Trucks

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Boral Transport .South Gippsland Hwy Dandenong

Truck Details Mack Fleet Liner Kms - 240,000  Build date -11/02

Truck Whisperer work date     17/12/04

To whom it may concern.

I delayed my response to the Truck Whisperer’s work as I had previously spoken to a few people who highly praised his work. I wanted to give an unbiased appraisal rather than get caught up in all the hype.

Major concern (and primary reason for taking truck to the Truck Whisperer)

Rough bone-jarring ride. Rough road was transferred through the cab with either a sharp sideways jolt or by hitting the driver in the back.

Now – With in a few hundred metres after leaving the workshop, I made comment on how I could hear and feel the seat air valve working. Small holes were being transmitted vertically and were now being absorbed by the seat suspension. Previously these bumps would kick the cab sideways or forward, jarring the driver with little or no response from the seat suspension. Out the road and at higher speeds the improved ride became more noticeable. After a week and half of driving this truck, I still haven’t found a bone-jarring bump. It should be noted that the ride can still be rough on bad surfaces but it no longer tries to whack you in the side of the head or catapult you through the windscreen.

Although the Truck Whisperer wasn’t told at the time, listed below are other observations made.

Severe drive axle hop when empty and starting off from traffic lights or accelerating through an intersection. (Made worse if wet or uphill).

Now – Substantially reduced (75%)

Large amounts of backlash through the drive train if gear changes were anything less than perfect. It was also difficult to obtain smooth changes.

Now –Close to being eliminated (90%) with transmission changes now “clicking” into gear as Roadrangers normally do.

I’ve always said this truck handles well. The only concern was the ride. As the following items illustrate, I may have to rethink those comments.

Tendency for truck to wander slightly on rough road requiring minor corrections.

Body roll in corners when loaded.

Requirement to steer towards road dips to counteract change of direction in truck from body sway.

These items were minor and were never of concern, however -

Now – Truck roll is substantially reduced making the truck far more stable. There is little or no tendency of the truck following ruts and irregular road surfaces. Directional stability is greatly improved and for most part is unaffected by road surfaces. The truck can also be confidently driven to the edge of the bitumen on narrow roads with out fear of it running off the edge and spitting you back across the road.  If you do drop off the edge the truck wanders slightly as the tyre crosses the edge but continues in the direction you steer it. It no longer grabs the edge.

Concerns

I did have one concern. I thought the truck felt slightly vague in the steering on rough roads however, now that I have become more accustomed to the way this truck now handles, this no longer seems a problem. I believe the sensation is caused by 28 tonne of quad dog trailer now being more noticeable because of the better handling of the truck.

Summary

My expectations were improved ride. What was unexpected was the improvement in the general drivability of the truck, especially when loaded. The truck is not only smoother but simply goes where I point the steering wheel.

Truck Whisperer said, “I will make this a different truck to drive”. - Can’t argue with him so far.

I stated at the start of this report that I didn’t want to get caught up in all the hype, but it’s difficult not to when the truck is so noticeably improved.

Regards

Robert Rurade

Wyndham Vale.

Meet Brendon Marcon

I used to drive a 401 Kenworth from new with a large company in Victoria, doing trips a week to Brisbane. When I started with this company I was in a rattlay old cab-over, when the boss put me into the new truck I thought I would at least have some comforts for awhile, I couldn’t have been more wrong. It was the worst truck that I had driven in my twenty-eight years on the interstate. It was unbearably rough, deadly on or off the edge of the road, it was a constant fight from start to finish of every trip I did. For three years after airbag systems being changed, new springs, new steering box, new power steering pump, countless cab and bonnet mount replacements my boss said that he didn’t know what else to do, mind you to his credit he bent over backwards to do what had to be done to get this truck right.

After hearing of the result that Truck Whisperer was achieving with their remanagement system in place, he said he would give it a go. Three hours after leaving my truck with Ken Dennis, of Truck Whisperer, we rolled it out of the shed and to my amazement it was like driving a car. It was smoothe, easy to handle, full control over his fifteen kilometre course, end result the truck was totally corrected. Out on the routine run and it was faultless, doing everything right, on the edge of the road, around sharp and tight bends, over rough surfaces with absolute ease. Straight away (first run on new steers) which previously returned on 65,000 kilometres, I picked up and extra 20-30 litres per leg or 40-60 litres per trip which saved my boss up to 120 litres a week. Steers were returning 187,000 kilometres and maintained that until they sold the truck. The truck was three years old when corrected at 970,000 kms and it was sold with 1,300,000 kms at four and a half years.

Yours truly,

Brendon Marcon. 

Meet Terry McNamara

On the 8th of December 2003 I had my Ford Sterling Whispered by the Truck Whisperer in Brisbane. Before that day I didn’t have full control over the way the vehicle tracked down the highway. From the first moment I drove out of the Whispering workshop, I noticed a vast improvement in the overall controllability and handling of the Prime Mover and the trailer.

For the first time ever, I was able to drive the truck instead of it driving me.

My tyre wear improved dramatically from the steer tyre through to the drive and trailer tyres. The steer tyres were scrubbing out after only 60,000 kilometres. Six months and 110,000 kilometres later I still have the same steer tyres I had 8 months ago. Before that I was lucky to get 3 or 4 months out of the steer tyres. Now it looks like I may get 12 months before I need to replace them. That’s an increase of at least 150,000 kms in steer tyre life.

My fatigue level has decreased in proportion to the increased tyre life because I am not constantly fighting the truck like before, now it tracks exactly where I point it – “IT’S BEAUTIFUL.” I drive Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne all the time with a variation of 30 – 50 kms per trip, prior to being whispered I was using a minimum of 1800 litres of fuel, now I average a minimum of 1600 – 1620 litres, a saving of 180 – 200 litres per trip. This presents approximately a 10% saving in fuel costs plus the added saving on steer tyres means I am saving around $200.00 a week as well as feeling comfortable and a whole lot safer than before and all for an outlay of $1,100.

Thank you Truck Whisperer for changing the fatigue and stress levels I once thought was part of driving a Heavy Vehicle.

Terry McNamara.

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