Appreciation of elders

Well please enlighten me as to how much aerodynamics are going to help when you're traveling 5-20 mph in the bush, dragging 12-14 foot wide and overheight loads off an oil patch lease? Not enough to make any marginal difference. There is a reason you don't see aero trucks on heavy haul and off road. Its simply because they just don't cut it out there. If it was strictly highway, pulling vans at 80k lbs or less then yes an aero truck is going to save you money.

 

Good gravy, I'll drive my truck and put my small check in my bank. You drive yours and put yours in the bank too. I'll laugh at your truck, you laugh at my bank account. We all go home happy. Nuff said

 

My old Volvo can haul a load of cattle in excess of 100k (yes I can permit that weight on 7 axles) up and down 10%+ grades 20+ miles down dirt and gravel roads no problem. Obviously aerodynamics don't help me then but at some point I get back on the pavement running back at normal hwy speeds. I imagine you do to as well.

 

Fair enough. I'm gonna give you #### for being a filthy pig hauler to though! lol

 

Oh geesh... This thread went so south so quickly... Have a good day boys...

 

Prime example of a newb that knows it all. Takes more than haulin cattle to be a Bullhauler kid.

 

Anyways gang, you have 2 thoughts. Beancounting vs performance. Low end vs high end. Prius vs Corvette.

I sat in a room full of drivers running 379, 388, 386Petes and Columbias, Cascadias and Coronados. A Beancounter came in the room and then told us about how the fuel surcharge works, "our fuel surcharge is set up at 6.5 mpg. If you get better than 6.5 mpg you will actually make money on the fuel surcharge." None (not one) of the OSOW guys averaged 6 (yearly average), regardless of the truck. The Beancounter was surprised, "But the van fleet had no trouble getting 6.5..." Too funny. A years worth of beancounting for nothing.

Next the Beancounter told us how much money we would save $400/ week if we ran 55mph instead of 65 and we would only lose 7 hours of driving. I told her that I'd rather have the 7 hours. "Why?", she asked. OSOW rules apply. 7 hours is the difference between unloading Thursday afternoon vs Friday morning OR Friday morning vs afternoon.

See, therein lies the problem. In a performance industry, beancounting nets you nothing. The company Deskjockeys and beancounters all do their spreadsheets based upon van fleets. However, the results of a van fleet is nowhere near the findings in OSOW. 2 different animals. The results did not lie.

"But Six, you're not loaded all the time."

They took a yearly average of all miles. Loaded and empty. The results were astounding. I was actually quite proud. Aero trucks vs my hood, yearly fuel averages, all miles. Do you know performance or just stuff you learned online?

"I have an old aero truck that sees 100k..."

Doesn't mean anything. 100 grand in a van doesn't compare to 14 wide in a head wind.

"But as I said Six, you're not always 14 wide."

True. But if my hood, pulling OSOW for a year, was matched against an aero truck, pulling the same freight, and they had identical fuel economy for the year, what would that mean? I'm talking OSOW, not cow trailers.

"The aero truck would have to get better fuel economy than a hood Six."

And that would mean about loaded fuel economy? If the aero gets better fuel economy empty, YET the numbers are even at the end of the year,...go ahead say it...

"Never!"

I think you owe the gang an apology.

"I am not beaten yet, Six..."

Riiiiiiiiight. More comparisons with the cow trailer? Useless. It's like arguing that a house cat can outfight a 600lb gator in the swamp. Even after the death roll, you're hoping that the cat will resurface. But before you forget, apologize to the gang. Thanks.

 

no hauling cattle is exactly what it takes to be a "boolhauler". That's quite literally my job. Not sure where you trying to go with that one.

 

I get a kick out of guys who think doing OD freight is a big deal. I did 16' wide tower bases through LA. It was easy as ####. The cops and pilot cars shut down all the roads and traffic for you. All you gotta do is swing wide. Yet the OD guys are like yeah I pretty much just saved the world because they drove for 8 hours of day light.



Furthermore OD freight is mega #### now. If your doing it as an independent your wasting your time. The megas own that just as much as they do dry van now. TMC ruined John Deere. Systems ruined the Haakens loads and got cut out of the blades by other cut rates. ATS ruins everything blades included. Combined cut rates on heavy equipment and anything else they can get their hands on. Lonestar cuts rates in the oil fields and a million other smaller cut rates ruin whatever those Megas can't pick up.

Considering you keep talking about all these beancounters walking into the room your leased onto one of the cut rate outfits I just listed yet think your king #### because you figured out to secure a yellow banner and a couple red flags. Maybe you even have some cool strobe lights to.

So both trucks hauled the same loads in the same conditions at the same speed,idled the same amount with the exact same driving habits. Your comparing apples and oranges. A bad driver can make an Aero truck do far worse than a brick truck with a good driver.

I've hauled wide,tall,long,heavy from Florida to British Columbia and Washington to NYC. I'm quite aware of the implications of a wide load.

 

Looks a lot like a polished turd to me. But what do I know. I'm just a special kind of stupid.