Freight Wing backs mpg claims

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ConocoPhillips has introduced a new, expanded line of greases and associated products across the Conoco, Phillips 66 and 76 lubricant brands.

Heil Environmental and Sterling Truck Corp. have teamed to offer Heil’s 10-foot DuraClass SL dump truck bodies on Sterling’s Acterra chassis.

Holland USA has purchased the Simplex fifth-wheel product line from Consolidated Metco. ConMet will focus its resources on its core businesses of wheel ends, plastics, interiors and aluminum castings.

Firelake Manufacturing, makers of Shenandoah waste-oil heaters, is offering a limited lifetime warranty on its line of Horizon Multi-Oil Heaters.

Peterbilt has expanded its online TruckCare aftermarket services, enabling users to enroll for 24/7 roadside assistance, apply for a company-branded services card, request a quote for a preventive maintenance plan and download TruckCare literature. Visit www.peterbilt.com for more information.

Continental Tire has upheld its decision to suspend tire manufacturing at its Mayfield, Ky., facility indefinitely.

Western Star Trucks now offers a Cat C15 engine rated at 600 and 625 horsepower in select models. The new engine ratings are available for 2005 production on the 6900 XD, 4900 EX, and 123-inch BBC 4900 FA and 4900 SA.

Regular CCJ readers know that we don’t print news about devices claimed to improve fuel economy, unless the claims have been verified according to standards set forth by SAE and TMC.

And, over the years, we’ve seen very few companies actually step up to the plate.

Now, Freight Wing has launched a tractor-trailer aerodynamic system that it claims improves fuel efficiency. Developed via a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, the system is said to streamline vehicle profiles, improving aerodynamic efficiency.

Moreover, the company has had SAE/TMC fuel-economy testing performed at the Transportation Research Center, East Liberty, Ohio, and has made the results available. The three-part Freight Wing system demonstrated a 7 percent reduction in fuel consumption for a fully loaded tractor-trailer.

The Freight Wing Gap Fairing is mounted on the front of the trailer. The Freight Wing Belly Fairing consists of two identical wind deflectors attached to the underside of the trailer, adjacent its side walls. The fairing prevents wind from hitting the rear wheels, and smoothes airflow around the sides and bottom of the trailer.

Finally, the Freight Wing Rear Fairing is mounted on the back of the trailer. In streamlining the trailer’s box end, the fairing acts in the same manner as wings on an airplane, guiding air moving along the sides into the wake of the trailer.

For more information, visit this site.


Darned Newtons …
In last month’s issue, “TopKick it up a notch,” page 22, the torque figures for GMC’s V8 gasoline and diesel engines were given in Newton-meters, but labeled as pound-feet. The torque figures in lb-ft are: gas engine – 450 @ 2800 rpm; diesel engine – 520 @ 1600 rpm.


International, Eaton to build hybrid utility trucks
By next summer, some utility workers will show up at worksites in trucks powered by diesel/electric hybrid engines – engines that pollute less, achieve 40 to 60 percent better fuel economy than their diesel-only counterparts, and allow operators to run PTOs for up to two hours without running the diesel engine.

International Truck and Engine Corp. and Eaton Corp. have announced a pilot program to put 20 hybrid International utility trucks on the road next year. The initial powertrain will couple an International DT 466 in-line six-cylinder diesel engine with an Eaton hybrid-electric drivetrain, incorporating a transmission, batteries, permanent-magnet motor, and control hardware and software.

During light acceleration, with a fully charged battery pack, the electric motor provides propulsion while the diesel idles. Under harder acceleration or when the battery pack is low, the diesel engine pitches in for charging and/or propulsion.

Braking is progressively regenerative, which means that, before the service brakes are activated, light braking causes road speed to be absorbed by the electric motor, which becomes a generator for recharging.


Volvo: Common engines, new line in Hagerstown
Volvo Truck Corporation has announced major changes, which will cost $150 million or more, for its Hagerstown, Md. facility. Even as production continues on the Mack ASET engines, a new engine assembly line will be built there over the next four years. It will be used to assemble engines for both Mack trucks and North American Volvos, says Lars-Goran Moberg, president, Volvo Powertrain.

The new engine will have a common architecture – that is, many common elements, like the block, crankshaft, connecting rods and basic design, will be the same. But, according to Tony Greszler, vice president of engineering, Volvo Powertrain, the parts that give an engine its distinctive flavor, such as pistons, power and torque curve programming, and possibly cylinder head passages, will be different for Macks and Volvos, resulting in engines that sound and feel different.

New engine features include rear-mounted timing gears, a variable-geometry turbo, increased EGR levels, closed crankcase ventilation and a particulate filter, which is needed to meet 2007 U.S. emissions standards.

Roger Johnston, Hagerstown plant manager, noted that the architecture could be used in Macks, North American and European Volvos, and Renault trucks, and that component suppliers would be the same worldwide, allowing more economical purchasing.
-John Baxter


Equipment Puzzler

In September’s issue, we asked: How many valve events occur per second in a 6-cylinder engine with a 4-valve head, turning at 1500 rpm? (Count each valve’s opening and closing as separate events.)

The correct answer is 600. That’s four events per cylinder for each revolution (two intakes or two exhaust valves opening and closing), times six cylinders, or 24, times 1500 rpm, or 36,000, divided by 60 to get the answer in seconds.

Richard Lambe, fleet maintenance superintendent, City Of Asheboro, N.C., was the first to e-mail the correct answer to [email protected]. He’ll receive a chrome CCJ pen and a copy of CCJ’s Air Brake Book. And so can you, if you’re first to e-mail the right answer to this month’s Puzzler, or if you send in a Puzzler of your own and we print it.

This month’s Puzzler: What is the origin of our word grease?