Years ago, when your customer brought in his truck, you changed the oil, greased the truck, made some adjustments, checked the belts and performed an annual inspection, says Steve Guerrette, vice president of maintenance, Edart NationaLease, Hartford, Conn. “Today,” he says, “you can’t just perform an oil change anymore; you have to look at a module which will tell you a lot of information including the fastest rpm speed of the engine, if it ever overheated, etc.”
The fact that truck design has evolved exponentially in recent years, as have the tools, diagnostic equipment and shop resources you need to keep them running at their full potential, is no news to you: 42 percent of Truck Parts & Service readers surveyed cited changing technologies as the biggest challenge facing their businesses, second only to availability of labor. And there’s no doubt that keeping up with changing technologies – in terms of training and tools – can be an expensive, time-consuming proposition. But experts say the positives – increased business from technology-challenged customers and a higher level of service – outweigh the negatives.
One positive is that in many cases, evolving technologies have made technicians’ jobs easier. “In the old days you had to count the blink codes and figure out exactly what the codes were telling you and then look it up in the manual,” says Fred Andersky, marketing manager, electronics, Bendix. “Now you plug in the tool and it tells you the left steer wheel speed sensor has a fault in it.” Such capabilities enable technicians to readily pinpoint problems and can save valuable diagnostic time, meaning faster turnaround for your customers’ trucks.
Today’s components can also go longer without much in the way of service, says Rick Conklin, product manager, Electronic Stability Program (ESP) and future architecture, Bendix. “A thorough pre-trip inspection and periodic inspections based on maintenance are still important to gauge the overall health of the vehicle, but more and more components aren’t requiring periodic maintenance beyond inspection,” he says.
For example, the antilock braking system, mandated in the late 1990s, has become more resistant to common failures found early in the implementation of the mandate, Conklin says. “Things like wheel speed sensors have become more robust and their adjustments have become much less critical because the system has more tolerance for variance.”
Today’s system also does a better job at reporting and recording its faults. This gives the technician more information to work with when he services the vehicle, Conklin says.
Easier, or more complex?
While such technologies have taken much of the guesswork out of truck repair, their intricacies require a stronger knowledge base, and some shop owners argue, can actually extend service time.
Bryan Hansen of Page Brake Warehouse in Salt Lake City, Utah, refers to the original S-cam air brake. “There were no electronics to worry about and the valving was simple, making serviceability easier. The problem was right there staring at you in the face. You knew the brakes were bad when the truck didn’t stop so then you’d replace the brake shoes, or turn the brake drums, replace wheel parts, etc,” he says.
Today, it’s not so obvious. “Diagnosing a brake problem today requires expertise and time,” Hansen says.
“I’ve heard from shop owners that it takes a lot longer to figure out what’s wrong with trucks because of all the electronics,” says David Fulghum, vice president, MacKay & Co. “For example, when a light goes on indicating something is wrong, the technician may assume there is a problem with a particular component, when in fact, the sensor just may be faulty.”
Shifting service practices
Devices such as electronic control units and tire inflation monitoring systems add to the complexity of today’s trucks. Such technology is “driving change in the industry, and the training and the tools that go along with that technology are making it more difficult and more expensive for fleets to do their own service work,” Fulghum says.
Because vehicles and components last a lot longer today, fleets that used to be involved in major component work, such as engine overhauls, no longer need that capability. “They see it so infrequently that they can’t justify the tools and technology that would be necessary,” he says.
And that’s good news for independent repair facilities. “Our data shows a one share point shift per year in outsourcing of work by fleets, which provides opportunities for independents to pick up that service. Fleets want someone to do the necessary repairs, and to do it right the first time,” Fulghum says.
And today’s fleets are more willing to embrace change in the way their equipment is serviced, says Glenn Bryan, vice president, Richer Systems Group. For example, there used to be tremendous resistance to having technicians use computers directly, Bryan says. “This obviously has changed – today, technicians use computers every day to diagnose problems with the equipment they repair,” he says.
Technology also impacts customer service. “Technicians and their apprentices have become very savvy users,” he says. “As with good customer service in face-to-face situations, it has become more and more important for maintenance providers to communicate through computers.”
Technology has made everyone involved in the maintenance process much more sophisticated, says Molly MacKay Zacker, operations manager, MacKay & Co. Repair centers have “become more educated about what’s best to do for the truck. The shop owners are much more savvy in making their customers’ trucks last longer, and they are doing what it takes to repair the trucks quickly,” she says.
Customers have greater expectations, as well. “End users are more educated – they have to understand the systems on the truck in case of a breakdown,” Hansen says. “Because they’re more educated, they question more, which means you’ve got to have the right answer for them.”
Having technicians who understand today’s increasingly complex trucks – and giving them the tools they need to keep them running, comes at a price, Hansen says. “The better repair facilities are successful because they are committed to spending thousands of dollars on complex equipment and tools – an expense that just wasn’t there in the past,” he says.
Information: The Most Important Tool Of All
Technicians may argue over what is more impressive: having fingertip access to detailed service and repair information for nearly two decades worth of all truck and trailer makes and models, or being able to access that information without leaving fingerprint smudges on a printed page.
Tractor-Trailer.net is the industry’s first electronic repository of service and repair information covering all makes and models of Class 7 and 8 tractors and dry van and reefer trailers.
The subscription-based website is run by Mitchell1, a long-time publisher of service and repair information for automotive and commercial vehicles.
“We believe that this is the future for technicians,” says Mark Willis, sales manager, Truck Pride, a division of Independent Warehouse Distributors, LLC.
Truck Pride values the service enough to make it available to all of their warehouse distributor members, who in turn provide service and repair information to their installer customers. It’s a strategy that serves all involved.
“Of course, if Truck Pride members’ customers have the right information, they’re doing more repairs because they don’t have to turn anything down,” says Mike McBurney, Mitchell1 director of national accounts. “That means they’re going to do more business with the Truck Pride WDs.”
According to McBurney, the website is very easy for service technicians to navigate and the information available covers every truck component and system for model year 1990 and later vehicles.
Since chassis-specific build sheets are proprietary and often not shared by manufacturers, McBurney says Mitchell1 went to numerous resources to amass the information, including Polk registration data to accurately group component and system options with the vehicles they were available on. The result is a point-and-click interface that lets technicians easily drill down into detailed data.
While perhaps not as glamorous as a breakthrough truck design or cutting-edge diagnostic tool, McBurney thinks it will revolutionize the way the industry accesses and uses service and repair data, ultimately making shops more efficient and minimizing customer downtime.
“This industry is only going to get more technical,” McBurney says. “If you look at what’s proposed for trucks in 2010 – yes, we’ll need scanners and we’ll need all sorts of new tools – but the number one thing is information.”
Tractor-Trailer.net is updated monthly. Individual subscriptions cost $295 per month.
-Derek Smith
Notable Component Innovations
Ranking top advancements in truck and component design is subjective, and everyone pulls for their favorite to make the list. And, what may be revolutionary to one, can be unremarkable to another. With that in mind, following are a few notable component innovations that contribute to ease of service or longer service life, as submitted by a randomly selected sampling of manufacturers.
ArvinMeritor
- Internal expansion brake
- Worm drive axles
- Wedge brake
- Amboid gearing for axles
- Automatic slack adjusters
- Air disc brakes
- Generoid gearing
- Permanently lubricated drivelines
- Automated manual transmissions
- Tire inflation system for trailers
- Composite springs for trailer suspensions
Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems
- Air disc brakes
- Automatic slack adjusters
- ABS
- Desiccant-type air dryers
- Long-stroke brake chambers
- LEDs
- Quick change rotors and pads
- Non-metallic, corrosion-resistant components
- Modularized, easy-to-install system components
- Extended service drum brakes and brake linings
- Vehicle data loggers, trip recorders and other computerized data retention
Bridgestone Firestone North American Tire
- Sidewall protector ribs
- Treads and compounds designed specifically for trailers
- Low rolling resistance truck tire casings
- Treads, compounds and casings designed specifically for pickup – and – delivery applications
- Solid shoulder drive tires
- 32/32-inch drive tire
- 10,000-pound rated steer tire for refuse applications
Roadranger (Dana Corp. / Eaton Corp.)
- Synthetic lubricants for transmissions and axles
- Automated transmissions with modular components
- Electronic diagnostics
- Low-maintenance driveshaft assemblies
- Self-adjusting clutches
Putting Good Tools to Better Use
Sometimes tool innovation comes not in the form of the tool itself, but the innovative way in which it is used.
Marc Karon, president of Total Truck Parts and finalist for the 2007 Truck Parts & Service Distributor of the Year award, has been in the truck service business since 1979. He credits general improvements in shop equipment and computers as helping technicians get jobs done faster. But he cites two types of equipment for having particularly significant impact.
The first is an infrared thermometer, for which the company has several distinct uses.
“We use them to diagnose shock absorber problems,” he says. “When shock absorbers operate correctly, they generate heat. By pointing the thermometer at the different shocks on a vehicle, any cold readings indicate a defective shock absorber.”
The second use, he says, is to detect the performance efficiency of brake drums.
“With brake drums, the friction between the shoe and the drum heats up the brake drum,” says Karon. “The cooler the drum, the less efficient the brake drum is on that wheel compared to the other wheels.”
The infrared thermometer is so useful, it is used as part of the company’s routine inspection process. “Even when a truck is brought in for another problem, we use this test to make sure the brakes and shocks are working correctly,” he says.
The second piece of equipment is a Sideslip Tester from Hunter Engineering Co. Total Truck Parts has this device in its driveway for customers to drive onto for a quick vehicle alignment check.
The Sideslip Tester performs a toe alignment check in about 10 seconds.
“We use this device to alert our customers of the need to do a wheel alignment,” Karon says. “Our customers like this service since it saves them on tire wear by notifying them of the need to do an alignment. It also eliminates having to pay the cost of unnecessary wheel alignments.”
-Derek Smith
