FAQ for misc.transport.trucking
dimens...@yahoo.com
Anyone maintaining FAQ for this newsgroup? I am newbie for this group.
I need to ask lots of questions. But, I don't want to be too rude to
regular people! Especially, I am interested in online loadinfo, broker
service, equipment lease, and maintenance technique. Please tell me if
this group has FAQ list. Thanks.
Shinji,
alpro
> Anyone maintaining FAQ for this newsgroup?
Yes, but the last time I took the time to look, it was a bit outdated.
> I am newbie for this group.
> I need to ask lots of questions. But, I don't want to be too rude to
> regular people!
It's not the regulars that you need to worry about. It's the fly by night
trlls that you will have trouble with.
Feel free to post any questions you wish. You'll get the answers you
seek....
> Especially, I am interested in online loadinfo, broker
> service, equipment lease, and maintenance technique.
Those are not going to be addressed in the FAQ. As I said, it's a bit
outdated...
Ask away....
~Tony~
dimens...@yahoo.com
http://www.magi.com/~yondar/faq.html link is dead. Where exactly is
the faq located at www.yondar.com? thanks.
Shinji
alpro <al...@bellsouth.net> wrote in message news:<3D9E9C67...@bellsouth.net>...
dimens...@yahoo.com
dimens...@yahoo.com wrote in message news:<b0d7066a.02100...@posting.google.com>...
dimens...@yahoo.com
Skateboard'n
news:b0d7066a.02101...@posting.google.com...
> Gdpower, you don't know where the link is?
I e-mailed you a copy of the MTT faq's to your Yahoo addy & give you a
little MTT background.
--
_____l Tom
__/ l gofa...@prodigy.net
/________l_____________________
O OO\ O O\
dimens...@yahoo.com
> <dimens...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:b0d7066a.02101...@posting.google.com...
> > Gdpower, you don't know where the link is?
>
> I e-mailed you a copy of the MTT faq's to your Yahoo addy & give you a
> little MTT background.
*******************************************
FAQ for misc.transport.trucking
Who is this newsgroup for, anyway?
This newsgroup is for ex-truckers, truckers currently employed in the
industry, and wannabe truckers who may be in the industry someday.
It's
a chance to talk about all the issues that affect today's trucker in an
ever increasing electronic world. Questions about Department of
Transportation (or whatever it's called in various jurisdictions);
question about equipment specifications and the like; questions about
satelite communication; question about employment, where to find the
best
job; anything that affects the trucker in his daily life.
Will blatant crass commercial advertising be acceptable?
No, there are enough outlets for advertising. What IS acceptable is
URL
information on how to find a particular company's goods and services.
There are several regulars on the newsgroup who would be more than
willing
to assist with everything from simply creating the homepage to
maintaining
the homepage on a server.
Will owner operator associations be allowed to advertise?
Again, there are enough outlets for advertising. If the O/O
association
wants to create a web page, then there are several regulars on the
newsgroup who would be more than willing to assist.
How many truckers are on the newsgroup?
That is difficult to determine. There are 1.1 million long haul
truckers
who own and operate their own truck in North America, who knows around
the
world. In Canada, there are 250,000 long haulers and they spend on
average $16 Billion annually. The US has well over a million long
haulers spending $160Billion annually making them a very significant
target market.
30% of truckers are computer literate and that figure grows daily.
Probably half of those computer literate are Internet literate making
the
potential for reaching a large number of truckers very significant
What size are the tires of large trucks?
Tires for long haul trucks are usually only in two diameters 22.5
inches
and 24.5 inches. The width of the tires is between 10 and 20 inches.
What is the air pressure used in tires?
This is usually around 100 pounds per square inch. Some drivers adjust
the air pressure slightly to compensate for the road crown.
How much weight can each tire carry?
Approximately 2500 to 4000 pounds per tire.
How much does a loaded truck weigh?
In the United States, the maximum weight of a truck, other than one
carrying specialized loads, is 80,000 pounds. In Canada, the same
configuration of a truck can legally carry almost 10% more.
The US permits 12,000 pounds on the steering axle; and 34,000 pounds on
each of the tandem axles of the truck and trailer. Canada allows
12,000
on the steering axle; 37,500 on each of the tandems.
What are the dimensions of a truck?
The average truck is no more than 102 inches wide (excluding the
mirrors); is 13'6" tall and just under 70 feet in length.
Trucks hauling loads greater than those limitations must indicate they
are
over dimensioned.
What is the Bridge Formula Law?
The bridge formula law provides a standard to control the spacing of
truck
axles on vehicles that use highway bridges. A vehicle's gross weight
and
axle weights and spacings are checked in order to keep the axle loads
and
gross weight loads within the legal Federal limits. Most drivers
feel
it's just another way for the DOT to harass them.
How much power do large trucks have?
The rated horsepower of each truck is dependent on a lot of factors.
Suffice to say that horsepower ratings between 250 horsepower and 600
horsepower are the outside limits. The average would be around 425
horsepower.
How much oil does a big truck engine hold?
Two five gallons pails of oil are the average for an oil change.
Cummins
engines hold slightly more, Caterpillar and Detroit engines, slightly
less.
What kind of fuel mileage do big trucks get?
Most of the newer areodynamic trucks are able to achieve more than 10
miles to the gallon. Trucks only a few years old are not doing nearly
as
well with 6s and 7s being the norm. But let's put that mileage into
perspective. For a compact car to get the equivalent mileage based on
a
fuel consumption per ton mile, the compact car would have to get almost
500 miles per gallon to compare with the large truck achieving only 6
MPG.
So trucks are quite efficient.
How much fuel do trucks hold?
Again that is a variable. Somewhere between 250 gallons and 500
gallons
would be a safe bet. It depends on how often the owner want to fill
up.
On long trips, there is a time advantage to fuelling less often. And
since it takes about an hour on average to fuel a truck (by the time
one
pulls off the highway, fuels, pays for the fuel, showers, takes a
break,
etc) so one does not want to do that anymore than necessary. Most
trucks travel more than 1000 miles between fill ups.
How many gears do most trucks have?
There are a wide number of transmission options available for large
trucks. Many of today's owner operators are favouring the 13 speed
over
drive transmission or the 15 speed over drive transmission. It's
really
personal preference. There are 8 speed transmissions all the way up
to
20 speed transmissions. It all depends on what is to be done with the
truck.
What is the gear ratio of the differentials?
Again, that totally depends on what is to be done with the truck but
most
of the long haul trucks will use a compromise gear ratio of somewhere
between 3:55 to 1 and 4:11 to 1. Obviously, the closer the gear
ratio
the faster the truck will go, but pulling power in hills will suffer
with
the closer numbers.
I see trucks travelling well over 80 MPH. How can they do this?
Well if you put a 475 horsepower engine in the truck, tie it to a well
geared over-drive transmission and get the final rear end gear ratio as
close to 3:1 as possible, then you've got a 100 MPH plus truck. It
may
take a while to get it up there but it will cruise at a high rate of
speed. Many trucks will not hit top gear until after 65 MPH. There
are a lot of trucks capable of approaching 100 MPH on the road today.
Just because a truck will do 100 MPH, does not mean that it is driven
100
MPH all the time. Many trucks have the capability of attaining high
speeds but are governed to the highest speed limit available to them.
Many trucking companies feel they are safest at 55 MPH and their fleets
are governed for 55 MPH.
How long do drivers normally drive in the course of a day?
That is a more complicated answer than you might expect. The law
says,
10 hours of driving followed by 8 hours of sleep. But the way the law
reads, drivers can legally drive 12 to 16 hours in any twenty four hour
period. It's the 60 or 70 hour in 7 or 8 days that gets life
complicated. Depending on whether the company works 7 days a week, 24
hours a day, the law says a driver can only drive 70 hours in an 8 day
period. So if a driver gets five 16 hour days under him, he's over
hours
by 10 hours. Most drivers drive 10 to 12 hours per day and make sure
they have proper rest periods so not to complicate their life too much.
Most drivers strive to get their 550 miles and many make 650 miles on a
daily basis.
Double team drivers try to work on a four on, four off schedule.
That
kind of pace allows a double team to drive in excess of 1,000 miles
per
day.
How much do big trucks cost?
What a variable!!!! Anything from about $50,000 for a strip down
plain
jane model to well over $200,000 for a top of the line truck with all
the
bells and whistles. On average it would be safe to say that owner
operators pay somewhere on the plus side of $100,000 for their trucks.
The trailers are quite another matter and just as variable.
Terminology
LTL - means Less Than Load
FL - means Full Load
FOB - means Free On Board, this means if a load is shipped FOB it is
the receiver's responsibility to have it removed from the truck.
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ah...@FreeNet.Carleton.CA
dimens...@yahoo.com
Thanks.
Shinji,