Andrew Smith - Founder and CEO, Engineers, Linda Bob Caffee
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The new addition, Trailer Tail, has been added to our Cascadia and now we look forward to our fuel savings. Andrew Smith, Founder and CEO of ATDynamics stated that as far as he knew they had never installed a Trailer Tail on a straight truck. All will be watching our fuel mileage results. We are hoping to see at our most optimistic a 4% savings and at the least a 2% savings in our fuel bill using the Trailer Tail.
Our communication started with Brendan McLoughlin, regional sales manager about adding a Trailer Tail to a straight truck. At first we thought about having the "Tail" added at our local shop, but found ourselves in California and we headed over to their office in Hayward, CA. That proved to be very fortunate as ATD and we quickly found out that Expediters are a little different...
Before we arrived Bob filled out the form with measurements and pictures of our back doors. Once we backed up to the install area they all realized that our 23' box back doors are different. Who would have guessed that our dry box is nothing like a tractor-trailers dry box?
First one engineer came out and before long we had five engineers scratching their heads and then grinning as they realized they had a challenge. These guys were awesome and fun to watch as they tackled our back doors and the ideas flowed as the conquered one problem after another. We ended up with custom brackets and the "wings" trimmed to accommodate our door latches and backup camera.
While all of this was going on I spent time with Andrew Smith and learned a little of the companies history. Andrew met an engineer that had a Trailer Tail concept attached to a box but could not market it. A plan was formed and drawn up in a business plan and submitted in a competition in 2006. This business plan won 1st place in the largest business plan competition in North America at Rice University in Houston, TX. Now the fun started getting it off the box and onto a trailer. I had to laugh as Andrew talked about the simple concept of the "Tail" was going up against intricate tools to help surgeons.
Andrew talked about the trials and tribulations of building a product that could holdup while going down the road, being backing into, opening and closing many times of the day, or having a forklift run into them. The "tail" also had to be approved to extend the length of a trailer. I found I could have listened to Andrew talk all day about this product and his company.
Kyle Houston, VP Sales, and several other employees stopped in to visit with me and discuss how the 
"Tail" will help our operation. All were interested in the Cascadia, the Bolt sleeper, as well as expediting. Once again I found having bench seating in our sleeper to be perfect to discuss business. It was quickly apparent that we run a different operation then they are used to hearing about and they will be following our adventures. I wonder if we will soon see these on motor coaches?
All this time we were visiting the engineers were hard at work getting our Trailer Tail installed perfectly and taking notes on what they were doing. A Trailer Tail can be installed on a tractor-trailer at most trailer shops with a little pre planning. Until a few more are installed on straight trucks it would be best to go to the office in Hayward, CA.
Some of the questions we have been asked and answered:
The Trailer Tail works great in a side wind
The Tail weighs between 160 and 170lbs
The Tail is very easy to open and close. (Actually surprised me on how easy)
The Tail is strong and a grown person can easily stand on the platform
The Tail works fine in ice and snow
Our fuel mileage to date has shown an increase of 4.9% in the three weeks we have had the Trailer Tail.
To learn more about the Trailer Tail visit their website:
ATDynamics