How much money can you save with the correct axle and wheel alignment?
According to international studies, 75 to 80 percent of the wheel
axles on the world’s medium-heavy and heavy vehicles are incorrectly
aligned. The consequence is an enormous waste of both money and natural
resources, in the form of high fuel consumption and increased tyre wear.
In addition, it can mean unnecessary human suffering, since it can lead
to both accidents which could have been avoided and a harmful working
environment for our professional truck drivers.
Reduced fuel consumption
To drive a heavy truck and trailer with incorrectly aligned wheels
and axles means that there is more rolling resistance than normal, which
results in a higher rate of fuel consumption. A correction of the
alignment problem will, in most cases, reduce fuel usage by 3-10
percent. How much you save depends, of course, on how much the wheels
were out of alignment to start with, before any adjustments were made.
In some cases, you can reduce your fuel consumption by up to 20 percent.
Reduced tyre wear
The majority of truck owners and professional truck drivers know that
the wrong tyre pressure makes the tyres wear out faster. The fact is
though, that incorrect alignment of axles and wheels is at least as
common a cause of increased tyre wear. On a heavy vehicle, it can be
enough to have an incorrect alignment of axles by just a few tenths of a
degree in different directions, for the tyres’ lifespan to be reduced
by 15 to 50 percent.
Increased traffic safety
It doesn’t take more than one pair of axles which are not completely
parallel in relation to the truck and trailer’s centreline for them to
begin forcing the vehicle to drive obliquely. The vehicle can then
actually be dangerous in traffic, since it takes up a greater width on
the road than the maximum allowed vehicle width.
Better work environment for the driver
A professional truck driver’s work can be hard enough as it is. If he
or she in addition – mile after mile – has to fight the wheel to
compensate for badly aligned wheels and axles, then it doesn’t take long
before he or she is plagued by aches and pains in the shoulders and the
neck.
How much can you save?
After you have carried out measurements and adjustments with John
Bates equipment you can be sure that the entire vehicle and trailer is
correctly adjusted, not just the axles. Since we measure with the frame
as the reference point, all the wheels will be going straight,
regardless of how the truck and trailer are connected.
Our co-workers are specially trained in how the equipment functions, how
the measuring takes place according to the John Bates Wheel Alignment method and how
the adjustments are made in a correct and accurate manner. In order to
be sure to achieve the best possible result, we measure before, during
and after the adjustments are made.