aluminum 5th wheel

He can get all he needs from a single fuel tank, super singles and aluminum changes in the air ride mounts, cross members etc. without attacking the 5th wheel IMO.

Scales read in 20 lb graduations anyway so the 100 saved could end up being 80. He can attack other areas like tractor brand too. KW is no Western star but what about Mack? Or Freightliner ? If you're really trying to get in the dirt on weight? That Mack RD ( I think ) half cab cabover used by the trash guys will prolly get you into the high 12's and then if we follow MVT with a single drive / tag we can get some more....plus a little 300 hp automatic? Might break into 11k.

The 5th wheel is a critical safety system, failure is not an option. RC makes a good point on the lawyer part but that area would still be my last stop and any changes would have to carefully thought out in the risk / reward arena.

I can tote 50 k legally on my Mack with a spread axle. ( still under gross ) Just how much payload does a carrier want???? We're at 50k today and 57' on the box.....what's next? Detroit road trains for everybody? Buster Brown twin turnpike 40's?

JMO

 

It's probably some alloy. Talking about some niches like fuel hauling and recycle industry, it's all about the weight, everything is so competitive and price sensitive. Just throwing out some general numbers here - if they can go from moving 500,000 lbs of freight in 9 truckloads instead of 10 that is big savings.

 

Quote Originally Posted by dannythetrucker View Post
you could save as much weight just by removing the passenger seat. I'd do that first.

You may be surprised, I can't count the number of fleet trucks I've run where the drivers seat was all tore up and broken. Then you look over to the passenger seat, still there in showroom condition.

 

That's what everybody's missing, they're thinking about a consumer grade product they bought once, that fell over and broke into a million pieces. Then they go to the races and watch their favourite nitro burning race car with aluminum heads on it, and still don't put two and two together.

 

Yes but I can guarantee they were not daycabs spec'ed to be as light as possible, unless there was an actual need for the seat.


The funny thing about trucking is that most drivers feel that the way their segment of the industry works is the way all of the industry works. If a company can spec a truck to weigh as little as possible and spend $20000 lightening the truck but will see $100,000 additional over the life of the truck, that's a great ROI, not to mention the possible savings in overweight fines.

 

I looked into them when I was replacing two of our pneumatic tank pullers, and after some number crunching came to the conclusion that the extra revenue generated by the weight savings wouldn't pay for the cost of the fifth wheel until past the 500,000 mile mark. Unless you have a haul that pays a REALLY good rate per ton, I don't think they are needed.

 

Why not make the whole body of the truck out of carbon fiber? It's a lot lighter than aluminum or fiberglass & just as strong. Heck the body on the new ones are mostly fiberglass now anways.