Stepping Out With My Own Numbers

Sure do. Can’t beat disc brakes. A skirt, especially the one I’m working on, could reduce air flow, I suppose. I would need to know how much airflow is restricted and how effective is air at cooling brakes in the first place. A lot of that talk around airflow and brakes only seems to be peddled by people that have something to combat this supposed problem. If you’re running a regular ol’ cast iron drum, I could see it, anything else, I’m not so sure it’s that much of a problem.
If you must have drums, there’s a lot of options now. I would never run a regular cast iron drum brake again.

 

I have these on my truck. Disc wasn’t standard when I bought it, they are now.

Original CentriFuse® Brake Drums | STEMCO

 

I drove in rain most of the day today and noticed much less road spray from the truck to the trailer. The new skirt extends beyond the landing gear and makes a close gap between the FlowBelow. The old trailer had a standard length that stopped behind the landing gear. Road spray spreading outward then along the skirt shows air disturbance and drag. This new one has none except when I’d change lanes and am no longer straight or rounding a curve.
I’ll have a good fill to test once I head back to the Midwest. I filled up in TN on my way to VA then I pickup in PA to MN.

 

I’ll fill up sometime in the next day or two but reefer fuel doesn’t seem to be a concern. I filled it up Saturday and just delivered at 0730 and it has used 3/8 of a tank. Ran 2 days on 36 and another 2 on -10.

 

I have a TK APU. I like Carrier but TK makes the better APU right now, in my opinion. The new TK units are much improved over the previous SB series design. If you compare a new S series TK to a Carrier X4 Unit they are very close. If you don’t require high BTU performance a TK is a good choice. The Carrier X4 have so many BTUs, even at low speed. I was very close to getting a TK S700, their high capacity unit, I just can’t convince myself to leave Carrier.
The Vector is a special unit. Unlike the X4 or new Precedent reefers, it is fully electric and has zero belts. This makes it very quiet, no vibration, and, because it only uses components when they’re needed, can stay in low speed much longer than traditional reefers. The heat and defrost cycles are also electric. Even on this -10 load I had, it only went into high speed a few times and only for short periods. It will manage the reefer components to keep power demand down and maximize low speed operation.

 

First real fill up with new trailer; 2188 miles 200 were empty miles, TN to VA to PA to MN, 2 loads, a 41280lb and a 42860lb and about 60 miles to the stop with 43000lb. Got 8.61 mpg fighting wind the whole way, especially on Monday. If it weren’t for all the wind, I think I could have got 8.8. The reefer only used 18 gallons. It had 4 full days of running plus 6 hours at 33 continuous today before I filled it.