Dana Launches New Lightweight Driveshaft Line

ATLANTA — Dana has launched the SPL 250 Lite driveshaft at the North American Commercial Vehicle show in Atlanta, designed to be a lightweight option for most configurations of heavy-duty commercial vehicles.

The SPL 250 Lite can handle torque ratings up to 18,439 lb.-ft. and is up to 25 pounds lighter than competitive products, according to Dana. It has also been engineered for reduced noise, vibration and harshness levels, improved performance, and improved vehicle dynamics without compromising strength.

"The lower numeric axle ratios required to support engine downspeeding and improve fuel efficiency can cause significant stress to the drivetrain and alter harmonics in driveline components," said Mark Wallace, executive vice president of Dana and president of Dana Commercial Driveline Technologies. "Excessive vibration leads to unplanned downtime and driver fatigue on the road. The SPL 250 Lite driveshaft leverages proprietary precision manufacturing methods that ensure no NVH issues while delivering a smooth ride. It also reduces weight without sacrificing performance or durability."

The SPL 250 Lite driveshaft widens the range of applications supported by an updated family of lightweight, durable driveshaft products and expands on the launch of the SPL 350 Lite driveshaft earlier this year.

Designed with fewer components to reduce weight and enable faster, easier installation by OEMs, the driveshafts in this series feature extended component life and reduced maintenance. They also share service components with their existing SPL 350 and SPL 250 driveshaft counterparts to increase ease of service and simplify inventory for truck owners and service facilities.

Dana also announced the addition of an aluminum hub option on Spicer D-Series steer axles with a 14,600-pound gross axle weight rating (GAWR). This new product expands the previously released 10,000-pound GAWR range to 13,200 pounds with aluminum hubs, and introduces a ...Read the rest of this story

Bendix Touts New Driver Assist, Safety Features at NACV

Photos: Bendix

ATLANTA — Bendix made a series of feature announcements at the North American Commercial Vehicle show in Atlanta, touting a series of safety-focused driver assistance and component enhancements available now and in the near future.

Bendix showed a new feature intended to automatically prevent rollaway called Intellipark. The automatic braking technology replaces the manual air parking brake with electronic switches that will automatically set the parking brake if the driver exits the vehicle without setting the parking brake.

With sensors that monitor the driver seat, seat belt, or cab door, the system will detect if a driver leaves the vehicle without engaging the parking brake and will automatically set it to prevent a dangerous or costly vehicle rollback.

“Rollaway incidents can be terribly damaging – if not deadly – and come at great cost to fleets in terms of money, resources, and reputation,” said Fred Andersky, Bendix director of customer solutions, controls. “And all because the parking brake didn't get set properly or was released accidentally. Automatic parking brake technology can help make these kinds of accidents – and their repercussions – a thing of the past.”

The Intellipark system is expected to enter fleet trials in 2018.

The company has also announced the launch of the Bendix EnduraSure Spring Brake line, which includes an improved version of its standard chamber, and the addition of a new sealed, professional-grade model.

The new series offers even improved durability and performance in its standard EnduraSure product, while now giving fleets and owner-operators a premium option, the EnduraSure-Pro.

The new models, double-diaphragm chambers for foundation drum brakes, are now in production. They were designed to meet all SAE requirements for force output while meeting stroke and clevis combination needs. The EnduraSure series is produced by BSFB, a joint venture of Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems and Dana ...Read the rest of this story

Digital Supply Chain Offers Greater Potential Than Electric, Autonomous Trucks

Persio Lisboa talks to suppliers about the need to be leaders in technology to improve trucking productivity.

ATLANTA – Amidst a show where major topics of conversation included electrification of commercial vehicles and the path to autonomous trucks, one industry exec said the digital supply chain will be the next big breakthrough in trucking productivity.

Speaking to an audience of suppliers at the Heavy Duty Manufacturers Association Breakfast and Briefing at the inaugural North American Commercial Vehicle Show, Persio Lisboa, executive vice president and COO of Navistar International, predicted that data and analytics will drive advances in trucking industry productivity while imposing increasingly stringent design requirements for truck and component reliability.

The supply chain is changing rapidly, he noted, thanks in large part to the growth of e-commerce. “Customers' expectation are totally different today than they were five years ago; 48 hour delivery is starting to sound like a terribly long time.”

However, he said, this incredibly fast and efficient delivery system has a very inefficient back end. For every truckload of products that hit the front door of a customer, there are four other equivalent loads taking place to manage returns, transfers between PDCs, etc., he said – “an efficient system maintained by an inefficient supply chain.”

And who is paying for those inefficiencies? It's not the end consumer, he said, and it's not Amazon. Which means those in the supply chain are likely footing the bill.

Those inefficiencies are hardly news to fleets. As one customer told Navistar, “We don't need more drivers, we need more time driving." Large carriers typically report that drivers are only actually driving about 6.5 hours out of their 11 hours of available driving time. The rest is wasted on things like waiting to load and unload.

“The only answer that makes any sense is we need to ...Read the rest of this story

Digital Supply Chain Offers Greater Potential Than Electric, Autonomous Trucks

Persio Lisboa talks to suppliers about the need to be leaders in technology to improve trucking productivity.

ATLANTA – Amidst a show where major topics of conversation included electrification of commercial vehicles and the path to autonomous trucks, one industry exec said the digital supply chain will be the next big breakthrough in trucking productivity.

Speaking to an audience of suppliers at the Heavy Duty Manufacturers Association Breakfast and Briefing at the inaugural North American Commercial Vehicle Show, Persio Lisboa, executive vice president and COO of Navistar International, predicted that data and analytics will drive advances in trucking industry productivity while imposing increasingly stringent design requirements for truck and component reliability.

The supply chain is changing rapidly, he noted, thanks in large part to the growth of e-commerce. “Customers' expectation are totally different today than they were five years ago; 48 hour delivery is starting to sound like a terribly long time.”

However, he said, this incredibly fast and efficient delivery system has a very inefficient back end. For every truckload of products that hit the front door of a customer, there are four other equivalent loads taking place to manage returns, transfers between PDCs, etc., he said – “an efficient system maintained by an inefficient supply chain.”

And who is paying for those inefficiencies? It's not the end consumer, he said, and it's not Amazon. Which means those in the supply chain are likely footing the bill.

Those inefficiencies are hardly news to fleets. As one customer told Navistar, “We don't need more drivers, we need more time driving." Large carriers typically report that drivers are only actually driving about 6.5 hours out of their 11 hours of available driving time. The rest is wasted on things like waiting to load and unload.

“The only answer that makes any sense is we need to ...Read the rest of this story

‘Too expensive, unproven, untrustworthy’: Groups push for ELD delay

read more

Michelin introduces XDA Energy + tire

Michelin Americas Truck Tires has introduced its XDA Energy + dual drive-position tire for linehaul applications.

The XDA Energy + is our “latest and greatest fuel solution,” Adam Murphy, vice president of marketing, said Sept. 27 during the North American Commercial Vehicle show.

read more

Ryder makes Aperia’s Halo system standard on truck rental fleet

Ryder System Inc. said Sept. 27 it has signed an exclusive partnership with Aperia Technologies that will make the Halo Tire Inflator solution the standard specification for Ryder's heavy-duty rental fleet.

“We believe innovative automatic tire inflation solutions provide tremendous peace of mind for customers committed to on-time deliveries,” said Scott Perry, chief technology and procurement officer for Ryder Fleet Management Solutions.

read more