ODFL | Riding with the safety man

I've heard all drivers must see a 15 minute video on fuel economy and go for a drive with the safety man to make sure you're changing gears to save fuel...........this is just another benefit of slow freight.

with 426 drivers at my barn on linehaul board alone last time i checked i dont see how they would have time to get this done besides i hear the new detroit engine wont shift like they want us to there gear changing deal was desined for cat engines were running cat, detroit, and cummins these engines aren't all the same

I see this being difficult too, unless we hire more safety men. I just want to go to work and drive my truck.

easttnhillbilly your right the new detroits don't shift anywhere near where they want them. 09 twin screw we had for a while and everyone that drove it said the same thing, give me back my old truck you can have this.

JIM BOB said:

I've heard all drivers must see a 15 minute video on fuel economy and go for a drive with the safety man to make sure you're changing gears to save fuel...........this is just another benefit of slow freight.

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Here's a question. Exactly how much fuel will OD burn to do the hundreds of 15min runs with the saftey man and each driver?

Speaking just from my view looking at my home terminal.....we should be saving LOTS of fuel with the large numbers of drivers sitting home every night.

I know this was just done at MAC. The safety guy wanted the drivers to drive around the yard and see if they could get into every gear without using the accelerator. Not sure what good this is since you can't really run down the highway without accelerating.

about sixth gear the truck would be bucking.would you get written up for poor driving skills stalling a truck in front of the safety guy.LOL

Was just informed that mrt is giving a progressive shifting class it is a video and a ride along they said the ride along they have a monitor hooked up that tells you how much fuel you use they also want everyone to stay under 15 rpms in the high side

easttnhillbilly said:

Was just informed that mrt is giving a progressive shifting class it is a video and a ride along they said the ride along they have a monitor hooked up that tells you how much fuel you use they also want everyone to stay under 15 rpms in the high side

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I bet the ride along will be with someone besides our the safety man.

Mooresville Moose said:

I bet the ride along will be with someone besides our the safety man.

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Safety was doing the ride along on wed when I left out

easttnhillbilly said:

Safety was doing the ride along on wed when I left out

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I thought he would have David J. do it.

Some of them are getting everybody in a sleeper they can then going for a ride.If they had an accident on the interstate that would be a good one to explain to the Highway Patrol.

Mooresville Moose said:

I thought he would have David J. do it.

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I think David is doing the video and mike the ride along mike was doing it all wed since David was putting ifta stickers on trucks and yes mrt is useing a sleeper truck and 53 foot van

Here in HAR we did ours a few weeks ago. We went in a team truck usually 2 or 3 drivers plus the safetyman. They have a device hooked up which displays the fuel consumption + mph et cetera. Supposedly this module will be in all the new trucks we purchase. but will not be retrofitted to the old ones. We were told to drive as normal. and then I presume he would have had us progressive shifting. However both the other driver and I already progressive shift so we did alright to begin with.
On a side note I drive 09 trucks fairly regularly and I progressive shift just fine. same as the 05/06/07 's regardless of motor.

I am not an expert by any means but I wanted to give a few pointers to hopefully help some drivers.

Lets start out by saying that you cannot always shift at the same rpm. It depends on your load and the grade.

The basic Idea is to start out in the highest gear possible 'without slipping the clutch' without putting your foot on the throttle until the truck is moving. Second shift into the next higher gear at 1300 rpm. for every gear. this means you will be in 9th gear range by the time you hit 40-45 mph 10th by the time you hit 45-50ish. thats an estimate but pretty close. and after you get the truck in top gear set the cruise control. last but not least they don't want you to down shift through all the gears when you come to a stop. only downshift at about the point just before the engine will stall 'no joke'.
when going up hill don't downshift until the truck is down to a minimum of 1000 rpm. the trucks make the best torque 'pulling power' between 1000-1300 rpm. most hills can be pulled in 10th gear 'depending on the load obviously' if the truck is at 1200 rpm and holding there is no need to downshift.

so I pull out, rpms hit 1300, shift out of gear, I let rpms fall to 1000, shift into the next gear. on every gear.

all I say is try it. it's not nearly as hard as it sounds. besides doing good for your company. it makes the driving part a lot easier on the driver. 'hard to explain'

hope this gives a better understanding to someone. any questions feel free to ask

I feel my truck gets up to speed better by progressive shifting. FYI, if they took the time to take all the tractors by the engine shops the mechanics can change the ECU settings to progressive shifting. I know Cat's can be setup for that...not sure about the others. I work for another company and drive a Volvo, but progressive is the way to go.

Well I finally did it and got into 10th with a sleeper truck driving around the Term. It did not have that device hooked up Telling me the MPG but bet I was getting 99 MPG. The sleeper trac with a empty load did not buck much till I hit 10th than I had to nurse the clutch to keep her running. Course It would be different if I was out in Kansas with a 80,000 lb gross headed West into the wind from H#** or pulling the big hill in Colorado.

i took the class the other day and and tried the way they said from ind to mrt with a light load and only got 5.91 mpg i usually get 5.6 to 5.8 with a heavy load so i don't think they is any difference safty says if the fleet average don't come up to 6.5 mpg then all trucks will be governed to ether 14 or 15 rpm in all gears except 10 th wich will stay 1350rpm

So..........if your set in your ways and can't grasp the concept do they send you to truckdriving school?

kantgetryte said:

So..........if your set in your ways and can't grasp the concept do they send you to truckdriving school?

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The goal is to get a fleet average of 6.9 MPG from the current 6.5 .

sparky said:

The goal is to get a fleet average of 6.9 MPG from the current 6.5 .

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our saftey guy said the average was 6.1 and they wanted 6.5 6.9 seems to be a high number im not sure they will get it maybe if they would maintain the trucks better we could but they save to much money buy not servicing equipment:TR10driving03: