The Landscape Is Always Changing .

Everything sure has changed since I started my career in the trucking industry.

Over the years since I’ve been driving, the landscape of trucking has changed. I have witnessed the change over from the popular cab over to the conventional tractor and later onto the set back axle aerodynamic truck.

My son and I when we were much younger . I was living large with a air ride cab and a four spring Reyco rear suspension.

Also having changed is the ride itself. I still remember in my early days driving some of the last tube type bias ply tires. Oh what fun those tires were on a cold morning in the northeast. For those who are not familiar with the old bias ply tires, when they sat in the cold they would go out of round. The first few miles would shake the cab and mirrors until the tire warmed up and would run normal. These tires also didn’t last long as they seemed to pick up every groove of the road and follow it.

This picture was taken at the Tamarack rest area on I-77 in West Virginia.

Also having changed is the ride itself. I still remember in my early days driving some of the last tube type bias ply tires. Oh what fun those tires were on a cold morning in the northeast. For those who are not familiar with the old bias ply tires, when they sat in the cold they would go out of round. The first few miles would shake the cab and mirrors until the tire warmed up and would run normal. These tires also didn’t last long as they seemed to pick up every groove of the road and follow it.

The view from the parking lot of the Carnesville , GA Petro

I can remember transitioning from walking beams to four spring and finally air ride suspension. Although, I joked when driving the old walking beam suspension that I already had air ride as the tires would touch the pavement only half the time. A four spring suspension felt like a luxury vehicle in comparison to the walking beam. After the length laws were relaxed, the conventional long wheel base sleeper tractor became extremely popular. Drivers gladly sacrificed the maneuverability of their short wheel base cab overs for the smoother ride of these long wheel base conventional trucks.



 

I am excited to see the future as we continue to advance forwa

Next what followed was a focus on efficiency. Steer axles were set back, hoods became sloped, windshields were raked and hard edges were rounded. Anything that caused wind drag became the target for designers to eliminate that issue. The first target was outside air cleaners and exhaust stacks hanging onto the side of the truck. This change was difficult for many to accept as they liked their bling. For me, this transition was easy as my background was in racing so the sleek, aero styles appealed to me. I prefer an aerodynamic truck/trailer combo as we have enough battles to fight in this industry without picking a fight with the very air itself.

This week, I walked out of a large travel center and noticed a massive change as I looked over the parking lot area which has in excess of 250 truck parking spaces. As I walked down the first isle, every truck in the entire row had some form of aero design. Most in fact had full roof and skirting packages. It was at this point that I decided to take a walk around the lot further to investigate and get some exercise. What I noticed was there were only “five” classic non aero trucks in the entire lot. One of the traditional trucks was pulling an extremely oversized load set up in which aero did not apply. Another was pulling oversize loads on an RGN trailer and another was a race team. The other two trucks were pulling standard van freight.

The transition is becoming as complete as when the industry changed from cab over to conventional trucks. It will be interesting to see where the styling goes next.