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  1. #16301
    Club Supporter hammerhead's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Laffs View Post
    SPIF is the government regulations mentioned above. The L9 was the Ford L9000 dump with the Caterpillar 3406 motor that was a super bulletproof workhorse. The ISL is the name of the Cummins powerplant in the new Freightliner SD122 dump that replaced the Ford to meet the new regulations and has been a nightmare with problems and downtime to fix.
    I've worked closely with several companies over the years - I basically have narrowed down to one average sized company I've had a close relationship with for 20yrs. To be honest I don't know how or even why for that matter why they want to continue to do it. New trucks are nothing but a massive headache along with all the regs and a number of other factors if you cross the ditch. It would seem to me that the best option would be to just lease for three to four years and turn the vehicles in and learn to adapt to a never ending monthly payment - I understand in your case this is likely not going to work for you...I've had relations with one company who operates with trailers and rail only, they've washed their hands from all the power units (truck) and contract that end of it out. They've been operating this way for some time now and it seems to work for them...
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  2. #16302
    Member bluetoy's Avatar
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    Any truck that is not SPIF compliant that is older than 2005 must be retro fit with a Self steer computer controlled lift axle by end of Dec 2020. This is approx a 15-20,000 expense per truck. It also renders your pre spif truck worhtless to sell or trade. If you are able to change the lift axle yourself it will save a little cash. In my research a suitable axle will run you minimum 10,000 up to about 15,000. The spif computer system with install and calibration runs beween 4-6000. you cannot do that part yourself. Most spif axles use single wide based tires and wheels. Theres approx another 3-4000. If you opt for the more expensive axle you can use your existing dual wheels. Many trucks are simply too short to get spif 23 which is equivalent to what you are legal to carry now. That makes them only useable for spif 21. Which drops your max GVW to 33,000 kgs from the usual 35,000. With the extra weight of a self steer axle it reduces your payload by approx 3000 kgs. Thus making your truck useless and not worth spending the money to swap it. If you truck is newer than 2005 you can pay a one time fee of $440 to run existing system until it is 15 yrs old. Once we get to 2025 all trucks must be spif. Not sure why a 2010 non spif truck can run until 2025 but my 2001 cannot yet it is in better shape than many 2010's.

    Now S.P.I.F. stands for safe, productive and infrastructure friendly. The very first word safe is the exact opposite of what these axles are. Having a self steer axle carrying up to 33% of the gross weight of a truck does make any sense. Especially when in many cases it's taking most of it's weight from the front axle of the truck. Thus explains why many guys are getting 6 months life out of a set of $2000 front tires instead of 2 yrs.front axle scrub and sliding is a terrible side effect of these axles. Only in the last few months has it become legal to have an override switch in the cab so the driver can lift the spif axle in emergency and slippery conditions. The laws are very flawed yet they are crammed down our throat.

    Me thinks there may be many many truck fires in the next 12 months....

  3. #16303
    Member bluetoy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by hammerhead View Post
    I've worked closely with several companies over the years - I basically have narrowed down to one average sized company I've had a close relationship with for 20yrs. To be honest I don't know how or even why for that matter why they want to continue to do it. New trucks are nothing but a massive headache along with all the regs and a number of other factors if you cross the ditch. It would seem to me that the best option would be to just lease for three to four years and turn the vehicles in and learn to adapt to a never ending monthly payment - I understand in your case this is likely not going to work for you...I've had relations with one company who operates with trailers and rail only, they've washed their hands from all the power units (truck) and contract that end of it out. They've been operating this way for some time now and it seems to work for them...

    There are no walk away leases for heavy trucks. If there is they are very rare.

  4. #16304
    Club Supporter hammerhead's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by bluetoy View Post
    There are no walk away leases for heavy trucks. If there is they are very rare.
    That I'm not sure of - a friend of mine was very successful this way - the buy back was a dollar and he never kept the truck more than four years - this was dry consumer freight tho.
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  5. #16305
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    OMG, had no idea.

  6. #16306
    Club Supporter hammerhead's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by bluetoy View Post
    Any truck that is not SPIF compliant that is older than 2005 must be retro fit with a Self steer computer controlled lift axle by end of Dec 2020. This is approx a 15-20,000 expense per truck. It also renders your pre spif truck worhtless to sell or trade. If you are able to change the lift axle yourself it will save a little cash. In my research a suitable axle will run you minimum 10,000 up to about 15,000. The spif computer system with install and calibration runs beween 4-6000. you cannot do that part yourself. Most spif axles use single wide based tires and wheels. Theres approx another 3-4000. If you opt for the more expensive axle you can use your existing dual wheels. Many trucks are simply too short to get spif 23 which is equivalent to what you are legal to carry now. That makes them only useable for spif 21. Which drops your max GVW to 33,000 kgs from the usual 35,000. With the extra weight of a self steer axle it reduces your payload by approx 3000 kgs. Thus making your truck useless and not worth spending the money to swap it. If you truck is newer than 2005 you can pay a one time fee of $440 to run existing system until it is 15 yrs old. Once we get to 2025 all trucks must be spif. Not sure why a 2010 non spif truck can run until 2025 but my 2001 cannot yet it is in better shape than many 2010's.

    Now S.P.I.F. stands for safe, productive and infrastructure friendly. The very first word safe is the exact opposite of what these axles are. Having a self steer axle carrying up to 33% of the gross weight of a truck does make any sense. Especially when in many cases it's taking most of it's weight from the front axle of the truck. Thus explains why many guys are getting 6 months life out of a set of $2000 front tires instead of 2 yrs.front axle scrub and sliding is a terrible side effect of these axles. Only in the last few months has it become legal to have an override switch in the cab so the driver can lift the spif axle in emergency and slippery conditions. The laws are very flawed yet they are crammed down our throat.

    Me thinks there may be many many truck fires in the next 12 months....
    I haven't seen truck fires for a while wink wink - I was wondering why the tires always looked bad - never worked on a steer axle - I assumed it was worn ends. I would imagine with that much weight they would need constant maintenance... This sounds crazy - I never thought it was that big of a deal I guess rates increase is not an option but I cant see how production can continue - most of the trucks I see out this way are older...?
    1979 Pace Car 302 4spd
    1981 Cobra t-top option - power to be determined, in the works

  7. #16307
    Club Supporter Laffs's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by bluetoy View Post
    Any truck that is not SPIF compliant that is older than 2005 must be retro fit with a Self steer computer controlled lift axle by end of Dec 2020. This is approx a 15-20,000 expense per truck. It also renders your pre spif truck worhtless to sell or trade. If you are able to change the lift axle yourself it will save a little cash. In my research a suitable axle will run you minimum 10,000 up to about 15,000. The spif computer system with install and calibration runs beween 4-6000. you cannot do that part yourself. Most spif axles use single wide based tires and wheels. Theres approx another 3-4000. If you opt for the more expensive axle you can use your existing dual wheels. Many trucks are simply too short to get spif 23 which is equivalent to what you are legal to carry now. That makes them only useable for spif 21. Which drops your max GVW to 33,000 kgs from the usual 35,000. With the extra weight of a self steer axle it reduces your payload by approx 3000 kgs. Thus making your truck useless and not worth spending the money to swap it. If you truck is newer than 2005 you can pay a one time fee of $440 to run existing system until it is 15 yrs old. Once we get to 2025 all trucks must be spif. Not sure why a 2010 non spif truck can run until 2025 but my 2001 cannot yet it is in better shape than many 2010's.

    Now S.P.I.F. stands for safe, productive and infrastructure friendly. The very first word safe is the exact opposite of what these axles are. Having a self steer axle carrying up to 33% of the gross weight of a truck does make any sense. Especially when in many cases it's taking most of it's weight from the front axle of the truck. Thus explains why many guys are getting 6 months life out of a set of $2000 front tires instead of 2 yrs.front axle scrub and sliding is a terrible side effect of these axles. Only in the last few months has it become legal to have an override switch in the cab so the driver can lift the spif axle in emergency and slippery conditions. The laws are very flawed yet they are crammed down our throat.

    Me thinks there may be many many truck fires in the next 12 months....
    My heart goes out to you man. I can't imagine if hauling was our core business what we'd be doing. We're construction, have always had a couple heavy trucks in the fleet because it worked for our business model and our owner said it allowed us to be more responsive/proactive and the cost difference vs contracting out was worth it. I've been doing the cost analysis and our cost to run the trucks ourselves vs contracting out has tripled in the last few years. Honestly the talk has been once our one guy with his AZ retires to sell the truck and just contract out.

    The shop that services our fleet echo'd your sentiments about safety/cost to make the older stuff compliant. He cautioned us that even if we had an SLA installed it might still not get the proper weights on the steers needed and the only value our truck had was the driveline anyway. We don't lease anything, best option I've seen is financing written in such a way that you "should" have equity in the truck after a 48 -60 month period and can then do a trade/re-up situation. Which still sucks when you could get a good clean non-spif truck for 30-40k vs payments of $3k a month
    Quote Originally Posted by ludacris View Post
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  8. #16308
    Foxstang
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    Job hunting is an exhausting job lol... This time I won't stay at my current location even if they offer more. I fixed a lot of issues but the commute is getting old. It seems to range between an hour to two hours (I'm avoiding the 407 because that was costing me a lot of coin). I used to be able to work from home but since I'm management I need to be in the office 955, which is funny because my productivity is in the dumps. When I had flexibility, I would work long hours when needed and took it easy when I could. It all balanced out in the end. What's worse is when I need to hire people since a lot of good candidates walk away when they find out we don't offer any flex hours or telecommute.

    Oh well... Time for change. Would love to work in Markham since it would be an easy drive. Or simply downtown near Union. I would leave my truck at home, I'd take the bus and GO train each day. Probably get away with just one family vehicle.

    As for the Foxes, I'm still thinking I'm out of the game. Although 90's cars will go up in value (while the 40's and 50's drop) I don't see it happening locally and with SJW's in government that think no one should be driving ICE cars anymore, it's a matter of time before gas powered classics are outlawed. I will sell my engine hoist and some tools, maybe even the 4 post lift. Hell once Ford has an electric Ranger, I'm going electric (I do like the Mach-E though). I have a 60amp circuit going in the garage this spring for future proofing anyway.

  9. #16309
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    After reading all this SPIF stuff, who then makes up these laws? It has to be someone with at least a little knowledge of trucking to be pushing the regulation? I guess the control mechanism is to prevent the people that don't maintain their trucks, but of course the few that do get the shaft right along with it.

    I guess it was like e-test, it's to go after negligent people, but enthusiasts get screwed, but now they've scrapped it in the end. Sounds like this thing won't have legs given all the side effects or will force smaller companies to merge with larger ones, I just don't get how it gets through without major trucking companies screaming about it. Unless the rabbit hole is deep and they are in on it.
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    Super Moderator Scrape's Avatar
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