Truck Topics
The A Team's new ride
Phil and Diane have a new set of wheels!
ExpeditersOnline.com visitors should be familiar with Phil and Diane Madsen. Phil is Senior Field Editor for the web site and a frequent poster in the Forum section.
The Madsens have been in the expedited trucking business for over three and a half years now, but have just taken delivery on that first truck of their own.
Their new ride also represents a kind of triumph over adversity. Around two years ago, the couple put an order in for another truck to be built to their exacting specifications. But, as Phil puts it, "Why blame the Devil when things go wrong when you can blame the vendors?"
Phil tells the story of the first truck build:
"When the vendors had the truck nearly ready for delivery we rejected it because it was structurally unfit, illegal to drive, and non-functional in other respects."
"We rejected the chassis because the long wheelbase and lack of frame liners caused the frame to sag under the weight of the sleeper, reefer and reefer body."
He continues, "We rejected the sleeper because the manufacturer's inferior quality-control process led us to distrust the product; excessively-high pricing (disclosed after the fact, and some pricing never stated at all) along with inadequate vendor/customer communications."
"The toilet/shower assembly was found to be unusable as the toilet manufacturer intended. It was improperly installed by the sleeper manufacturer and could not be fixed without a major re-build of the sleeper or used as installed without great and ongoing inconvenience to the user."
Phil says, "We rejected the reefer body because it was built 11 inches too long, thus rendering the truck illegally over length by that amount. Offers by the truck body dealer to cut down the body and remanufacture it's back end were rejected because doing so would void the body manufacturer's warranty."
"We also noticed that one or more vendors decided to shorten the truck a bit by installing the body and sleeper closer together than is normally done. That close proximity, combined with the frame sag resulted in the two components hitting each other and sustaining cosmetic damage as the truck was transported empty between vendor locations."
"There was no way we'd want to drive a truck like that with freight and our equipment on board. Of these three vendors, the only one that came through for us when the truck was found to be unacceptable was VoMac Truck Sales in New Haven, Indiana."
"On a week when both the dealership owner and our sales rep were on vacation, the two of them talked with each other and Volvo by phone, and made the decision to offer us a new truck, properly spec'ed, and built from the ground up."
"While the model year would change from 2005 to 2006, they would sell us the cab and chassis at our original 2005 price. That turned out to be a huge concession as truck prices soared during that time."
He concludes, "The other two vendors placed their best interests ahead of their customer's and were consequently fired."
Phil tells us that after the Madsens rejected that first truck, it was dismantled with the cab and chassis becoming a RV.
Try, try again
Phil says that after that first experience, they could have taken a truck off a lot, but they chose not to, they wanted a truck with their spec's. From the time of ordering the second truck to the delivery date took another year, but Phil states, "This is a truck worth waiting for because it's built the way we want it. It's a winner and we're very happy with it!"
"Between the two builds," he continues, "the vendors fall into three groups - zeroes, heroes and people in between. "The heroes are the people who stuck with us or came in to help us produce this truck."
Phil states that those heroes include:
*Mike Landwehr, sales rep at VoMac Truck Sales in New Haven, Ind. for cab and chassis.
*Rob Lantz or ARI Sleepers in Shipshewana, Ind.
*Pro Art of Canton, Ohio for the graphics.
*Kolstads of Blaine, Minn. for the landing gear and liftgate installation.
*Bobby Landtrip of Crow's Truck Services in Memphis, Tenn.
The truck
The Madsens selected a 2006 Volvo VNL 64-300 day cab for their platform because, as Phil says, "We chose the Volvo engine/chassis combo because of the Volvo engineering and we didn't want to get caught in themiddle of warranty claims between the engine manufacturer and the truck manufacturer. The cab and chassis are Volvo all the way through."
It's powered by a Volvo 12-liter engine with 435 HP and mated to a 12-speed ZF Meritor "Freedomline" automated transmission.Twin screw rears with 3.42 ratio completes the powertrain picture.
Madsen: "We wanted to go with tandem axles because of our experience with the fleet owner trucks that have been so equipped. The difference between tandems and a lift axle has been profound - it's just a much smoother ride. Without question, it's the smoothest running truck we've ever driven."
"Also, with the large sleeper, we needed tandem axles; otherwise, we would have a payload capacity of about a thousand pounds."
The wheelbase comes in at 276 inches and the truck has a GVW of 54,000 pounds. The front axle (Volvo air-ride front suspension) capacity is 14,600 pounds with the rear axles handling 40,000 pounds.
The truck scaled out with "a preliminary curb weight of 32,520 lbs. with 11,620 on the front axle and 20,900 on the rears. That is with fuel and water tanks full, two co-drivers and all personal gear and freight handling equipment in the truck, minus only the tool box and landing gear. The material that will go into the toolbox is already on the truck and thus included in the above weights,"says Phil.
"It's a "C" truck that will carry a "D" unit payload."
The truck mounts twin 100-gal. fuel tanks along with polished a stainless steel tool box and generator box. The wheels are Alcoa Dura-Brights; "just hit them with a little soap and water, dry them off and they shine up wonderfully."
Cargo box
The cargo box is a 16' Kidron refrigerated body with four inches of insulation and mounts a roll-up door. The box is temperature-validation (T-Val) equipped.
"Our reefer unit was installed at Crow's in Memphis," says Phil, "a company used by many of the White Glove owner-operators."
"This company has a unique carriage system to mount the refrigeration unit (a Carrier Supra 850) under the body. We've been very pleased with the installation, with real attention paid to detail in running the hoses and lines."
There are eight rows of e-track on each side of the box with six rows on the front, in addition to floor rings. "There's no such thing as too much e-track.," states Phil.
The couple carries two dozen load straps and a dozen e-track load bars. Freight handling equipment includes 36 pads, a pallet jack, a hand truck, a dolly, four-wheel dollies and other items.
A crank down landing gear is currently installed but the Madsens intend to add a motor to the legs. A Leyman LHLP4500 lift gate completes the cargo handling equipment.
Phil: "Overall length of the truck (with liftgate) is 40 feet on the nose."
Sleeper
The ARI sleeper is a 13-foot (132 inch) Legacy Custom unit with a double-aero roof which offers increased inside height as well as more storage space.
The sleeper's features include:
*Large sink with 50-inch counter area
*Norcold RV-style fridge/freezer
*Convection/microwave oven
*Two-burner electric range.
*A 40"x40" toilet/shower compartment
*40-gallon water tank
*Single full-size bed that folds up into a dinette with cabinets on the back wall - lots of storage space
*Tall closet for hanging dress clothes.
*Interior includes cherrywood cabinetry with light tan vinyl walls and green carpeting.
*Onan 7.5KW generator installed by ARI
Phil and Diane don't carry a TV in the sleeper because, as Phil says, "There's not enough on TV to justify having one and if we want to watch a movie, we'll do that on the laptops."
The sleeper currently sports 36 LED marker lights and Phil and Diane have plans to continue the lighting scheme with the addition of 52 more LED's along the cargo box.
Near-future plans include a TS-2 camera system from Transportation Safety & Surveillance Inc.
The manufacturer's web site describes the system: "The TS2 8000 Series Mobile Digital Video Recorder (MDVR) is a multi-camera video recorder that by monitoring and digitally capturing video of the truck and its surroundings, protects the driver, the truck and the cargo."
The TS2 stores and archives video, and being fully network capable, can automatically transfer it to a video server over a wireless or cellular network for use at a later date.
Phil says, "Two of the cameras are pointed forward for a panoramic view through the windshield and there's a license plate cam that focuses on the plate of a vehicle ahead with high-magnification.
"There is a rear-view camera mounted on each side mirror, another rear-view camera mounted top center on the back of the truck and two cameras mounted inside the cargo box - one mounted in the rear and pointing forward and one mounted in the front facing the rear.""
He continues, "If the truck experiences a hard enough jolt, a sensor in the recording device will mark that spot on the tape for review of the event."
At least this exercise in frustration ended well for the Madsens - the resulting wait paid off. The couple has their truck, built to their spec's and they're ready to hit the road!
"It's a winner and we're very happy with it!"