Engine Report, Carbon Emissions Top Agenda at Maintenance Council’s Annual Meeting

Fleet maintenance directors and their suppliers will return to Tampa, Fla., this week to discuss ever more complicated techniques for eking out new slender margins of efficiency to keep the nation’s trucks rolling down highways longer and more smoothly.

More than 300 exhibitors are expected to show off new products to what organizers say could be the largest group of attendees in more than a decade at the annual meeting and exhibition of American Trucking Associations’ Technology & Maintenance Council, scheduled for Feb. 20-23.

On the schedule, two federal officials — Byron Bunker, a director of the U.S. Environmental Agency’s vehicle and fuel emissions laboratory in Ann Arbor, Mich., and Jack Van Steenburg, chief safety officer at the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration — will talk about the greenhouse gas emissions rule and sleep apnea-prevention devices for drivers.

Also, ATA Chairman Dan England will analyze maintenance experiences at his own com-pany — C.R. England Inc., Salt Lake City.

TMC also will install a new chairman for a one-year term as Lee Long of Southeastern Freight Lines, Lexington, S.C., succeeds Roy Gambrell of Truck It Inc., Franklin, Ky.

With almost 3,000 people expected at the meeting, Long said it will be the largest attendance at the annual event since 2000.

People unfamiliar with maintenance might dismiss the meeting as “minutiae,” said TMC Executive Director Carl Kirk, “but that’s what we do.”

Kirk said a steady stream of small improvements is how maintenance shops improve reliability and reduce costs. He cited fuel economy as an example.

“It is incremental measures that help improve fuel economy,” Kirk said, indicating that the engineers are trying to combine numerous small changes rather than discover a single blockbuster leap in technology.

Gambrell, a TMC member for more than 20 years, said a session on corrosion and electrical systems will be important. He said electrical currents magnify the damage done to metal by road de-icers such as salt and magnesium chloride.

“You often can’t repair these systems and have to replace them. This is an especially big problem because of CSA,” he said, referring to the federal Compliance, Safety, Accountability program, which started in December 2010.

Lights that do not work are frequently cited as a safety violation by roadside inspectors. This infraction can cause motor carriers and drivers to rack up points against their records.

Southeastern’s Long picked three sessions as particularly noteworthy: federal fuel-efficiency standards for 2014 and 2017 from the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration; the 2007/2010 engine report card; and a new, faster communications data bus.

The rule from EPA and NHTSA will limit the emissions of carbon-based greenhouse gases and set fuel-economy standards. EPA’s Bunker will speak about these concerns.

Gambrell agreed with Long on the session’s significance.

“What will we have to do because of this rule?” Gambrell asked. “Fuel and maintenance are the two biggest costs for us.”

The engine report card will update an event from two years ago. At the 2010 annual meeting, four large carriers summarized their own experiences with engines. At this meeting, participants will consider the results from TMC’s survey of its total membership.

“All of the fleets have gone through implementing this technology into our fleets, whether it is massive EGR or SCR technology,” Long said of the 2007 and 2010 engines. “The experiences and knowledge that will be provided during this session will allow insight into oddities of these new systems. Of particular interest will be the longevity of the aftertreatment systems.”

As for communications improvement, Kirk said the J1939 databus is the “spine” of the modern truck that allows components and systems to communicate with each other, the driver and, ultimately, the carrier’s offices — a process usually referred to as telematics. In two or three years, the system’s capacity to transmit data will double to 500 kilobaud from the current 250 kBd.

Kenneth DeGrant, an engineering manager with Dearborn Group Technologies, will brief the maintenance directors on the change. An earlier databus, J1708/J1587, could move information at a rate of 9,600 baud, DeGrant said, or less than 1/50 of the 500 kBd rate.

“The original system was similar to using a phone modem for downloading information,” said DeGrant, who has followed developments on the topic at meetings of SAE International, formerly the Society of Automotive Engineers.

“There will be no new wiring or troubleshooting involved. It will be pretty much the same, except twice as fast,” said DeGrant, who added that the change will require some diagnostic hardware up-dates for connector cables and handheld scanners.

Demands for J1939 capacity are rising, DeGrant said, in part because of the 2010 change in engine technology. The EPA 2010 rule tightens emissions standards for nitrogen oxides and mandates more onboard diagnostic sensors to monitor engine emissions. The sensors work through J1939.

DeGrant said his presentation will be part of the Onboard Vehicle Electronics Study Group. “I’m trying to alleviate fear of the unknown,” he said.

FMCSA’s Van Steenburg will discuss ways to combat sleep apnea.

The exhibit hall has about 200,000 square feet of space for about 320 exhibitors, Kirk said. There also will be a full day of press conferences by exhibitors immediately preceding the meetings.

TMC is also known for its collections of Recommended Practices, or guidelines for how to perform truck maintenance. The council’s 12 permanent study groups meet in February and September, in person, and create temporary task forces to add or update RPs on maintenance and engineering topics, as needed.

An example, Kirk said, is RP 618 on “Wheel Bearing Adjustment Procedures.” That document gives instructions to technicians on how to use a manual torque wrench for setting a bearing. It establishes a target for end-play of 0.001 to 0.005 inch — a measurement approaching the thickness of one sheet of paper for a photocopy machine.

Michigan-based engineer Allan Hagelthorn has written to Kirk saying that, as a result of SAE research on the subject, it might be desirable for a TMC task force to consider additional criteria for bearing adjustment. A report by Hagelthorn said maintenance professionals also should consider pre-load force on the bearing and that the current end-play standard could well exert too much of that force on the bearing.