WattsMack

Qualcomm and Instructional Technologies Inc. announced that they are collaborating to provide ITI's Pro-Tread Training Series on the Qualcomm Mobile Computing Platform 200 Series (MCP200).View the full article

The Specialized Carriers & Rigging Association will hold its 2009 Annual Conference April 21-25, at the La Quinta Resort and Conference Center, La Quinta, Calif.View the full article

Prime Inc., Springfield, Mo., announced that its contractor, Harvey Williams, was named Missouri's 2009 Driver of the Year.View the full article

Thermo King has lowered prices on more than 160 key aftermarket parts for Thermo King refrigeration units and TriPacTM APUs.View the full article

Been a little quiet in the truck shop recently. But, for a good reason - I've been pretty busy putting together new work projects for our building business. It sure does feel a whole lot better now than it did six weeks ago. Anyway, I'm still working on my B-67 front axle. Gathering up the original B Mack parts is getting harder every day. But I've had pretty good success, and a lot of good help with finding the pieces I need. It will have new king pins and bushings, tie-rod end kits, new bearings, new sleeved-seals, new bushings in the brake shoes and everything else polished and checked over really well. The brake linings appear close to new, and the drums are in excellent shape as well. The little compression springs that hold the shoes away from the backing plates had to be made and the shoe mounting pins needed some attention. The hubs have a little wear from spinning bearing races, but nothing that couldn't be fixed. With the new kingpins, and all of the rest of the work - I'm hoping that I get a really nice steering front end. We found springs and diaphragms for the original brake cans and the brake operating shaft bushings are in great shape, as well as both adjusters. The drag link is excellent, and the tie rod looks like new. If you work on one of these projects long enough - it's funny what gets you excited. On to Spring. Kathy and I are leaving this week for a little sailing trip, and will be back in about three weeks. Spring should be in full progress when we return. I'm leaving it up to Other Dog Tom to see that this happens. Someone needs to check on him though. View the full blog entry

I left here Monday and had to go to Petersburg to load a Roxana, Il. load. That makes a long day. It's about 100 miles east to Petersburg. I didn't get to Roxana until about 3 o'clock Tuesday evening, and didn't get unloaded until Wednesday morning. At least I got a return load out of Granite City, only a few miles from Roxana. Bad part was it was going to Baltimore, scheduled for Friday morning delivery. Then I had a load to pick up in Sparrows Point, about 2 miles from where I unloaded. Good load too, 2 coils going to Lynchburg. Then I could deliver that tomorrow, but...they screwed around so long unloading me in Baltimore it was too late to load it and I had to come home empty and pick up a 2 stop load of lumber at the yard going to Ohio. The stops are nowhere near each other either, one's near Marion and the other's near Akron. So i'm leaving today. And, on top of that the tool box door on my trailer decided to come open on the way home Friday and I lost most of my beveled wood, coil racks, a roll of plastic, some corner protectors, and i'm not sure what else was in there. Usually it took a jackhammer and a crowbar to get it open, but this time it just came open on it's own. Couldn't say for sure that somebody didn't check it out to see if there was anything in there worth stealing and then didn't fasten the doors good when they saw there wasn't, but who knows. Got a few pictures this week too- the capital building in Charleston,W.V. driving piling in Roxana locomotive in Roxana some old tractors in Illinois by I-70 the cut in Sideling mountain on I-68 in Maryland closer view of the cut Baltimore,from the Key Bridge Attached thumbnail(s) // // // // // // // View the full blog entry

Funding for EPA's $300 million of ARRA funding (aka "the stimulus") will be made available very soon, and applications for this funding have extremely tight deadlines.View the full article

Charles "Shorty" Whittington, Chairman of the American Trucking Association, Michael Sansolo, retail food industry consultant, and Dan North, chief economist with Euler Hermes ACI View the full article

The National Private Truck Council's 2009 Annual Education Management Conference and Exhibition, will be held May 3-5, 2009 in Nashville, Tenn.View the full article

Kenworth Truck Company announced today its largest ever hybrid truck order.View the full article

Peterbilt today announced that their complete line of hybrid products are eligible for United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) grants of up to 25 percent of the total quoted vehicle cost.View the full article

Flying J is pleased to announce two locations to its network in Red Deer, Alberta and Jarrell, Texas.View the full article

DriverTech, designers of the DT4000 TruckPC announced an exclusive agreement with iCooper Inc. of Washougal, Washington.View the full article

VHD Equipment Network, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of VIPAR Heavy Duty, has added four new distributors to its roster of members.View the full article

Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers is holding a three-day unreserved industrial equipment auction from March 25 to 27, 2009 at its new permanent auction site in Houston, Texas.View the full article

American Honda Motor Co. introduced a Class 8 hybrid diesel electric truck into its truck fleet at its parts center in Alpharetta, Ga.View the full article

Class 8 total net orders for all major North American OEMs fell to 6,167 units in February, the lowest order rate in over six years, according to preliminary figures from transportation forecasting and analysis firm FTR Associates.View the full article

A new analysis of 30 freight bottlenecks assesses the severity of 30 freight bottlenecks within the U.S. interstate system, using unique analysis methods and data to produce a severity ranking for each location.View the full article

Kraft Foods added another green ingredient to its DiGiorno Pizza line this week - the first-of-its-kind diesel-electric hybrid delivery truck equipped with a RouteMax refrigerated truck body for frozen and refrigerated capabilities.View the full article

FleetPride, a nationwide supplier of heavy duty truck and trailer parts, has expanded its presence in Georgia with a new 5,000 square foot branch in Gainesville.View the full article

Averitt Express is expanding its asset-based truckload coverage to include Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and New Jersey. View the full article

Westpac Heavy Duty announced the recipients of its annual "PAC" awards, given to vendors who received high marks on Westpac's supplier scorecard for 2008.View the full article

Freymiller, a 48-state refrigerated carrier based out of Oklahoma City, received first place for Outstanding Achievement in Highway Safety, presented by the Oklahoma Trucking Association and Great West Casualty.View the full article

President Barack Obama, joined by Vice President Joe Biden and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, released $26.6 billion from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act this week to states and local transportation authorities to repair and build highways, roads and bridges. View the full article

The I-710 and I-105 interchange in Los Angeles is the worst trucking bottleneck in the country, according to a new report released by the American Transportation Research Institute.View the full article