Small Fuel Tanks

It's always been a race to the bottom... that isn't going to change any time soon.

 

Funny light bulb joke for sure, but don't speak of the heavier weight thing....

 

In that case, just fill the truck up with gasoline and drain the radiator.... lol

 

it's about total gross weight, but also with these new trucks and all the emissions crap, smaller tanks will be the norm. Company just bought 3 new Macks, came with twin 120's. However, because of the weight of the emissions equipment and the space it takes up, we had to cut the tanks down to 100 ea. to make them fit and allow for chain hangers.

Lot of it has to do with the wheel base also and the application. Keep in mind, all this emissions crap adds 1,000 lbs to the weight of the truck.

 

i fail to see how the argument turned into wear and tear.

little tanks or not. regardless of the weight of the load. 80k is 80k. having little tanks just gives the shipper an excuse to make the load heavier.

rates going up. not likely. hauling more load is likely.

 

I always fill up before going into a shipper where I know I'll be scaled in and out. If they don't scale me I just tell them I can haul no more than 48k lbs.

Ethan

 

It depends on the type of frieght your hauling. I haul containers, a 53' container on chassis is already heavier empty than a regular trailer, hence, we have to vary our fuel depending on the customer.

 

Really!? I can remember when 40k was all you hauled on a flat rate...LOL. Now its 45-48 and they want it hauled for the same rate or less.

 

we're talking full loads though, not empty. 80k is 80k and your gonna have the same wear and tear on the truck.

i won't pack anything over 48. cept for my last load that actually caught me off gaurd. both gauges looked good but overall weight was over and the tanks were empty.

 

Exactly, I have ONE driver in particular that is always complaining he is out of hours and it always seems to be in the middle of L.A., Chicago, Houston, or some other heavy metal, rush hour haven.

We are never really under the gun and the DRIVERS set up their OWN delivery times, so I ask our S/A for a month of his logs.

The problem is plain as day, the guy CANNOT trip plan, he'll get up and show going from sleeper to PTI then line 4, then I guess he must decide that he needs more coffee and a doughnut so he goes back up to line one.

Sometimes he burns up over an hour and NEVER moved the truck!!! Then he goes to line 3 drives maybe an hour or two, must feel the call of nature and goes line one for 15/30.

Then is back driving for another two/three hours and decides to stop for a shower, another hour outta the day, then he drives maybe another hour or two and gets fuel, and so on and so forth.

Last time he was in town, I pulled his logs and showed him what he was doing, I basically told him to try to get up, sh*it,shower,shave,eat,sh*it again,,,, and then go do his PTI/ FUEL and then start driving.

So far so good, I guess some people just have a routine that is hard to break?