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A truck is a
motor vehicle for
transporting goods. Unlike
automobiles, which usually have a
unibody construction, most trucks (with the exception of the
car-like
minivan) are built around a strong frame called a
chassis. They come in all sizes, from the automobile-sized
pickup truck to towering off-road mining trucks or heavy
highway
semi-trailers. The term is
most commonly used in
American English and
Australian English to refer to what earlier was called a
motor truck, and in
British English is often called a lorry, a
Heavy Goods Vehicle (HGV), or (slang) a wagon (sometimes
spelled waggon). This type of truck is a motor vehicle designed
to carry goods, with a cab and a tray or compartment for
carrying goods. Other languages have
loanwords based on these terms, such as the
Malay
lori.
In
Australia and
New Zealand a small truck with an open tray is called a "ute"
(utility vehicle).
"Pantechnicon" is a British word for a furniture removal van
that has now fallen out of usage. It was originally coined in
1830 as the name of a craft shop or bazaar, in Motcomb Street in
Belgravia,
London. The shop soon closed down and the building was
turned into a furniture warehouse, but the name was kept.
Vehicles transporting furniture to and from the building, known
as pantechnicon vans, soon came to be known simply as
pantechnicons. A Pantech truck or van is a word derivation of
pantechnicon commonly and currently used in Australia. Pantech
refers to a truck and/or van with a freight hull made of (or
converted to) hard panels (ie. chilled freight, removal vans
etc).
Trucks and cars have a common ancestor: the steam-powered "fardier"
Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot built in 1769. However, steam trucks
were not common until the mid-1800s. The roads of the time,
built for horse and carriages, limited these vehicles to very
short hauls, usually from a factory to the nearest train
station. The first semi-trailer appeared in 1881, towed by a De
Dion steam tractor. Steam-powered trucks were sold in France and
the United States until the eve of World War I, and the
beginning of World War II in the United Kingdom.
Internal combustion
The first internal combustion engine truck was built in
1898
by
Gottlieb Daimler. Others, such as Peugeot, Benz and Renault
also built theirs. Trucks of the era mostly used two-cylinder
engines could have a carrying capacity 1500 to 2000
kg. In 1904, 700 heavy trucks were built in the United
States, 1000 in 1907, 6000 in 1910 and 25000 in 1914.
After World War I, several advances were made: pneumatic
tires
replaced full
rubber,
electric starters, power
brakes, 6 cylinder engines, closed
cabs,
electric lighting. The first modern
semi-trailers also appeared. Touring car builders such as
Ford
and
Renault entered the heavy truck market
Diesel engines
Although it had been invented in 1890, the
Diesel engine was not common in trucks in
Europe until the 1920s. In the United States, it
took much longer for that type of engine to gain
acceptance:
gasoline engines were still in use on heavy
trucks in the 1970s, while in Europe they had
been completely replaced 20 years earlier.
Legal Issues
Trucks have often had to pay higher tax
rates, and have been subject to extensive
regulation. Partly this is because they are
bigger, heavier, and cause more wear and tear on
roadways. This is one reason that
UPS vehicles are called 'package cars',
because that exempted them from certain
tax-rates.
Rules are in place for tractor-trailer rigs,
regulating how many hours a driver may be on the
clock, and how much rest time/sleep time is
necessary (11hrs on/10hrs off; 60hrs/7days; or
70hrs/8days). Many other rules apply. Violations
of these laws are subject to large fines.
Notice that these hours are different in
other
jurisdictions. Always check up before you
go.
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Types of trucks by size
Light trucks
Light trucks are car-sized (in the US, no more than
6,300 kg (13,000 lb)) and are used by individuals and commercial
entities alike. They are comprised of:
Medium trucks
Medium (or medium-duty) trucks are bigger than light
but smaller than heavy trucks. In the US, they are defined as
weighing between 6,300 kg (13,000 lb) and 15,000 kg (33,000 lb).
For the UK the cut-off is 7.5 tonnes. Local delivery and public
service (dump
trucks,
garbage trucks) are normally around this size.
Heavy trucks
Heavy trucks are the largest trucks allowed on the road. They are
mostly used for long-haul purposes, often in
semi-trailer configuration. In
Australia
many trailers are connected to make
road trains.
Anatomy of a Truck
Almost all trucks share a common contruction: they are made
of a
chassis, a
cab,
axles,
suspension and
wheels, an
engine and a
drivetrain.
Chassis
A truck chassis consists of two parallel
U-shaped
beams held together by crossmembers. It is
usually made of
steel, but can be made (whole or in part) of
aluminium for a lighter weight. The chassis
is the main structure of the truck, and the
other parts attach to it.
Cab
The
cab is an enclosed space where the driver is
seated. A sleeper is a compartment
attached to the cab where the driver can rest
while not driving. They can range from a simple
2 to 4 foot (0.6 to 1.2
m) bunk to a 12
foot (3.7 m)
apartment-on-wheels. Modern cabs feature
air conditioning, a good
sound system, and ergonomic seats (often air
suspended). There are a few possible cab
configurations:
- cab over engine (COE)or
flat nose, where the driver is seated on
top of the front axle and the engine. This
design is almost ubiquitous in
Europe, where overall truck lengths are
strictly regulated. They were common in the
United States, but lost prominence when
permitted length was extended in the early
1980s. To access the engine, the whole
cab tilts forward, earning this
design the name of tilt-cab.
-
- conventional
cabs are the most common
in North America. The
driver is seated behind
the engine, as in most
passenger cars or pickup
trucks. Conventionals
are further divided into
large car and
aerodynamic designs. A
large car or long
nose is a conventional
truck with a long—6 to 8
foot (1.8 to 2.4 m) or
more—hood. With their
very square shapes,
these trucks offer a lot
of wind resistance and
can consume more fuel.
They also offer poorer
visibility than their
aerodynamic or COE
counterparts. By
constrast,
Aerodynamic cabs are
very streamlined, with a
sloped hood and other
features to lower drag.
Most owner-operators
prefer the square-hooded
conventionals, it has
something to do with
"Take pride in your
ride".
- cab beside engine
designs also exist, but
are rather rare.
- Slang terms
- "Tiltin'
Hilton" :Cab-over
with a sleeper
berth.
- "Aardvark" : The
aerodynamically
designed
conventional.
- "Hood" : Any
conventional that is
NOT an "aardvark"
Engine
Trucks can use all sorts of engines. Small
trucks such as
SUVs or
pickups, and even light medium-duty trucks
in North America will use
gasoline engines. Most heavier trucks use
four stroke
turbo
intercooler
diesel engines, although there are
alternatives. Huge off-highway trucks use
locomotive-type engines such as a
V12
Detroit Diesel
two stroke engine.
In the United States, highway trucks almost
always use an engine built by a third party,
such as
CAT,
Cummins, or
Detroit Diesel. The only exceptions to this
are
Volvo Trucks and
Mack Trucks, which are available with Volvo
and Mack diesel engines, respectively, and
Freightliner, which is a
subsidiary of
DaimlerChrysler and are available with
Mercedes-Benz and Detroit Diesel engines.
Drivetrain
Small trucks use the same type of
transmissions as
cars. Bigger trucks often use manual
transmissions, which must be built stronger to
withstand the torque their engines make. Common
North American setups include 10, 13 and 18
speeds.
Automatic transmissions for heavy trucks are
becoming more and more common, due to advances
both in transmission and engine power.
The trend in Europe is that more new trucks
are being bought with automatic transmissions.
This may be due in part to lawsuits from drivers
claiming that driving a manual transmission is
damaging to their knees.
Quality and sales
Quality among all heavy truck manufacturers
in general is improving, however industry
insiders will testify that the industry has a
long way to go before they achieve the quality
levels reached by
automobile manufacturers. Part of the reason
for this is that 75% of all trucks are custom
specified. This works against efforts to
streamline and automate the assembly line.
Heavy trucks market worldwide
(major manufacturers ranked by 2003 sales)
- DaimlerChrysler Commecial Vehicles
- Volvo Global Trucks
- Iveco
- PACCAR
- Hino
- MAN Nutzfahrzeuge
- Navistar
- Fuso
- Scania
- Nissan Diesel
The worldwide market share leader is
DaimlerChrysler, with its Mercedes-Benz'
commercial vehicle group with around a 22%
global market share. Mercedes-Benz commercial
vehicle’s, with its Freightliner, Mercedes-Benz,
Setra, Sterling (the old Ford Trucks), Western
Star, Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus (43%;
Japan), and Hyundai Trucks (50%; South Korea),
sold between 200,000 and a quarter of a million
units worldwide that past few years.
[1]
United States
Smaller fleet operators,
specialized carriers, and owner
operators tend to prefer Mack or
Peterbilt and Kenworth products.
Larger fleet operators and
public agencies tend to prefer
the lower cost
Freightliners,
Navistar, and
Ford products. There are
also regional preferences with
truck drivers within the
United States.
On the
East Coast, where routes
where traditionally shorter, and
because the trucks were made
there, many drivers preferred
Mack Trucks. While on the
West Coast, the drivers
preferred Peterbilt, Kenworth,
and Freightliner. White, built a
new factory in
California in the early
1960s, with long-haul
trucking company
Consolidated Freightways.
The entity, which became
White-Freightliner, then just
Freightliner, catered directly
to western fleets that wanted a
lighter-aluminium
cab and frame, and traveled
longer-straighter distances
without stopping. Drivers more
concerned with safety than with
fuel-economy preferred the
heavier Peterbilts and Kenworths.
But, Kenworth and Peterbilt,
which had started out as
heavy-duty trucks for hauling
logs, forest products, and steel
for shipyards on the West Coast,
readily saw the need for these
lighter long-distance trucks.
Europe
Iveco,
MAN AG,
Mercedes-Benz Trucks, PACCAR
(DAF
Trucks,
Leyland Trucks),
Scania AB, and
Volvo Trucks (not to be
confused with Volvo Automotive,
which is now part of Ford Motor
Company), are the leading truck
manufacturers in Western
Europe. In the Eastern
Europe,
Škoda,
Tatra and
GAZ are common, since they
were some of the "brands" of the
Soviet controlled areas.
Asia
Heavy truck
leading
manufacturers
(alphabetically]
- Dong
Feng (China)
-
Mitsubishi
(Japan)
- Telco
- Hino (Japan)(Joint
ventures
with Scania
and Renault)
- Isuzu
- Iveco
(Italy, but
local
divisions in
Asia)
- Nissan
Diesel
South America
Registrations of heavy trucks in South America (2002; % breakdown by manufacturer):
- DaimlerChrysler
- Scania
- Mack Trucks
Less Than Truckload (LTL)
Semi
Trailer
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