Truck’ese 101: He Ain’t Heavy

It’s easy for truck-fleet guys to lose track of how odd, or even maybe obtuse some of the lingo involved in the trade can be. Whether you work on them, drive them or buy them, there is a lot of stuff for the newcomers to dice-up and swallow. And we need the newcomers. Times are such that recruitment into any aspect of the trade has never been harder, so if I ever find anyone with an innate love of equipment I try to encourage them… We need new folks in the industry.

Because of that need, this installment can’t weight (intentional misspelling), so let’s talk about your truck’s BMI. Or, what exactly do all those weight-related TLA’s (three letter acronyms) mean, anyway? OK, full disclosure: we graduated into FLA’s some time ago.

Billing terms-

·         Tare Weight: this is what the truck and its associated trailer (if any) weigh before you put any product (payload) on it.

·         Gross Weight: this is the combined weights of the truck, trailer and payload.

·         Net Weight: This is the result of subtracting the tare-weight from the gross weight. IE: If you are hauling a bulk commodity, this is the product you deliver.

·         Bill of Lading: Think of this as the truck’s ship-manifest. It defines to any questioning authority what was hauled, and what time, on what day.

So – Figure you are commissioning or operating a dump-truck to haul some gravel to a job site. The truck will weigh at the scales on the way into the quarry (establishing the tare weight) and weigh again on the trip out (establishing the gross weight). The difference between these two numbers is the Net Weight, or the amount of product you are hauling or paying for. Disclosure of this weight and product description would go on the bill of lading. Pretty straight-forward except for the medieval terms, right?

Equipment terms-

·         Payload: A somewhat vague word that is often thrown out by the manufacturer when they are talking about the “Net Weight” capacity of a truck; often seen in light-truck ads. I say somewhat vague because there are so many variables that steer this, and it is by no means a fixed number. Remember, fuel weighs in at 6¼-7lbs/gal, depending on what flavor you are burning, and passengers and the driver figure in too. So dependent on your tank level and how many McDoubles you or your co-pilot wolfed-down before you got on the road, this number can move… A lot.

·         GAWR – Gross Axle Weight Rating: this is the maximum amount of weight that can be placed on any specific axle, and the figure results from the weakest of the spring ratings, tire ratings or mechanical axle ratings. So why wouldn’t you want to match all these values you ask? Good question. Stability or safety margin. IE: I will often spring a vocational truck with a 21K lb. rear axle with 23.8k lb. springs. This can stiffen up the roll-resistance on units that load-out top heavy, making for a more confident feeling truck.

·         GVWR – Gross Vehicle Weight rating: this is the maximum weight that the power unit (truck only) can roll at. This is governed by the interplay of GAWR’s, frame strength, spring ratings, driveline configuration and stopping capabilities.

·         GCWR – Gross Combined Weight Rating. This is probably the one that matters most in trucking. This is a rating of how much the truck can weigh and pull at the same time. This figure takes in to account power/torque, gear ratios, transmission type and the resulting gradeabity (the trucks ability to hold speed on a climb), as well as the ability to stop the thing once it’s rolling.

OK – We’ve addressed this weighty topic, so we’ll do another next time. Stay away from multiple McDoubles!

                                                                                                                               

© 2018 D.W. Williams 

The finest of Austria, part zwei:

It was about this time last year I last posted. Life and work being the whirlwind it sometimes is, I hadn’t even realized that fact until I got the hankering to tear into another story. I might have to pick up the pace… I would like to write more than 10 more articles before I retire. In our last installment my son and I had resurrected a 1978 Puch Newport moped and I was consumed with its thrift and questioned why everyone didn’t do this for transportation. … Then I found out why.

The reality sank in (well, was more like beat in) about the fifth time someone pulled out right in front of me as if I was non-existent. In most cases I was burning along on my chainsaw-engine driven bike wound up tight with no opportunity to dodge the bullet, I just had to out-brake it. Each time, the drivers not only had a telephone glued to the side of their head, but also had that distant gaze thing going, so I truly wasn’t “seen” even though they looked right at me. Had they been paying attention, they likely could have seen the fear in my eyes as easily as a saw the lack of cognition in theirs. On other occasions I had impatient folks pulling around me so closely that they polished the end of my left handlebar grip. In the end I concluded life and limb hinges not only on the rider’s awareness, but lots of visibility and a little power to get out of trouble when needed.

The Puch didn’t go away, but it did adapt. It got faster and much more visible; I’ve hot rodded it modestly and improved the lighting. The economy has suffered as I now get an appalling 85 MPG for my shenanigans. But I can swallow this distasteful fact as it makes the machine more practical, more usable and safer (yes, faster can be safer. If you don’t believe that, try keeping your cool as a 2½ ton SUV blows by you within millimeters going 45MPH while you are buzzing along merrily at 25 MPH on a machine that weighs less than 100 lbs. dripping wet).

All these mods which I’ve performed on this antique got me thinking; How much of our modern automotive evolution would we willingly pony up for ourselves if we didn’t already have those decisions made for us? In my case I opted for improved performance and visibility; an attempt to enjoy the hobby more and hopefully postpone a trip to the hospital. And when my wife and I went car shopping earlier this year, I was grateful I would be putting her in something with side-curtain airbags. I’ve seen the pathetic attention paid my much of motoring America and wanted her to have some protection.

I recently had the opportunity to travel to one of the auto manufacturer’s annual model year preview events, wherein they blew their own horn about the new model’s bells and whistles. This time they spent most of the presentation extolling the virtues of vehicles which required even less interactive operator involvement than we have already slumped to. Standard equipment will now include (if I understood correctly) autonomous braking and lane-departure warning systems. Based on my adventures in Slo-pedding, I’m not at all sure I object. NHTSA may have a strong point: Since you can’t change the driver, change the equipment.

You see, the garden variety American motorist is hell-bent on proving not only that they don’t know how to drive, but also that they have no interest in learning…. “Oh please” they clamor, “take these pedestrian duties from us so that we don’t have to become pedestrians!”. I can hear the crinkle of checkbooks opening now….

… Or maybe that’s just my ears acting up from riding the chainsaw.

© 2018 D.W. Williams 

The Finest of Austria

Longer ago than I care to remember, I was given a 1978 Puch Newport moped (say “Pook”). I said I don’t care to remember because like a lot of things in my life, it became a project “I will get to someday” … (Let me apologize in advance to whoever it is that administers my estate sale). It chased me through a couple of garages yet somehow always found its way to the back, where it would sit and sulk, gathering more patina.

About the time the eldest son was starting to drive, he thought the poor-man’s motorcycle would be cool to have running. He saw it as a bicycle, but faster. He and I both have fond recollection of beating the corroded carburetor apart and trying to sort-out the rest of the fuel system, all in 100-degree heat while being chomped on by mosquitos (they were THICK, like a scene from an Alfred Hitchcock movie). We did get it to sputter and cough on starting fluid, but the 40-year-old Bing carburetor wasn’t drawing fuel, so we couldn’t keep it running.

It languished once more, going back to the rear of the garage to gather more rust, until 3-years later the same kid bought a 25-year-old Lexus LS-400. Antique Lexi have things going for them (remarkably tough), but fuel economy didn’t appear to be one of them. He pulled out the Puch and got busy ordering tires and other parts. I remember coming home and seeing him in the driveway wrestling a new carburetor onto it. He pulled me in on the job, and after some massaging and more starting fluid we managed to get it to running, but it sputtered and coughed like it had COPD. We persisted and eventually got it dialed-in, it was running pretty well and making more power all the time. But it didn’t take the progeny long to realize that we were messing with a 25MPH machine, so he rapidly lost interest and having money saved up, bought a Honda Ruckus.

So, yours truly now had a decent running, complete but ugly 1978 Puch Newport moped. I continue to piddle with it every so often, trying to improve its performance and dependability. It will now bury the 30 MPH speedometer if the wind is out of the right direction, and seems to start with ease. And in my Puching around I’ve remembered what drew me to motorcycles in my late teens; the feel of the air rushing over you, making even hot days feel cool, and the immediacy of the road in front of you.

It’s dependable enough now that I routinely use it for running errands. It has the stylin’ book-rack thingy with the spring-clip on back, so picking up a few sundries at the grocery store is a realistic endeavor. Since it’s resurrection I believe I’ve put about 180 miles on it, and this with a mere 1-1/3 gallon of gas. So yes, internal combustion vehicles can get over 100 MPG (over 120 even!). And it’s also cool not having to hunt and fight for a parking space in our local shopping district. I just ride straight up to the bike rack and jump off. Bonus: in this state, actual Mopeds don’t require registration or a motorcycle license, but are simply a “motorized bicycle”. Yes, it is.

Crude, simple, effective and economical. I’d never ridden one before, but I can see now why these things swarmed all over Europe after WWII, all over domestic college campuses after the oil-embargo in the early 70’s and all over SE Asian countries (Laos, Cambodia, etc.) yet today.

Your basic ‘get’er-done vehicle. If your needs are simple, what’s not to like?      

© 2017 D.W. Williams 

The Little Carmaker that Lost its Way?

I remember thumbing my way through car magazines back when automotive technology first pricked my interest in the late 60’s and early 70’s (yes Lucy, I really am that old!). Then the truth was often more, uhmm, subjective. Once upon a time, product liability lawsuits were only a gleam in mercenary lawyer’s eyes, and there was often more poetry, opinion and yes, even outright fabrication in the stories that went into print. Cars were an emotional purchase for your average American. Many people, then as now, bought vehicles based on the vague promise of gratified need, not cold hard facts and research.

Some marketing used comedy. Volkswagen comes to mind when they introduced automatics in the revered type-1 Beetle; “They used to call us ugly. Now they call us shiftless” the copy read.

Others touted superior roadholding by virtue of preposterous dimensions, such as the infamous “Wide-track Pontiac”. Today we find the promise of good handling being connected to a 2½ ton automobile with its own zip code laughable.

But probably one of the more counter-intuitive campaigns devised was whatever it was the Madison Avenue elite dreamed up for Volvo. No fluff, no humor, no flowery language, just the facts.

You see Volvo had established itself in the North Americas in progressive fashion starting in 1955 with import of the adorable little PV444 (look it up, sort of a tiny 1947 Ford looking thing). Volvos then, and over the next 2-3 decades, were seldom “exciting”, but they were as dependable as dirt and developed a reputation as a superior foul-weather friend. By the late 1960’s Volvo had introduced their shoebox looking 140 series, perhaps the car most associated with the marque (along with the very similar 240 series, an updated version of the same).

With this shoebox Volvo, engineers realized, and admen concurred, that its brutish simplicity combined with solid build quality and dogged dependability had another benefit; safety. And so from the early 1970’s up through the mid 1990’s, the car that the magazine writers dubbed the “Swedish Chevrolet” became the car of choice for the conservative family-man. Volvos had a track record and ad campaigns extoling safety, not style, as a virtue. So a whole generation was brought up with boxy Volvos (loaded down with kids, groceries and harried parents) being as ubiquitous as crossover SUV’s are now.

Flash forward to now. I was looking through a fleet trade-rag the other day and came upon an article about Volvo’s brave entry into connected motoring. Like peer systems in so many product lines it offers auto synchronization with your phone, Bluetooth connectivity and a screen based navigation system, but it one-ups the competition from there because Volvo has added “Skype for Business”. In addition to the typically stupid amount of connectivity cars already have, Volvos can now be ordered with a webcam so that the person (people) on the other end of the call can see you as well as hear you. Not only can you telecommute while you are commuting, but you can attend your board meeting via videoconference while driving to another meeting across town. Volvo says this is in anticipation of autonomous cars. Fair enough, but cars aren’t autonomous yet.

I don’t know your opinion, but the thought of someone swerving around in traffic while they piddle around with adjustments on the center console so they can Skype with their best angle on the big-screen makes me uncomfortable. Or maybe it’s someone else using the built in camera to locate food stuck in their teeth while going down the road. Do we really need more possibilities for distraction in this day of technology? And no Lucy, there are no interlocks that prevent the usage of this feature while you are rolling.

So what are we saying here? This manufacturer that has built its safety reputation on decades of conscientious engineering and practical performance is now trash-canning all that momentum? Certainly this technology “could” be feasible with autonomous cars, but shouldn’t it have waited for those cars to be autonomous? Up next on YouTube: Automotive death-videos?

I really, really don’t want the last footage of me showing the fear in my eyes as I mouth “Oh $h&*” and drive up under a semi, followed by a black screen.   

© 2017 D.W. Williams 

Coming Attractions

Three weeks until our great reprieve, election day. Of course if you listen to either major candidate it may not be a reprieve at all if they aren’t elected, but rather a nudge off the precipice into the eternal abyss of federal dysfunction, horrific national security concerns and faltering economy… Oh wait, we’re there already. But at least after the pundits wind down about what did or didn’t work with the campaigns we can get on with our lives without the constant drone of fear-mongering (both parties) abrading our ears. I carry enough innate anxiety on my own, I don’t need someone else pouring fuel on my Xanax fire.

Regardless of the outcome of this election, the good thing is we are a resilient people, and at least for a while we should be looking at fairly calm waters. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t see anyone coming out of this election happy. Somehow, with uncanny accuracy, we picked two people with way too much baggage for even the most resolute partisans to walk away truly content. In the back of the average person’s mind are a bunch of “what if’s”, but right now we only hear those questions channeled toward the opposition, and so perhaps mercifully we haven’t yet given our questions voice in our conscious mind.

But back to the good news! The world won’t end on January 20^th, whoever takes the oath, unless it was ending anyway. So I find myself pondering, what will the new administration bring? How will it impact life? Just how did the Deep Thought computer come up with 42? But narrowing that topically, how will this impact the fleet profession, the automotive world we work in. So let’s stare into the waters and see if we can decipher our future!

Thought #1. We are in deep, really deep on some technology, so there is no turning back:

Autonomous cars are becoming feasible, electric cars are improving, ride-sharing is evolving and mass-transit solutions are diversifying. Regardless the environmental push asserted (or not) over the next term or two, way too many people have skin in the game to just let this stuff die now. I honestly don’t know how many American folks take a hard-line environmental stance these days, but I do know there is more environmental awareness than I’ve ever seen in all my years until now. Even if those interests don’t steer legislation, financial interests will. With that much money invested in these technologies, don’t fight it… Roll with it. That train keep a comin’.

Thought #2. Highway safety mandates will continue to blossom:

Domestic highways run consistently faster, with cars that do so with more ease, than ever in automotive history. But while the cars are absolutely the safest we’ve ever made them, we continue to have stunning fatalities and crippling accidents. Growing up driving in the mid-late 1970’s I had a number of cars that would cap 3 digits, but all required 2-hands on the wheel and at least some concentration once the speedometer needle hovered up there, and none ever did it on crowded highway either. But sanity and fear may not exist anymore. Now I see folks doing 90+ MPH fly-by’s staring at their smartphone.

Thought #3. We will again see fuel-price volatility:

How am I so certain? Again, the mighty dollar. The OPEC folks won’t keep the throttle wide-open on their crude production forever, but since they have this long, producers here have once again curtailed production. When the mid-east curtails, our own producers can’t respond quickly to void, and so the prices will go up (perhaps violently). This dynamic could take some time, or be more immediate if exacerbated by international response to our own new administration, but I am pretty convinced we will see more up and down as long as petroleum is our principal drink of choice.

I have many (many) more observations, but then you do too. I was just looking to prime the pump.

© 2016 D.W. Williams 

At What Cost

I’ve been negligent in chronicling my automotive rants lately, having gotten sucked into that swirling vortex that is daily-living.

Additionally, there is a new phenomenon in play that baffles me and commands my attention. In a country fraught with racial tensions, economic woes and (ugh) political campaigns we now seem to market shootings as if they were reality TV. Not to be outshined by these horrible news-events turned entertainment, our political leadership, incumbent and prospective, use the opportunity of human tragedy to posture and push their agenda. I find the rancor repugnant. I still want to believe America is better than all this, that she has value other than what self-advancement we can squeeze out of divisiveness…. Maybe that day is done, so let’s just have Hillary and The Donald duke it out on American Ninja Warrior. It’s what we want anyway.

On May 7 Joshua Brown lost his life as his Tesla, at full highway speed, drove under a tractor semi-trailer pulling across the road. Brown was operating the vehicle in “autopilot” mode, which is a technological pit-stop before we hit full car automation. This technology allows the car to maintain lane, speed and brake as required during highway cruise. NHTSA and Tesla both still have this incident on the half-shell, but it has been assumed the car didn’t brake itself as it didn’t recognize the light colored trailer against the bright sky. To little contrast for it to differentiate the threat.

Tesla reiterates that that the driver is ultimately responsible for the car’s (or technology’s) usage. Yes, and as a manager I am responsible for the performance of my assigned employees. This doesn’t mean I think out every move they make or control every event of their day. I “trust” that they understand their tasks and that they will involve me if they don’t. I put someone in place to perform a task, so I let them perform it. Likely regardless of what legal releases Mr. Brown signed at the dealership, this was his understanding of his car’s technology as well. He trusted it would do what it was designed to do.

Back to the cost: So here we have a situation where an individual mistakenly entrusted a technology with a critical task to the loss of his own life. By his reasoning and past experience, the car would do what it had to do, go down the road and leave him out of the mix. NHTSA’s most recent published records are 2014 data, but in that year 32,675 people lost their life in automotive accidents. About 90 funerals a day. By way of contrast, in 2013 (CDC’s latest stats), 11,208 people lost their lives due to firearms in our 50 states; this data includes malicious intent, accidental and defensive loss of life.

 And here’s the rub; Automotive or firearm causes, these people lost their lives; often through no fault of their own, or sometimes due to poor choices… sometimes just being in the wrong place at the wrong time.  I suspect a husband or wife, mother or father, son or daughter feels no less grief regardless of the cause of their loved one’s death. The tears don’t suddenly evaporate as they exclaim “oh, it was only a car”! Automotive deaths don’t drive TV ratings or make viable campaign fodder I guess.

Automated cars will bone up their act one day, getting more proactive, less prone to failure and “safer”. But regardless how automated and “safe” they get, there will still be deaths. People will use them; with all the poorly informed decisions that go along with personhood. We may not care for the answer, but ultimately Tesla is right, we alone are responsible for how we use the technology. So regardless of the technology, let’s use it responsibly.

© 2016 D.W. Williams 

The Accident

It was only recently that my college-age son got plowed into in an intersection a few blocks from our house. He was on his way to his (very) part-time job that he maintains to keep gas in his car and change in his pocket while in school. He had the right of way (eyewitnesses said for a solid 10-12 seconds) and the other driver clearly blew a very-red light. My son’s car got hit on the right front which spun him like a top; the impact bent the frame and destroyed the front clip of his beloved 25 year old Mazda Piñata (err… Miata). But he has quick reflexes and saw it coming, so he did some evasive maneuvering. I am satisfied based on what I saw at the scene that if my son hadn’t reacted quickly he would have been in the hospital.

The radiator was destroyed on my son’s car, so I overheard some of the police report as I showed up with my trusty log-chain to help him pull the sorry wreck home. I understand that the other driver had been swerving as he drove towards the intersection and that after the collision he stopped long enough to get out and look at the damage he caused. He then got back in his mangled car and drove away. Whether the guy was drunk or simply looking at his phone is a mystery to any of us. What isn’t a mystery is that he hit and ran. A couple of ladies sitting at the (red) light got pictures of him getting out of his car and also of his license plate, so it is hopeful that the police can track him down.

Likely this guy was one of those who couldn’t afford insurance and chose to run because he had none. Who knows; he might have even had his license pulled because of priors without insurance. Uninsured motorists seem more and more commonplace in urban areas. I suspect that the issue will continue to grow; rent, utilities and groceries continue to ratchet up in cost, but wages don’t. Unfortunately, just because you can’t afford what it takes to maintain a driving privilege doesn’t mean you can get along without it.  

The urban financial cycle is vicious and unforgiving. Lower income folks have no ability to find employment other than what is within walking distance or along transit routes. These jobs often provide little, either in benefits or salary. They often can’t afford to drive, but need to because there are no decent jobs, grocery stores or department stores close to where they live. These areas can’t support this infrastructure as crime is inevitably high and insurance (there’s that word again) for a store owner is unaffordable due to frequent theft and robberies. Busses? Sure, it’s feasible to carve 2½ hours out for multiple rides and transfers to accommodate a ½hr grocery run. But which of us would see that as a real option?

Solutions are few and far between. Public transit meets only some needs. Jobs above minimum wage typically require education that many can’t afford and are often available only in areas that urbanites can’t access without personal transportation. And as demonstrated recently, even a 4-year degree offers little additional hope of securing a reasonable job. Many grads today find themselves working at the McDonalds up the street because it’s all that was available. (Based on my recent search I can testify that many companies are looking for 25 year-olds with 30 years of work experience, master degrees and willingness to work for $12/hr.)

And so this installment of my blog offers no solutions, only questions. My son had his life put off kilter by this accident, but he got out of it uninjured and is already seeing this as an opportunity to upgrade his rolling-stock. And no- he isn’t collecting against insurance as he only carried liability on the Piñata. The other guy? Who really knows?  If the City hunts him down to prosecute, it’s kind of a blood-out-of-a-turnip deal…  Yes, his behavior was wrong and needs to change. But I’m not sure it does anyone any good to cripple him that much more by taking away what he already doesn’t have to guarantee he can’t get set straight.

© 2016 D.W. Williams