Truck Maintenance Improvements And Their Effects

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Truck Maintenance Improvements And Their Effects
Truck Maintenance Improvements And Their Effects

Periodic truck maintenance is a necessity if a fleet is to maintain proper working equipment and the keeping of delivery scheduling with a minimum of downtime. One method of keeping up with the many items on a truck that can go haywire, is the use of maintenance software that can give warning ahead of time in regard to possible systems that will need or do need repair or replacement.

The software will send out a series of alerts to provide an audible checklist, so to speak, in order to be proactive in the diagnosing and action phase of keeping ahead of things. A schedule of items to check and replace can cause this to move along in an organized and intelligent way to provide near and real time notification of problems.

In the process fault codes can be sent so optimal inspection and service can be performed on a timely basis by professionals to avoid as much down time while on the road as possible. This creates an atmosphere where the incidence of on the road breakdowns are fewer, as they are expensive and time consuming. This is smart truck maintenance at its best.

The old way of truck maintenance was the go and hope method. With this method, maintenance was done every so often, and the truck was sent out on the road with the hope that things would last ok until the next scheduled maintenance was due to be performed.

The new way of truck maintenance realizes that different parts and systems will wear out and break down at different intervals, and a detailed checklist of when this happens per part can be computerized and servicing for these systems can be scheduled on a timely basis per system, per part. In this way when a truck hits the road there is a better probability that things are set to work in the way that they are supposed to.

The wear and tear on the truck is also dependent on the type of terrain being traveled, the speeds at which the truck travels and the load that it carries. Schedules are created with these factors in mind and are accounted for with maintenance schedules to correspond. Some tasks are very simple as checking the oil and tire pressure on a scheduled basis. Other tests are more technical in nature and can be performed by qualified technicians in order to take full advantage of the efficiency of the truck.

A plan that is simple and doesn't require a lot of technical acumen is checking the tires, engine oil, lights, wipers, coolant, filters and the hoses and belts. For a little more of the technical side a little more advance examination would include brakes, wheel seals, drive axles, transmission, exhaust, batteries, suspension, driveline, clutch, steering and engine.

The department of transportation in most states requires certain standards of maintenance be kept up to speed and will conduct periodic, random roadside inspections.

If a trucker is only interested in making repairs when a truck breaks down, and then trade it in when the entire mess gets to the point of total breakdown, he is letting his truck run him instead of him running his truck. Ideally a truck should not be replaced until the overall costs of maintenance of an older vehicle are higher than the comparable costs of buying a new truck.

This is called life cycle costing and is based upon a proven set of principles. Usually the main factor that prompts the purchase of a new vehicle is annual value of resale along with any incentives from the manufacturer that might be available. In other words the value of the resale of the old vehicle combined with any incentives might offset the principal and interest. A trade will usually make sense at this juncture.

In the long view of the life of a truck, proper truck maintenance makes a huge difference not only in day-to-day cost savings, but the long term value and trade in value of the truck itself. This can be a career changer if not handled properly. It can accelerate the career of a trucker or bring it to a sudden halt before its time. Some of the newer digital systems can be of terrific assistance in tracking a lot of the maintenance that just seemed to get away in previous years.


This is smart truck maintenance at its best.

The wear and tear on the truck is also dependent on the type of terrain being traveled, the speeds at which the truck travels and the load that it carries. Schedules are created with these factors in mind and are accounted for with maintenance schedules to correspond. Other tests are more technical in nature and can be performed by qualified technicians in order to take full advantage of the efficiency of the truck.

In the long view of the life of a truck, proper truck maintenance makes a huge difference not only in day-to-day cost savings, but the long term value and trade in value of the truck itself.