the solution is found at www.tirelyna.com

1. Top 10 Reasons for Truck and Tractor Road Breakdowns
Based on 26,678 occurrences
1. Tires 53.5%
2. Towing 9.2
3. Jump or pull start unit 6.7
4. R&R alternator 4.0
5. R&R wiring, plugs lights 3.9
6. R&R fuel filter or additive 3.8
7. R&R brake chamber 3.4
8. Run out of fuel 1.6
9. Repair/adjust air gov 1.4
10. Replace coolant hose(s) 1.2
Replace or adj. Belts 1.2
Bypass air dryer 1.2
Chk & repair air leaks 1.2
Top 10 Costs of Road Breakdowns
Cost: $6.8 million for 26,678 occurrences
1. Tires 55.7%
2. Towing 9.1
3. R&R alternator 6.7
4. R&R air lines/hoses 4.1
5. R&R brake chamber 3.6
6. Jump or pull start unit 3.4
7. R&R air compressor 2.5
8. R&R fuel filter/additive added 2.0
Repair axle/brgs.seals, hubs 2.0
9. R&R turbocharger 1.8
R&R air compressor 1.8
10. Clutch — major/minor 1.7

2. Hours for Road Breakdowns
Based on 99,275 hours of downtime
1. Tires 36.6%
2. Towing 10.1
3. Clutch — major/minor 5.9
4. Repair axle, brgs., seals, hub 4.6
5. R&R air lines/hoses 4.3
R&R air compressor 4.3
6. Transmission —major/minor 4.0
7. Radiator/cooling syst. 3.8
8. R&R alternator 3.7
9. R&R turbocharger 3.6
Jump or pull start unit 3.6
10. R&R brake chamber 3.3
Top 10 Reasons for Trailer Road Breakdowns
based on 63,789 road calls
1. Tires 48.0%
2. Brakes, air syst., valves 12.0
3. Repair wiring, plugs, lights 4.2
4. Suspension, springs, etc. 2.4
5. Towing (incl. wrecks) 2.3
Repair axle, brgs, seal, hub 2.3
6. Doors & door frames 1.5
7. Repair rail or liftgate 1.1
8. Trailer landing gear 0.9
9. Repair roof & framing 0.8
10. R&R mud flap/bracket 0.7
All data courtesy of FleetnetAmerica,
Cherryville, N.C.
DEBORAH LOCKRIDGE
SENIOR EDITOR

3. Maintenance For Profit
Breakdown
10 Top Reasons
More than half are tire related. Some road calls could be eliminated by more thorough preventive
maintenance.
JIM WINSOR
EXECUTIVE EDITOR
You might be surprised by what the latest statistics reveal about roadside breakdowns. The No. 1
reason for roadside repair — year after year — is tires. 53% of road calls for trucks and tractors
handled by a major service provider were tire-related. For trailers, 48% were for tires.
These figures come from the 26,678 road calls handled by FleetnetAmerica, the nation's largest road
breakdown service, based in Cherryville, N.C. The information in these tables was provided by FNA President
Oren Summer, who boiled down the data for HDT to create these "Top 10" lists.
Do you track breakdowns for your fleet? You should, because the first step in reducing road-call
frequency is knowing what caused them in the first place.
Chances are that tire-related problems are also No.1 in your fleet. Depending on your type of operation,
it could be that so-called road hazards are causing punctures, sidewall damage and valve stem breakage. But
most likely, many failures happened because of underinflated tires.
Peggy Fisher, president of Fleet Tire Consulting and former tire manager for Roadway Express, says
survey work done by the Tire Air Pressure Task Force of the Technology & Maintenance Council of ATA,
revealed that out of 35,128 tire pressures checked, 56% were more than 5 psi off of targeted pressure; that
7.3% were underinflated by 20 psi or more; and that one out of five trucks checked had at least one tire 20
psi or more under targeted air pressure.
"This should be of major maintenance concern to fleet managers," Fisher says. "Tires should be
pressure-checked more frequently than at PM services. And managers should do periodic pressure checks on
equipment in their yards to see what the 'real world' is in their fleets. Most will be shocked." Fisher says that
underinflation has the same effect as overloading the tires. Cord flexing builds heat in the tire and over time,
weakens it and leads to road failures.
FNA's Summer feels about half of the tire-related road calls his vendors handle could be eliminated by
better tire maintenance, especially proper tire inflation. He added that breakdown calls caused by low
coolant or oil also reflects problems at the fuel island or in the shop.
The starting point, then, is to look at your tire pressure checking and inflation practices, and to regularly
spot-check tire pressures between PM services to see if there are "softies" out there. Fisher says any tire
that repeatedly is 20 psi under its proper pressure should be treated as a flat and removed and repaired.
Don't just keep adding air.
In addition to reducing road breakdowns, keeping tires properly inflated goes a long way in helping to
get maximum miles out of your tires. You'll see a number of items further down the frequency list that you
might want to study. While the road breakdown frequencies of these categories may be small, they cause
downtime, delayed deliveries and unhappy drivers. Hose and belt problems might be headed off by closer
attention to details during PM services.
But running out of fuel? That's No. 8 on the list, and unless stranded due to highway accidents or traffic
jams, trucks should never run out of fuel.
Towing is No. 2 in frequency, cost and downtime hours. It's probably not something you can do much
about. However, "jump and pull start" might be. What's causing discharged batteries? Driver abuse?
Maintenance failures?
On trailers, tires are still by far No. 1 at 48%. Then comes "brakes, air system and valves." What are the
specific problems? Try to find out. See what could be caught in the shop, before the rig goes out onto the
road — and has to be rescued by a service truck.