Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Back on the road again...

Well we are back on the road again after 2 weeks of home time…plus a couple extra days. Irene’s honey do list was longer than I thought and the turkeys would not cooperate, well actually they did but they got the best of me. Turkeys won the battle. Oh well, there is always next season. Home time was great and we were able to spend time with family and friends.  We were also able to spend some quality time with our kids. Now it’s back to work! 

Right out of the gate Con-way shot us to Rocky Mount, NC to pick up a load bound for Lenexa, KS. From there we picked up in Kansas City, KS and headed to Salt Lake City, UT with a UPS load. From Salt Lake City, UT they dead headed us down to Calexico, CA to pick up a load going to Taylor, MI which we are currently on as I write. We should end up close to 6000 miles this week. That is not bad seeing we missed the first day of the pay period. Our fleet manager is awesome and we couldn't be happier with her.
While at home we sent our truck to Kenworth for a checkup and an upgrade on the oil system. I have received a lot of inquiries about our truck and what we do to achieve the fuel mileage that we get. I thought I would periodically give our readers updates and share information to help them achieve better mileage with their own trucks. We must keep in mind that our truck has a lifetime history of 6.4 mpg and our goal is to get it to 7.5 mpg.

Our 1st upgrade was to install Michelin low rolling resistant steer tires. The truck had Michelin wide singles on the drives already but we removed the Goodyear steer tires and replaced them with the Michelin XDA’s. Next we backed our speed down from 65mph to 62mph, which helped us save on fuel. We have also installed an Eco-Pure, OPS 1 oil purification system and switched to Synthetic oil. The Synthetic should help us with better fuel mileage. It may only be one or two tenth of a mile, but when you travel 280,000 miles per year, it all adds up. The oil purifier is for keeping the oil cleaner and free of contaminants.  It should hopefully prolong our oil changes from every month to every 6 months.  At $275.00 a month (times 12 months) that is quite a savings. All we have to do is change the filter once a month and send an oil sample in for testing. The results will tell us when to change the oil and also let us know what is going on inside the engine. The biggest increase we have found was in the tires and reducing our speed. With all of the upgrades so far we have taken the truck from 6.4 to 7.1 in our first 30 days. Doesn’t seem like much, but that will actually put $7k back in our pocket this year in fuel savings. Our goal is to get the truck to 7.5 mpg with a few more upgrades. Our next purchase will be the Fleet Air filter for the intake. It’s a washable/reusable filter that allows more air to the engine. We should be able to squeeze out a couple more tenths with this upgrade. Stay tuned to find out.

I am so glad that spring has finally arrived. We love the outdoors and all the colors of spring. What a beautiful ride we had from Salt Lake City this morning down I-15…no more worries about the snow for a while. I love what we do and love spending everyday with my blonde bombshell at my side, even though she still struggles with her Geography, names, and Border Patrol...but she has improved! Although this morning she referred to a Peterbuilt as a Peterborough...maybe Geography and names are getting mixed up with her...lol 



 

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