4/16/2023 0 Comments Thumper definition![]() ![]() ![]() That puts our hypothetical average truck at $46,155 spent on fuel. In 2018 diesel stayed around $3 a gallon. Some trucks will go much more than that, and some will go much less, but 100,000 puts us in the middle of the pack.įor a truck traveling 100,000 miles getting 6.5MPG, they’ll use 15,385 gallons of fuel. Let’s take another general estimate of 100,000 miles driven a year. A 5% reduction means the average truck is now getting 6.175MPG. Real world numbers range between 4 and 8 depending on the equipment and the application, but let’s use the average for ease. How much of an increase? A tire that is 5PSI too low can see a 5% reduction in fuel economy. That, in turn, increases the fuel needed to overcome that resistance. Allowing the tire to go below proper pressure increases that resistance. About 1/3 of a truck’s fuel consumption comes from overcoming the rolling resistance of its own tires. Tires are typically the second largest expenditure for a trucking company. The more trucks you have, the more the problem will compound. The specific answer, of course, will vary from fleet to fleet. How Much Money Does Under-Inflated Tires Cost? Whether that means technological solutions, or getting down on the ground every morning with a pressure gauge, eyeballing it just won’t cut it. You’ve got to maintain your tire pressure. ![]() We’ll go into some more details here in a minute, but the bottom line is simple. If you take nothing else from this article, take that with you. Under-inflated tires cost fleets money, they cost fleets time, and they put everyone on the road at risk. These type of violations have a large impact on your CSA score and cost 8 points. Low tire violations fall under the FMCSAs vehicle maintenance BASIC. Low tire pressure is a widespread problem, and the consequences can be severe. These are real numbers from working trucks. ![]() 1 out of every 5 trucks they checked had one or more tires that were 20 PSI low. They found only 44% of trucks were within 5 PSI of the recommended pressure. They checked owner-ops and smaller fleets and truck shows and truck stops. The American Trucking Association Technology and Maintenance Council sent a team out to check tire pressure across the industry. If you think you can eyeball your tires, or use something like a tire-thumper, consider this. Tires, all tires, work best when properly inflated. But one thing all of these tires have in common is also the simplest thing to get right. Tires are a complicated piece of engineering. For larger fleets, keeping up with tire maintenance and ordering can be a full-time job of its own. There are dozens of options for each application. And that’s before you start considering the different needs of steer tires, trailer tires, and drive tires. For specialized trucks that are almost always off road, the challenges are even more complex, with all the needs of other trucks while also being able to withstand constantly rolling over debris. Tires designed for over-the-road trucking have very different needs than tires designed for short haul. When you start looking at that job in the context of a semi, it gets even more complicated. After all, my Hot Wheels never got flat tires.Īs an adult, I know that tires are a lot more complicated than a hard disk of plastic. I thought we could get solid plastic wheels, and solve the problem forever. My dad’s pickup had suffered a blowout a few days before, and he was in a bad mood about it. I remember one day coming downstairs and excitedly telling my dad that we should get wheels like Hot Wheels had. I would play with those little cars for hours, ramping them off stuff, making little motor noises, and sliding them around doing impossible turns. When I was a kid, like a lot of other little boys, I loved Hot Wheels. ![]()
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