On the Road with Henry Albert

70 Years Of Innovation

Henry Albert — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 20:39:47 +0000

Hello,

Join the countdown to Freightliner’s 70th Birthday and be part of the celebration of Freightliner’s past, present and future.

Winter DDEC Report Update.

Henry Albert — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 22:20:17 +0000

Hello,

It’s been a while since I have posted my DDEC reports. The following reports are from the months of January and February. The mileage has fallen off a bit due to winter blend fuel and colder weather. Colder weather makes denser air, therefore more power is needed to simply move the air out of the way.

Below, you’ll find the first report showing 22,516 miles at 8.53 mpg. The previous report from the fall was 8.90 mpg. If I go back through my reports, it’s easy to tie the increased fuel consumption to winter blend fuel and the colder temperatures.

If you click on the images below they will appear larger for easy viewing.

The second report shows a trip distance of 1, 332 miles. This was a short run from Charlotte, NC to the northeast. I had this report downloaded separately because it’s a different route from my normal schedule. This trip included many small towns and secondary routes. The fuel mileage was also adversely effected due to wind and rain.

The third report is from my normal route of Charlotte, NC to Laredo, TX. On average, it’s been more windy than normal. My load weights are still running between 15,000-30,000 lbs.

In conclusion, I’ll be glad when we’re not purchasing winter blend fuel any longer. I’m ready to get back to my normal fuel mile averages. Till next time… be safe,

Henry

Its Simple Things In Life That Count

Henry Albert — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 20:14:56 +0000

Hello,

Hope all of you are well. I thought it would be neat to share an experience I’ve had this week. On Monday evening in Hattiesburg, MS while fueling the truck, I met a man who was retired from the U.S. Coast Guard. He was traveling from Texas to New York in his car and had stopped at the Kangaroo Travel Center in order to sleep overnight. He asked permission from the fuel desk clerk. They allowed him to sleep in his vehicle overnight. I also spent the night at this location. When I got up in the morning, I went inside for my usual cup of coffee. On my way into the travel center, he and I crossed paths once again and began to talk. He retired early, from the Coast Guard due to being shot in the leg and shared how he had experienced other broken bones while serving. During our conversation, he asked me if I would like a cup of coffee. I had already purchased mine and declined. Next, while he was getting his cup of coffee, I slipped over to the cashier and told her that his coffee was on me. As I was waiting in line for my shower, he came over to me and said “thanks so much for buying my coffee this morning, you have no idea how much that meant to me”. I told him that was the least I could do and thanked him also for his service to our country. He was traveling up to Staten Island where he lived. We said our goodbye’s and parted ways.

Later that day, as I was traveling down I-59 in my Cascadia, I began to reflect on the man I met that morning. It sure was nice to be able to make someone happy just from buying them a cup of coffee. He sure was appreciative. My $1.79 seemed to go a long way and was a small price to pay to bring a smile to someone’s face. Remember… it’s the simple things in life, that count. Till next time… be safe,

Henry

HVAC System Maintenance

Henry Albert — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 12:33:20 +0000

There is a torx head screw on each side of this housing. Upon removing the screws ,just lift off the cover and slide the filter tray up to access the cab fresh air filter.

Hello,

This week, I decided to change my fresh air filter to my cab. The fresh air filter and sleeper HVAC filter are easy items to forget. I usually try to change them every quarter. While making these replacements, it came to my mind that I should share this with you.

I figured it was important to get out my “Cascadia Maintenance Manual” for some review before getting started. While doing my research, I made two new discoveries. First, the manual showed a filter which I was not aware of called, the “Cab Recirculation Air Filter”. Second, I found information regarding the exact drive plate clearances to the HVAC System compressor clutch. My usual method of checking the compressor clutch included me wiggling the clutch itself to see if it may be loose. Thanks to reading the manual, I now know the exact clearance of the drive plate on the compressor clutch. The information for this project is located in the last chapter of the maintenance section in the driver’s manual.

For some reason, if you don’t have a maintenance manual, here is a link to an online version of your Driver’s Manual and Maintenance Manual.

https://secure.freightliner.com/newbulletins/techmanuals/internetdocs/DMMM_manuals.asp?brand=Freightliner

This picture appears as though the access to the sleeper HVAC filter is hinged. It is not... It's held in place with 4 spring clips. You want to simply pull straight out on the access panel to access the filter. DO NOT try to open the access panel as if it has hinges or you will break two of the spring clips. My method for cleaning this filter has been to simply vacuum the filter media with my shop vac. The filter always looks good as new afterwards.

How Will We Fund The Roads and Highways: Part 3

Henry Albert — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 12:05:25 +0000

Hello,

Are Tolls or Fuel Taxes a better way to fund road work? This seems to be the big question or debate of today. As I write this, there are many discussions revolving around this question right now. This is one of the few subjects where the American Trucking Association (ATA), The Owner Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) and The Truck Load Carrier Association (TCA) are all in agreement. These organizations all feel as though fuel taxes, via the International Fuel Tax Agreement (IFTA) is the best and most efficient way for collecting, creating and maintaining our highway system.

Tolls and Vehicle Mileage Taxes (VMT’s) all gobble up a greater percentage generated than the IFTA system, which already exists. No new bureaucracies are needed to continue using this system. Fuel taxes also encourage highway users to become more fuel-efficient as the tax is included in the price at the pump. Obviously, the tax rate needs to be adjusted as highway building becomes more expensive and as highway users become more fuel-efficient. The main reason fuel taxes are the most “fair” method of funding highways, is due to the fact, the worse you do on fuel, the more you pay to use the highway. Heavier vehicles use more fuel and therefore would pay their proportionate amount to maintain the highways.

Vehicle Mileage Taxes (VMT) are being tossed around as the future of highway funding. In my opinion, VMT’s are no different than a toll road. The only difference being there are no actual tollbooths. I can understand why this is an option of consideration with the advent of electric vehicles on the horizon. These new vehicles powered by electric or hydrogen fuel cells don’t have a method of paying a fuel tax as we know it in the IFTA system today. There are not many of these vehicles on the roads today and maybe not having a highway use tax will increase their popularity for the future.

We can all agree that in the past and possibly the present, highway funds have been misused and our highway system desperately needs repair and updating to our bridges and highways. The fuel tax seems to be one of the few taxes our legislators fear to increase. From my previous blogs on this subject, it seems to me that the fuel tax is one, which should be increased. Not that I really want any tax increase, however our roads, bridges and highways are in desperate need of repair. If that sounds bad… lets not even go to the toll roads! Right now the PA Turnpike from Ohio to New Jersey, which is 359 miles costs a toll fee of $150.75. This works out to 41 cents per mile. This makes any of the fuel taxes look like a bargain in comparison. Here is a link that shows how the PA Turnpike answers questions. Take a look at the answers and see if this is how we want our highways looked after.

http://www.paturnpike.com/toll/toll_faq.aspx

Till next time be safe,

Henry

How Will We Fund The Roads And Highways? Part 2

Henry Albert — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 14:51:13 +0000

It was a cold rainy day so I started figuring and calculating at the table.

Hello,

Now that you’ve had a chance to catch up on some history of our highway system, let’s talk about how we’re going to pay for our roads today. It appears, from our past, most of our roads were funded by tolls or a user tax. Such as, fuel taxes, Federal Excise Taxes on trucks, tires and trailers. There have also been direct taxes to fund highways including the infamous Federal Heavy Use Tax of $550.00. The problem with having so many different types of road taxes becomes an issue due to the need for various bureaucracies within each government agency. The result is that much of the funds are spent simply supporting the agency itself.

First, lets take a closer look at the Federal Excise Tax. For a $130,000 truck, the Federal Excise Tax of 12% equals $15,600.00. For a $32,000. trailer at 12%, equals another $4,320.00. The tax for these two items are a total of $19,920.00. This sounds like a lot of money for our highways, however when you figure it per mile, it’s quite a bit less than it first appears. Lets say this truck and trailer only lasts 750,000 miles, this would make the tax equal .026 per mile. As we all know, with today’s trucks the likelihood of the truck lasting more than 750,000 is very possible. This lowers the tax even more per mile.

I decided to play around with some numbers for Federal Excise Tax on tires. The Federal Excise Tax on a complete set of tires for a 5 axle tractor and trailer would be between $303.84 (wide base singles) and $455.04 (using traditional duals). If your tires would last for 250,000 miles your tax per mile would be between .0012 and .0013.

Now, lets look at the Federal portion of your fuel tax, which is 24.5 cents per gallon. If your truck is at 6 miles per gallon, your tax would be .04 per mile. At 7 miles per gallon, your tax drops to .035 per mile. If your fortunate to be a driver achieving 8 miles per gallon, your tax drops to .030 per mile. If you put on 120,000 miles a year, at 6 miles per gallon, your Federal contribution to the highways would be $4,800.00. Just for reference: at 8 miles per gallon, your Federal portion of the tax would be $3,600.00.

I did not figure the state fuel taxes because they are all different and one state “Oregon” does not even have a fuel tax. Click on this link for all of the state fuel taxes… http://www.iftach.org/taxmatrix3/choose_tableq2.php

In the next blog, I’ll talk about the other methods being proposed to fund our highways.

Here is some links on the subject.

http://fleetowner.com/equipment/tiretracks/fleet_revised_fet/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:US_Diesel_Taxes_April_2009.svg

How Will We Fund The Roads And Highways ? Part 1

Henry Albert — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 12:22:09 +0000

Hello everyone,

A subject that has been hitting the trucking headlines has been” how are we going to fund our highway system?”.

To fully understand where we are going in the future of our highway system it’s important to know how we got where we are.

The first major toll road in the United States was the Philadelphia and Lancaster turnpike built in the 1790′s. This was the first long distance paved road in the United States. Much of the Philadelphia and Lancaster turnpike still exists today, known as US Route 30 and PA state Route 462. By the 1840′s, railroads and canals had ravaged the road with many hard blows. The road, then went into decline for the next 50 years. In 1876, the Pennsylvania Railroad bought part of the road to prevent street car companies from building along it. The road then became part of the Lincoln Highway in 1913. Tolls continued on the highway until the state bought the road for $165,000 in 1917. http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/rakeman/1795.htm

By the early 20th century, most toll roads were taken over by the states. Most of the toll roads, by this time, were used by the states for toll revenue bonds “promissory notes” to pay for highways and bridges. In the 1960′s, one of the more ambitious projects was the 23 mile long Chesapeake Bay Bridge tunnel in Virginia. http://www.cbbt.com/history.html

The next big leap was our US Highway system. This was the first national system of highways. It was created by the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1925. This system eliminated the confusion created by the named routes of this era. Such as, The Dixie Highway, The Lincoln Highway and the more than 250 or more other named highways. The US Highway System was funded by the states and not by the for profit road clubs and organizations.

Giving highways a standard numerical system for identification was a radical idea at the time. North/South were odd numbers and East/West even numbered. For the first time, the name of the route gave you an idea of the direction you were heading.

The next advancement was the “Interstate System”. http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/interstate/history.htm This was brought about by the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956. As of 2006, the interstate system contains 46,876 miles of highway. It was lobbied for by the auto manufacturers and president Dwight E Eisenhower. The original cost was supposed to be 25 billion dollars over 12 years. Unfortunately, it ended up costing 114 billion (adjusted for inflation) and taking 35 years to complete. (This may be where we began to get off track regarding highway funding). The interstate system was also part of the strategic highway network to improve the movement of troops and military equipment. http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/planning/nhs/

Upon doing some research, I came upon some information regarding how we fund our interstate system. 70% of the construction and maintenance cost are from user fees, primarily fuel taxes. It began as a Federal Tax of 3 cents per gallon and is now at 24.5 cents for diesel. Also funding our interstates are the Federal Excise Tax on trucks, trailers and tires. The Federal Heavy Use Tax is also used to fund our highways. The federal portion of the funding is made up of 93% from vehicle and fuel taxes. The rest comes from the general fund.

The state part of funding our highways comes from 60% fuel and vehicle taxes. The rest comes from the general fund.

2,900 miles of toll roads were incorporated into the interstate system due to the fact that it made more sense to use them instead of buying out the bond holders or building parallel routes.

Here is a site which has a great deal of historical information of our highways and roads.

http://www.us-highways.com/

Stay tuned as we go through this subject this week,

Henry

The Interstate System during its birth.

Freightliner… Leading The Way!

Henry Albert — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 15:59:24 +0000

Hello,

This morning, as I was looking over some transportation industry publications, I read where Daimler Trucks North America has added a second shift to its North Carolina plants. Approximately 1,100 jobs will be added to the Freightliner truck production plant in Cleveland, N.C,.and 100 more jobs will be created at the components and logistics facility in GastoniaN.C. Gastonia is part of the support network of the Cleveland, N.C., Mt Holly, N.C., Thomasville, N.C.,Gaffney, S.C. production facilities.

From my area neighbors and myself, I want to say a big “Thanks” to all those people who made the decision to purchase new Freightliner Trucks in the past year. Each new job created at the plant supports even more employment to the surrounding economy. The added jobs bring work to the component manufacturers, area warehouses and the many businesses the employees patronize.

During the recent recession, the Cleveland plant shrank from 3,500 employees to approximately 650 as the recession shuttered much of the truck building industry.

What a difference a year can make. In 2011 truck orders increased 68.6% over 2010. The total North American class 8 truck order intake was 305,393, compared to 181,181 in 2010. Most of these orders were placed in the United States. I personally want to congratulate DTNA’s Freightliner brand for being the largest selling class 8 truck in North America capturing almost 35% of the market in the United States and Canada during 2011.

A ceremony was held last week at the Cleveland plant in which North Carolina Gov. Bev Purdue was in attendance. She called the development “tremendous news” for the state.Officials said the new hiring would allow the company to double its daily output rate by October and to cut into the back log on Cascadia orders, which now extend up to six months.

Having driven a Freightliner, Cascades since 2009, It comes as no surprise to me that the Cascadia is capturing such a large portion of the truck market. This truck is solid, quiet, comfortable and unsurpassed in fuel efficiency.

To the employees, engineers and management at DTNA ,my congratulations on a job well done!

Henry Albert

301 Plaza/Middletown, Delaware

Henry Albert — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 01:33:14 +0000

Hello,

On my way up to New Jersey this week, I stopped at the 301 Plaza Travel Center in Middletown, Delaware. I enjoyed stopping here and it brought back some fun memories. This was a favorite stop during many years on a routine run from Charlotte, NC to Wilmington, Delaware. As I drove the Cascadia into the parking lot, memories filled my mind of those days and the drivers I met at this establishment. There were many great chats and lots of delicious food to go around. Thanks 301 Plaza for the memories.

Henry

January DDEC update

Henry Albert — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 00:19:10 +0000

Hello,

Here is my latest engine report for your review. As you can see, it was approximately a half mile per gallon less than my last report. I researched my notes and here are a few reasons for the lower mpg…. winter blend fuel, heavier loads and more windy conditions. For easier viewing just click on the report and it will become larger in size. Till next time… be safe,

Henry