Flow Below Added

Those things were such a bad idea, from the start. Anything sticking out the back is going to get forgotten about and mashed. And, there are moving parts/wear items. Wind never stops, so the wear never stops. I’m not surprised production of them has been discontinued.

A previous employer had ~2500 trailers with skirts. The one brand of skirting has fiberglass rods with aluminum ends, which are bolted to brackets. The shop was constantly replacing parts. I told the trailer fleet manager to go out in the yard, at night, and listen to all those skirts rattling away. Again, the wind and wear never stops. They switched to a brand of skirt with fiberglass “L” brackets and that took care of most of the maintenance issues, because of no moving parts.

It’s good to hear thoughts of what does or doesn’t work.

 

It's not wind so much as dirt and ice in the winter. Grime builds up, so drivers are forcing them closed, which bends the rods ever so slightly, which makes them hard to close, so drivers use more force, which . . .

That and the rubbing against the dock shrouds.

 

I’m laid up in Knightstown.

Flipping rough ### road broke the filament in one of my headlights. It’s a shame, with Indiana’s commerce booming the last 25yrs, they can’t seem to find a way to fix I-70. With all the warehouses and such, they really need to get the thing expanded to 4 lanes. The section by the airport proves just how nice it could be.

BTW, I managed 9.6 and 9.8, the last couple of days. That was mostly empty, though. Finished today at 8.9, but, it was mixed between mostly empty and ~40K in the box. I run dedicated auto parts, with dunnage one way and whatever amount of product is ordered going the other way. No matter, two of us alternate the loop so there is servicing every day, M-F. Definitely not a typical arrangement, compared to what most drivers/owners are doing.

 

It’s a ‘20 T680, MX13/455hp (a real pooch) and some type of 12spd (guessing PACCAR since the axles are PACCAR). No idea of rear gear ratio. I can’t find any kind of data sticker on/in the truck or build sheet in the truck’s packet.

Edit: Found the decal. It’s a PACCAR trans and 2.79 gear.

 

I think, my 9’s are going to be anomalies. The wind was just right on those days. I’ve been running high 8’s, since then. But, this morning, I made an interstate/direction change and straight into a headwind being pushed by a storm. My instant mpg numbers immediately dropped by 2mpg, then, my average eventually started dropping. After dumping $900 into the tanks, last night, I’m glad I’m not paying for that headwind. Haha.

I do think, the two biggest factors on my truck are keeping speeds below 60mph and just the wind. I run a LOT of rural 2-lane and at 58mph, the engine is barely turning 1000rpm, and my mileage numbers are much better than at 67mph on the interstate. Plus, there’s less impact from the wind, running slower.