TWNA Announces 2016 Technical Achievement Award Finalists

The Truck Writers of North America has announced the top five finalists for its 2016 Technical Achievement Award, including engines, a disc brake, a steel wheel, and electronic cruise control products.

TWNA will announce the winner on March 1 during an industry awards luncheon at the Technology & Maintenance Council's Annual Meeting & Transportation Technology Exhibition in Nashville, Tenn.

For the first time, the annual awards is being named after Jim Winsor, a respected 50-year truck journalist and TWNA member who passed away in 2015.

This year's five finalists for the 2016 TWNA Technical Achievement Awards are:

Each year, the group's award committee, comprised of trucking industry publication editors, rank items nominated by TWNA members and choose five award finalists and the eventual winner. To be eligible, a product or service from the named year must show technical innovation, have a wide applicability and availability in trucking, and offer significant operating benefits.

“It took a while for us to sort through the nominees and narrow the field to just five products,” said Jim Park, award committee chairman and Equipment Editor of Heavy Duty Trucking and Contributing Editor of Today's Trucking. “There were some spirited discussions, but we used a scoring method in our voting that put numbers to opinions, and that got us to this point. It was all done by email.”

Other members of the award committee and their associated publications ...Read the rest of this story

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Meritor Launches “Most Efficient” Drive Axle Ever

Photo by Jim Park

NASHVILLE -- Meritor unveiled its new 14X HE high-efficiency linehaul tandem drive axle on Feb. 26 here at the Technology & Maintenance Council's Annual Meeting & Transportation Technology Exhibition.

"Built upon our trusted and valued 14X platform that is specified by a large majority of fleets, the new 14X HE is an evolutionary axle that takes efficiency to a whole new level," said Ken Hogan, vice president, Rear Drivetrain for Meritor. "Based on today's diesel prices, a fleet with 1,000 trucks equipped with the 14X HE could realize $1 million per year in fuel savings."

Meritor's engineering teams used cutting-edge technologies to improve axle efficiency up to 1.5 percent while also reducing weight by 30 pounds over the current 14X design.

The 14X HE comes standard with high-efficiency bearings, spiral bevel gearing with precision finished gears for reduced friction, and the Meritor Lube Management system.

The lube management system is an innovative passive system that uses the ring gear to flow oil through channels in the housing directing it to the wheel ends.

Meritor uses laser welding to manufacture components to reduce weight and drive efficiencies, Hogan said. The 14X HE's ring gear is laser-welded to the differential housing, offering a very robust joint that eliminates fasteners and reduces oil churning losses.

"The X14 HE the most fuel-efficient drive axle on the market and we have the data to back that up," said John Nelligan, vice president of sales and service, Meritor North America. "This axle is over 96.5% efficient. There's very little room for parasitic loss at that level."

The axle, which targets linehaul customers seeking fuel efficiency, has superfast ratios down to 2.15 for aggressive downspeeding. It's available in ratings from 2.15 to 3.90.

"With fuel being the largest operating cost to fleets, the 14X HE rounds out more of our portfolio ...Read the rest of this story

Engine driven accessories bring modest fuel savings

NASHVILLE.

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Eaton predicts electrified future

Viewing the connected roadmap for commercial vehicles

NASHVILLE. Larry Bennett, director of the vehicle technology center for the vehicle group at Eaton Corp., will tell you that the future of commercial trucks is one that's going to involve more “intelligent” technology – systems that, eventually, will drive them without a human at the wheel – and drive the need for more “electrification” as well.

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Love’s opens stores in Utah, Illinois

Love's opened two travel stops in Brigham City, Utah, and Greenup, Illinois. The Brigham City travel stop is located at Interstate 15 and Forest Street (Exit 363). The Greenup facility is located at Interstate 70 and State Route 30 (Exit 119).

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