Prime Trailers And Tandems

Sorry to hear that Scotty, it sucks when we lose tools that make our jobs easier.

Sorry, I haven't been called that in years. Usually it was accompanied by the singing of "Scotty doesn't know."

Anyway, yeah it is a little frustrating at times, but I feel like it's moot for me on this account. I do feel for the guys who have heavier loads on the reg.

Another thing I miss from Prime is the APU. Swift doesn't have them, but I've heard they may be testing them. I heard they used to have them, but were supposedly catching on fire and burning up the trucks.

All of this is hearsay, so I take it all with a grain of salt.

APU:

Auxiliary Power Unit

On tractor trailers, and APU is a small diesel engine that powers a heat and air conditioning unit while charging the truck's main batteries at the same time. This allows the driver to remain comfortable in the cab and have access to electric power without running the main truck engine.

Having an APU helps save money in fuel costs and saves wear and tear on the main engine, though they tend to be expensive to install and maintain. Therefore only a very small percentage of the trucks on the road today come equipped with an APU.

I think I fat fingered the y, but glad it brought you amusement. Also, I could sing it for you if it will brighten your day. I have an apu on my truck and anything above mid 70s and it doesn't keep it cool anyhow. Also the idle interrupt override is set for 81 so there is that spot of about 6 degrees in there where I just sweat it out. Surprisingly I didn't have any problems with heat during the winter months I drove this year.

APU:

Auxiliary Power Unit

On tractor trailers, and APU is a small diesel engine that powers a heat and air conditioning unit while charging the truck's main batteries at the same time. This allows the driver to remain comfortable in the cab and have access to electric power without running the main truck engine.

Having an APU helps save money in fuel costs and saves wear and tear on the main engine, though they tend to be expensive to install and maintain. Therefore only a very small percentage of the trucks on the road today come equipped with an APU.

You don't have privacy curtains on the front of the truck do you?

I didn't on my truck, but I bought two sunshades for my truck, and cut one in half for the side windows. That helped a lot, especially when sitting in Arizona and California getting loaded.

They sell those curtains in a lot of truck stops. As long as the track is there around the windows, I’d pick up a set because these make a huge difference. If I’m parking in the SW during the summer, on a daytime 10 hour break, I close both sets of curtains and run that a/c in the sleeper.

Matthew.. do you have a digital dash with a menu system? My International has the drive weights in the digital dash. If not, go to the tractor shop and tell them to install a right weigh. they will.

;) I usually go by 300 per hole. But yes, over the years trailers have changed. the older trailers had holes further apart.

Here’s something I saved from cbt’s .

Donna, to a none driver like me, I think that was a great thing to save. I like learning by pictures..lol

Matthew.. do you have a digital dash with a menu system? My International has the drive weights in the digital dash. If not, go to the tractor shop and tell them to install a right weigh. they will.

;) I usually go by 300 per hole. But yes, over the years trailers have changed. the older trailers had holes further apart.

I do have the digital dash board in the center but it does not have right weight, it has load suspension guage instead for the drives. I've usually found that over 40k pounds if I get the load suspension psi near but not over 70 psi I am fairly well balanced. It's just a different learning curve is all. As for going to the tractor shop, I work for Wilson logistics hauling prime trailers so not sure I can just run into the shop and get it done, I'd have to contact my maint department and make sure they are ok with it.

As for the front privacy curtains I do have those, did not know they would make a difference in cooling so I will have to give that a try.

I always pull my privacy curtains as it does make a difference. But, you can still throw up the sunshades and that will help too.