GunMetal345's Tanker Lease Experience

What's a typical GVW for you?

 

How long do you think it will be before you will actually receive a decent paycheck?

 

Prime seriously limits how much overboost your engine will develop, so that also limits the total horsepower. It's not the engine, its the ECM programming. That being said, there's a reason... the torque the engine develops is what gets you over the hill, and there are two ways to get it: Brute force... generating lots of horsepower, or using the transmission to multiply the available torque at lower horsepower levels.

New drivers (right out of training) want to use their right foot to get there, and who cares about what it takes to generate that horsepower? Well, our carrier's owner does... he'd just as soon make money, as stoke some newb's ego. By limiting the available horsepower, we're forced to down shift, and take the low-energy (and thus lower speed) route over the hill. The guys running up the hill at warp 9 are either empty, or are pouring a railroad tank car of diesel into their engines to do it.

 

This coming week will be the first full paycheck? What type of payment plan do they have on the work you get done? I know you had an APU put on and had shield taken off (do they charge for this) and some other things done. What is the length of time to get these paid for?

 

I think that ironpony stated that he had the scan gauge do you plan on getting it?


Ironpony how does the scan gauges work for you and how does it let you know how to be better at shifting? I am a company driver and I like to think that one day I will be an owner operator and would like to get some of the results on things.

 

It gives you nearly real-time feedback on what your engine is doing. The instantaneous fuel consumption is a sliding 8-second average (to smooth it out a little) so you can see how your driving affects fuel flowing into the engine. I also put up boost pressure, current horsepower, and another gage. That one is whatever I'm playing with for the day.

Knowing how your right foot and shifting affects your short-term fuel usage, helps you to keep it as low as possible while you're getting down the road. That increases your fuel economy. Sometimes dramatically.

 

That's a gauge you got through prime? What's it called, does it cost very much?