Just spent 2300 on detail and polish of truck and trailer. Increased fuel economy by 0% but morale gain was 10% a mile!
You will be sent to a re-education camp …… the Cascadia way will be drilled into your very being and then you might be released……
They look like any other wheel running down the road. I don’t invest more than I have in my front pocket. I like the idea though. Why not slow down just a bit? All part of the strategy. I wouldn’t bother taking them off, once their on. You already know your fuel economy with out them. Maybe run the same for a month, then slow down 5%, for a month, then another 5%, if time allows. See if it’s worth it. Think I’ll make my Own using plastic and zip ties. Maybe get about 100 of those little aero things that you stick on the fairings. You’ll see Me coming I’ll have the only one around. Lol. It all adds up.
Have so many running the exact same route, different days, for years that i can see the difference pretty easy. Trailer skirts, .2-.3 easy, full skirts and covers on the tractors, .1-.2 easy. Spent money on Dr Pre-load, nothing noticeable, maybe the way we did wheel ends to begin with. Tried micro polishing/ blueing, nothing. Had electric APu's, worked fine before e-logs. Now just set with 10 minute idle and use the APU.
Not so much anymore. When one truck is far lower i used to switch drivers for a week or two just to see. If i mention that now the MPG goes up pretty fast LOL Still some are .4-.5 less than the others. They're set at 75, some will run that, some will run slower. Not going to ding a driver that runs the speed limit.
Back when I had trucks running US I switched from bias to radial on one of my trucks and the chilly it pulled. I went from 5.2-5.5 to 6.0-6.2 with a 3406A. There’s been over 40 years development in radial tires since then. I’d almost bet modern tires are more benefit than aero at most speeds now.
Tires are a good part of it. But you should be running quality low RR to begin with. If you're running cheap, high RR tires can drop it pretty quick.
I just told mine they could keep their W900B’s until the fuel or on road repairs hurt. I should have thought of that years ago. I don’t know if they’re buying fuel out of their pockets or wtf is going on out there, but I’ve got a 3406B and a C that are both up .5-.7 on the new trucks around them. One of them just came 800mi home out of the bush in northern Quebec on the power-divider to be fixed. I haven’t got the heart to tell them I want to keep those old trucks as much as they do.
