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OPERATOR

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@RandallReilly

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SEPTEMBER 2015// OWNER OPERATOR// 1

SEPTEMBERCONTENTS

VOL. 12 / NO.9

COVER ADVERTISER

18 HEALTH HELPDealing with alone time

26 MAINTENANCE MATTERS

A mechanical success story

34 SAFETY’S SAKECVSA summer inspections

38 TRUCKING KNOWLEGE

Trucking experts forecast next recession

45 ADVERTISER’S INDEX

2015

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Health Help

By Wendy Parker

18// OWNER OPERATOR// SEPTEMBER 2015

STAY AWARE OF SOCIAL

ISOLATION’S POTENTIAL

DELETERIOUS EFFECTS

Solitary confinement has been a method of punishment throughout history. Enforced loneliness is often viewed

as a method of torture and has been shown to cause psychosis in animal experiments. While I’m not sure how we qualify rat psychosis these days, I do know when my trucker is out by himself for extended periods of time, he can act a little strange.

According to psychology researcher John Cacioppo at the University of Chicago, 20 percent of all people are unhappy because of social isolation at any given moment. Social isolation differs from loneliness. Truckers ex-perience social isolation, because they have very little interaction with others in the regu-lar course of their daily jobs. Loneliness is an emotional state felt by people who are dissat-isfied with their social connections. Someone who is socially isolated often feels lonely, but lonely people aren’t always socially isolated.There are many benefits to spending time alone. Freedom is considered to be one of the benefits of solitude. When you’re alone, you don’t have to worry about the constraints of

others and can handle things in your own time frame and scope. If you feel like eating pan-cakes for dinner and wearing socks on your hands, you do it.

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HEALTH HELP


Another proven benefit to time spent in sol-itude is opportunity for the development of self. When a person spends time in solitude from others, he may experience changes to his self-concept. This can also help a person to form or discover his identity without any outside distractions. Solitude also provides time for contemplation, growth in personal spirituality, and self-examination. In these sit-uations, loneliness can be avoided as long as the person in solitude knows that they have meaningful relations with others.

For decades now, researchers have tracked the effects of loneliness and isolation on our physical health. One study at the University of Chicago found that isolation of mice subjects could increase cancerous tumor growth. An-other study found that isolation is a risk factor for disease on par with smoking and obesity. Isolation and loneliness can lead to stress, which is a risk factor for many of the same conditions caused by smoking and obesity.

Complete isolation, or sensory deprivation, can cause symptoms that vary from anxiety to sensory hallucinations. Distortions of time and spatial perception have also been report-ed. However, this is the case when there is no stimulation of the sensory systems at all, not only lack of contact with people. So when you’re traveling the same highway for what seems to be the 10 millionth time, your brain is realizing the minute differences and being stimulated, even if only slightly. “Zoning out” is a side effect of sensory deprivation and doesn’t necessarily mean a driver is fatigued, though the results can be the same.

It’s important to recognize the symptoms of loneliness, social isolation, and sensory depri-vation. Irritability, depression, and unusual road rage are all signs that you may need to

develop a social network - take time to make phone calls and talk to real, live people on a daily basis. My husband George invested in a really good headset — we spend an aver-age of two hours a day talking to each other when he’s out, which is hilarious, because we spend about 15 minutes a day talking to each other when I’m with him in person. Neverthe-less, it’s important to him to have the bond of home established firmly when he’s away, and it helps with his overall attitude.

There are many online communities for truck-ers, and though it’s important to have people you can actually go bowling with, it’s also important to know there are other people in the world experiencing trials and tribulations (and small and large victories) such as yours. Joining an online community not only gives you a sense of connection, it provides source points for information and resources. It also gives you the freedom to turn the relationship on and off as easily as connecting and discon-necting your computer.

You have the choice to be as involved, or un-involved, as you want.

Epidemiologist Andrew Steptoe of University College London writes in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, “There are plenty of people who are socially isolated but who are perfectly happy with that,” Steptoe says. “But even then we should be trying to make sure there’s enough contacts with them so that if something does go wrong … they’re going to be advised and supported.”

Even those who are content to be alone, he says, should have some regular contact with other people who can encourage and check on them. OO

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26//OWNER OPERATOR// SEPTEMBER 2015

By Bruce MallinsonMaintenance Matters

If you say you’re not mechanically inclined, I’ll tell you that you’re never too old to learn, and you can save yourself

thousands of dollars by doing some of your own work and repairs.

I offer the following story about a friend, DuWayne Ehrke, who took to trucking in 2012, rebuilding an older Kenworth and using his own mechanical prowess to turn it into a moneymaking machine.

DuWayne grew up on a tobacco farm in Wisconsin, where he learned how to turn a wrench. He became a carpenter as an adult, but when the economy crashed in 2009, he decided to become an owner-operator.

In 2012, he bought a 1998 Kenworth T600 with a Detroit Series 60 DD4 engine. The truck was faded blue and had been beaten by the sun. When I fi rst saw it, I was shocked at how badly it needed to be repainted.

But fi rst things fi rst. DuWayne, being the smart guy that he is, knew that to turn a profi t, his truck needed to get good fuel mileage.

He only paid $13,500 for the truck, which had more than a million miles on it. Before he ever pulled a load, he started a rebuild process. The rear suspension was fi rst; he updated some of the parts and re-bushed it, then added MicroBlue wheel bearings. He then changed

the gear ratio to 2:64.

My shop supplied some under-the-hood upgrades, including a turbocharger, a ported and ceramic-coated exhaust manifold, a crankshaft damper, a mercury-fi lled engine balancer, the Fass Fuel System, the OPS bypass oil fi ltration system, Fleet Air fi lters, a charge-air cooler, and a high-fl ow radiator. We also rebuilt the ECM.

The next and last item for this segment of the makeover was super-single tires. When the faded blue KW went to work on its fi rst haul – 79,000 pounds to Texas – DuWayne averaged 8.3 mpg.

He subsequently did a few more rebuild phases – changing fuel lines, installing a new exhaust system and adding on new fairings and a new bumper – and today it feels like a new truck.

It’s also no longer faded blue: DuWayne had it painted Harley-Davidson gun-metal gray.Purchase price included, DuWayne spent $54,862 on the truck, and he did most of the work on it himself.

You can do work like this. Think of how you want to improve your truck, ask questions, and get started with a positive mental attitude.OO

A REBUILDING SUCCESS

STORY THAT GETS 8.3 MPG

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For Safety’s Sake

34// OWNER OPERATOR// SEPTEMBER

CVSA sets dates for

summer inspection spree

The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s Brake Safety Week inspection spree will be held the week of Sept. 6-12 this year.

During the annual event, tens of thousands of vehicles are inspected by state and fed-eral inspectors, with an emphasis placed on brake components.

According to CVSA, inspectors will look for “brake-system components to identi-fy loose or missing parts, air or hydraulic fluid leaks, worn linings, pads, drums or rotors, and other faulty brake-system com-ponents.”

CVSA said during the 2014 inspection spree, inspectors from participating agen-cies inspected 13,305 vehicles, resulting in 2,162 trucks put out-of-service for brake violations.

CVSA’s Brake Safety Week is part of the weeklong Operation Airbrake program, sponsored by CVSA and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

Antilock braking system (ABS) malfunc-tion indicator lamps will also be checked, and inspectors will check brake compo-nents and measure pushrod stroke where applicable, CVSA says.

Defective or out-of-adjustment brakes will result in the vehicle being placed out of service.

CVSA also has resources on its site (www.cvsa.org) for drivers regarding Brake Safe-ty Week. CD

CVSA’s Inspection Items:

• Driver License

• Registration

• Low Air Warning Device

• Pushrod Travel (Adjustment)

• Brake Linings/Drums

• Air Loss Rate (if leak detected)

• Tractor Protection System

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Trucking Knowledge


By Todd Dills

Next recession

could hit as early as

late 2016, say analysts

Analysts with the FTR Associates transportation forecasting firm say the next few years are likely

to see a cyclical economic downturn.

Disagreement on timing and severity, however, was on offer July 9 during a special edition of FTR’s monthly “State of Freight” online seminar and Q&A.

FTR Senior Consultant Noel Perry projected a downturn to start as early as late 2016. “The freight economy always slows before a recession,” Perry noted. Activity in rail is seeing pronounced slowdowns in commodities relative to oil and gas as well as other areas, and there is slowing growth in international and domestic intermodal with “some signs that it’s starting in trucking,” he added. However, Perry also said “there’s reason to hope we’ll be out to 2017-’18 before the economy weakens.”

The bad news: “The global economy is not healthy,” Perry said, referencing the troubles

in Greece and elsewhere in Europe. “The Chinese stock market is plummeting down 30 percent or more.” The troubles worldwide are relatively “small this year, but there could be globally-induced recession beginning sometime late next year – it’s not something I’d bet on this time around, but its something to think about.”

Trucking growth in rates and volume has, in fact, slowed considerably, he noted. “This is a time to be wary,” Perry said.

FTR Director of Transportation Jonathan Starks emphasized slow growth as the hallmark of the end of a recovery. “The recovery is weakest when it’s new and when it’s old. The positive part of that is, because we’ve grown relatively slow in the service side of the economy, we haven’t built up a lot of the imbalances that we typically do” on the end of a recovery. The severity of such imbalances compounds any downturn’s effect.

Starks outlined FTR’s projections for freight

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TRUCKING KNOWLEDGE

through the end of the year and beyond, with loadings up slightly in year-over-year comparisons.

At once, Starks pointed to distressing signs for long-haul owner-operators in the spot market, where, despite rates controlled for fuel fairly close to levels relative to performance last year, market demand overall is measuring at “half of what it was in 2014.” He cited the Truckstop.com Trans4Cast market demand index for that measure. “It speaks to the loosening of the capacity situation” as year-over-year growth in total truck loadings (particularly on the long-haul side, refl ected in the graph at right) has slowed considerably with sluggish industrial-

economy and business-investment measures. Still, with consumer activity continuing to prop up the economy, Starks projected “better growth as we start into next year.” Of those “super long-haul loadings,” most refl ective of what’s happening on the spot market, he said, “we’re seeing a lot of weakness right now.”

If rates are fl at or even down a little, where’s the capacity crunch / driver shortage so many talk about so often of late? According to analyst Noel Perry, such pressures have loosened this year to “normal” status in a recovery. Nonetheless, Perry sees future regulatory impact as potentially dramatic by 2017-’18, provided FMCSA is able to do what they say they’re going to do, particularly relative to speed limiters and electronic logging devices. In 2017, when speed limiters and ELDs and other important changes hit the real world, the trucking industry “will have to hire a whole bunch of extra drivers. If the FMCSA continues with their agenda, the regulatory risks are real,” he said. OO

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AD INDEX owner operator

This index is an editorial service. The publisher assumes no responsibility for errors and/or omissions.

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SEPTEMBER 2015// OWNER OPERATOR// 45

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