WattsMack

Date Added: Today, 01:05 PM Vehicle Owner: Bumblebee090458 View this new addition to the Garage

I went to Midland City, Alabama Sunday...sorta-kinda. I made it all the way to Cowpens, S.C. before I took a nap. The after Christmas traffic was bumper to bumper so I stopped about 5:30 at Cowpens and got a bite to eat and laid down until about midnight. Then I got a super-size Red Bull and hammered down. Came all the way back to Atlanta and picked up a load going to Scherr, West Virginia Monday- a whopping 6,000 lbs. I unloaded at Scherr Tuesday morning-good little ride from Midland City. Scherr is near Mount Storm, at the junction of rt. 42 and 93. It's right at the bottom of the big mountain with all the windmills at the top. The Mount Storm power plant is at the top of the mountain too. That would be the 5 or 6 mile 10% grade mountain. Tons of fun in winter. These pictures are of where I unloaded in Midland City-you can see this same spot on street view on Google Earth,on rt. 134 just west of Midland City. And the view from the top of the mountain on rt. 55 before you get to Moorefield-you can see the smoke from the Mt. Storm power plant way off in the distance, and just barely the windmills. An old bridge on rt. 220 in W.V. View from the top of Afton mtn. on rt. 64 in Va. ...and lots of trucks at the yard. Attached thumbnail(s) // // // // // // // View the full blog entry

There will be no news posted on Truckinginfo.com Wednesday, Dec. 31 or Thursday, Jan. 1, in honor of the New Year's holiday. News will return on Friday, Jan. 2.View the full article

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration rejected a petition to exempt commercial vehicle drivers subject to federal hours of service regulation from the California laws and regulations requiring employers to provide employees with meal and rest breaks.View the full article

The average price of a gallon of diesel is now about a dollar less than it was a year ago, according to weekly figures from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.View the full article

The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration are driving down the number of deaths on our highways resulting from poor driving behaviors of car, truck and bus drivers through the Operation Safe Driver campaign.View the full article

Kenworth recently delivered the first Kenworth T370 diesel-electric hybrid tractor to Carlile Transportation Systems during a ceremony at the Carlile facility in Tacoma, Wash.View the full article

NationaLease, Oakbrook Terrace, Ill., will be celebrating its 65th anniversary in 2009 and has posted a video on the history of truck leasing in America on its web site in honor of its accomplishment.View the full article

Landstar System, Jacksonville, Fla., named Hellen Heimert and Latosha McFarlin Employees of the Year for 2008. View the full article

Wright Express has modified its fuel-price risk management program, continuing to purchase derivative instruments to cover approximately 80 percent of its fuel-price-related earnings exposure going forward, but not as far in advance as in the past.View the full article

I had some time this week to completely disassemble the front axle of my B-67. It's actually fun to take this truck apart. Everything just cracks loose with a wrench, then unscrews by hand! It looks terrible. All rusted up and nasty looking. But you just snap it loose and twist off the nut. That simple. I am really interested in the simplicity of the design and the quality of the machining and the castings. But what really has me impressed is the assembly. Everything is fine machine threads, and tapered where necessary to draw tight, and hold tight forever. Even the frame bolts with exactly the right length of threads, and just the right amount of thread on each bolt to get exactly a full nut of coverage. Really nice stuff. And probably not duplicated anywhere today, even in the high tech stuff. And these were "just trucks". No wonder they work forever with proper care. On another note - I took my older (1966) R-600 out for a ride down the road today. No plates - so I took it nice and easy. This truck really runs like a sewing machine. Pretty neat old unit. Every light works, the heater and defroster work, door latches work great, windows work great. No smoke, no bad smells or noises. Stops good and drives straight. The tires are square!! Really square!! But even they smoothed up after a bit. Pretty lumpy there for a while though. (Old bias ply, heavy duty rubber) I'm ready to sell this one, and just wanted to be sure everything was OK. Great Fun! View the full blog entry

The American Trucking Associations' advanced seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index increased 1.7 percent in November, marking the first month-to-month improvement since June 2008 -- but in real numbers, freight volumes remain weak.View the full article

FTR Associates' latest truck market forecast registers yet another downward revision to the near term freight and truck production forecast.View the full article

Based on the results of a study on the effects of snow and ice accumulation on vehicles, American Trucking Associations President and CEO Bill Graves issued a "call to action" View the full article

Hino Truck engines rank highest in customer satisfaction among conventional cab medium-duty truck owners, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2008 Medium-Duty Truck Engine and Transmission Customer Satisfaction Study.View the full article

The Truckload Carriers Association has named Leonard "Lenny" Roach its 2008 Highway Angel of the Year for saving the life of an accident victim who otherwise would likely have drowned or frozen to death.View the full article

Terra Environmental Technologies and Brenntag North America announced a mutually exclusive, multi-year strategic alliance designed to efficiently supply the United States and Canada with TerraCair ultra pure diesel exhaust fluid.View the full article

Ryder System will acquire substantially all the assets of the full service truck leasing, commercial truck rental and contract maintenance businesses of Edart Leasing Company LLC, View the full article

Date Added: Yesterday, 01:40 AM Vehicle Owner: redrocker View this new addition to the Garage

I've got to leave Sunday for Midland City, Al. It's near Dothan. My DOT physical also expires Sunday, so I went to renew it today. Somehow I managed to pass it again, so i'm good for 2 more years. The young girl who took my blood pressure said "now we have to wait 'til we get a room". Meaning an examination room for the doctor of course. So I said ''get a room?!! but we just met, shouldn't we at least go to dinner first?''...yeah, I know-that's the same thing she thought. That's about as funny as a screen door in a submarine. I must be off. View the full blog entry

There will be no news posted on Truckinginfo.com Dec. 24-26 in observance of the Christmas holiday. News will return Dec. 29. Please peruse our news headlines for recent headlines and news from the last 30 days by category.View the full article

Flying J Inc. and some of its subsidiaries have filed voluntary petitions to reorganize under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware.View the full article

The average price for a gallon of on-highway diesel fell again last week, to $2.366 per gallon, according to weekly figures from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.View the full article

Ryder System will cut jobs in the U.S. and discontinue operations in some international markets as part of a restructuring plan in response to the current global economic environment.View the full article

HDAW '09 and Northwood University announced that participants in the seven Heavy Duty Aftermarket Week education sessions can receive up to 1.2 Continuing Education Units (CEUs) toward a heavy-duty aftermarket certification available through the University of the Aftermarket.View the full article