks and the fuel savings go to him. The other 10% of drivers own their own trucks and like i said before, they don't get to mod the trailers because they don't own them.

The owners do enojy when they get the trailer with skirts because even at 5% better fuel mileage means a saving of about $20 per day
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Old 02-29-2012, 12:11 AM   #20 (permalink)
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GRU -

Thanks for the details. Is your company's owner planning to mod the rest of the trailers as the skirts pay for themselves over time?

CarloSW2

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