Brian Lindgren, Market Segment Manager - Vocational & Off-Highway Trucks, Kenworth Truck Company

Note: This presentation was delivered to construction companies and heavy equipment users attending the Rock N’ Dirt program in November, 2001. The event was co- sponsored by Kenworth Truck Co. and Caterpillar Inc. and took place at Caterpillar’s Tinaja Hills proving grounds facility near Tucson, Ariz.

Good morning! I’m Brian Lindgren, Kenworth’s Market Segment Manager for Vocational and Off-Highway Trucks. Welcome, again, to Tucson.

Now, I’d like to tell you a little about how Kenworth builds trucks for vocational applications and how these trucks can give you some important performance advantages. Two main items set Kenworth apart from our competition: experience and our ability to design trucks to meet your specific needs.

Yesterday, Gary Moore and Kurt Freitag mentioned that Kenworth is known the world over for our ability to custom-engineer highly specialized off-road vehicles. Now let’s take a closer look at what Kenworth has to offer to help you to do your job.

The challenge in putting this talk together is that vocational applications vary so widely, both from job-to-job and from region-to-region. I only have 15 minutes this morning, so I’ll limit my discussion to these items which can help improve your productivity:

– Mobility on the jobsite,

– Getting power to the ground,

– Some ideas on how we can help you to retain drivers by providing a safe and attractive place for them to work, and…

–Then some ways operating a Kenworth can help to reduce your downtime.

First, let’s talk about mobility:

There are two keys to off-road mobility: flotation and traction. Let’s talk about these, starting with flotation.

Any surface that you’re going to try to drive on has a limit to how much it can carry. A given load spread over a larger area will have less penetration into the soil. It’s pretty straightforward: same load with bigger tires equals better flotation. So, why do the big tires work better?

The more a tire penetrates the soil, the more soil the tire has to climb over or push out of the way in order to move forward. The powertrain sees this as a steep grade to climb. But the front axle sees this also as making it harder to turn. So increasing your flotation reduces your rolling resistance and improves your ability to steer.

We talked about using larger tires, now let’s talk about using the same tires, but with lower air pressure. For example, a 425 tire at 110 psi has a contact patch of 119 square inches. But, at 65 psi, the contact patch has increased to 150 square inches – a 30% improvement. Again, we want to reduce the pounds per square inch on the ground, so by increasing the number of square inches, we’ve improved our flotation.

Now that’s great for getting around the jobsite, but you don’t want to run your tires at 65 psi on the highway.

Earlier, you heard about Eaton’s Central Tire Inflation System, which will allow you to run your tires at lower pressures off-road, for maximum flotation, and run at normal high pressures on the road for better fuel economy, tire life and stability. This system is driver-controlled from a push- button pad in the cab. It allows tire pressure changes on-the-fly and automatically increases the tire pressure if the operator runs at speeds too fast for the low pressure.

Another way to get more flotation is by adding more axles. Now of course you could add pushers or tags, but those lift axles don’t do you much good on soft surfaces -- that’s why you lift them when you get to the jobsite. But we can build you a truck with extra axles that work for you on the jobsite. The T800 twin-steer gives twice the flotation of a single steer axle, but also twice the steering ability. It drives even easier than a single steer axle, but gives you more directional stability, on the road and off.

For those of you from Ohio, or here in Arizona, or wherever you’re running three lift axles and thinking about a fourth, you should really consider a twin-steer instead. Because when you lift all your axles, you put less stress on a twin-steer truck -- you’ve still got over 36,000 pounds of front axles and suspension to carry the load -- yet you get better mobility and steering at the same time.

Speaking of steering, Kenworth goes to great lengths to make sure your truck can maneuver on the jobsite. Kenworth can give you up to 43 degrees of wheelcut with 425-series tires -- and that includes twin-steer trucks, by the way. If your drivers do one less back-and-fill on the jobsite each trip, your fleet is more productive.

Part of being productive when maneuvering on the jobsite is being able to see around the truck. Drivers say that the visibility from the seat of a Kenworth is better than any other truck they’ve driven--with our DayLite(R) doors, large peeper window, and especially those corner windows. You’ll notice this when you drive our trucks this afternoon.

And of course, working in your kind of applications means backing up. Kenworth’s mirror options can help your drivers see behind them better, for fast and safe spotting of loads.

We covered flotation a little bit ago, which will get you across soft surfaces. But, when the terrain gets slippery, you start thinking about our second component -- traction. In the most basic sense, we’re talking about applying all we can of the engine's power to the ground.

Getting technical for a moment, the power you can put to the ground, the force “F” pushing you forward, is the force pushing the drive tires toward the ground, “N”, multiplied by the coefficient of traction between the tire and the ground, “Mu”. What this means is, the slipperier it gets, the more downforce you need to get you going. But, we just talked about flotation and downforce is bad for that. So, the obvious answer is, spread that downforce over more driving axles.

The most common way is a front drive axle. Kenworth offers factory-installed front drive axles on T800 and C500 models, and the C500 can even be built with tandem front drive axles. The 8x8 bed truck on the right is the ultimate in flotation and traction.

Factory installation has several advantages for you, compared to aftermarket or mod-center installation.

First, you can be confident that all drivelines are designed by factory engineers to have the correct operating angles and capacities.

Second, Kenworth works with axle and steering gear suppliers to optimize the steering geometry for best turn angles and tire life.

Third, Kenworth engineers make sure the axle ratios are matched front-to-rear. This is especially important if you’re using flotation tires in front and duals in back. And, Kenworth’s T800 6x6 has the lowest frame height in the industry.

Another approach that is gaining popularity is tri-drives. This is three driving axles in back instead of the usual tandem. Kenworth has been installing tri-drives at the factory for about 10 years now. If you haul heavy loads and you go off the pavement, you should give this some thought.

If you don’t need to go that far, a simple cross-lock on your tandem or single screw may be enough. The ability to lock the differentials left-to-right to get tractive effort on both sides of the truck is cost-effective and good enough for most applications. Probably all of you should be spec’ing cross locks if you aren’t already. Kenworth will install cross-locks in either or both axle of your tandems, or all three on the tri-drives.

Another option to consider is Automatic Traction Control, or ATC. This system uses the anti-lock braking system to reduce wheelspin. Now that ABS is standard this is an affordable option at only a couple hundred dollars. ATC works by using the ABS wheel sensors to detect that a wheel is slipping, and then applying the brakes to that wheel only. Thus, the power goes to the wheels that are not slipping. This all happens automatically, usually without the driver even being aware that it is happening, other than a light in the header coming on. But it’s not for everybody. Since it uses the brakes, if you often go through long stretches of slippery stuff, it can cause the brakes to overheat, or lead to fast lining wear.

The standard is a 4-channel system which controls each side of the tandem separately, but both axles on that side together. Or, we can do a 6-channel system which will control each wheel end individually.

I’ve talked about how Kenworth can build trucks to get you across terrain you’d never think of driving through. And maybe you don’t really need a truck to do all that.

But think about what some of these things can do for your operation. If you get stuck on a site, and have to get pulled out, that can cost you one more load that day -- or more -- like maybe that customer’s business!

How many of those events does it take to pay back an option like cross-locks, or Central Tire Inflation?

So now you have lots of traction to get the power to the ground. But if you’re moving big loads, you’ve got to have lots of power in the first place. Caterpillar’s C-16 600-horsepower engine gives plenty of power -- but when you’re doing this kind of work, you need the World’s Best cooling system to keep that power coming.

Kenworth offers radiators up to 1,520 square inches -- bigger than anyone else puts in a road-going truck. What this means to you is that you don’t have to worry about engine temperature even under the worst of conditions.

This radiator has proven itself in the 145-degree heat of the Saudi Arabian desert, in the mountains of Colorado and Utah, and in the jungles of Borneo. This giant radiator also allows Kenworth to cool not just the engine, but all of the other components that need a heat exchanger up front when you’re working you truck to the limit -- transmissions, auxiliary transmissions, power steering, not to mention air conditioning for the driver!

Other OEMs will meet cooling requirements by relying on 30 mph speeds to force air through them, but with really high GCWs you might be pulling up a long grade at only five mph or less. Kenworth takes all this into consideration when designing the right cooling system for your application.

If you’re going to use bigger engines to make you more productive, you need to make sure that big engine is as productive for you as possible.

This afternoon, you’ll get an opportunity to see one of these units in action and look under the hood.

Another way to improve your productivity is by carrying a little more payload with each trip. One way is by increasing your legal load with more axles, in accordance with the Federal Bridge Formula. Besides the twin-steer, Kenworth will install up to three pushers at the factory. We’re seeing a lot more orders with lift axles this year, in fact, over 40% of our vocational trucks have at least one lift axle.

There are several benefits of having Kenworth install your lift axles at the factory. You can be absolutely confident that the air tanks are correctly sized and located, that the controls and piping are consistent and correct, and the proper frame will be used. And, if there should be a problem, you are Kenworth’s customer and you know we’ll make it right. This avoids costly problems that could put you in the middle of a difficult situation between the dealer, the suspension manufacturer and the body builder.

Besides getting a higher legal Gross Vehicle Weight, you want to keep your tare weight down in order to carry more payload. Kenworth’s standard aluminum cab helps reduce chassis weight -- without sacrificing durability.

Taperleaf front springs save weight, and Kenworth offers you taperleaf springs in 12 thousand, 14.6, 16, 20, and now 22 thousand pound ratings.

Or, for 12,000-pound highway applications, Kenworth’s exclusive composite front springs save another 72 pounds compared with our lightweight taperleafs.

Kenworth offers several frame rail options to meet your needs, so you buy only what you need. And we can often use our 11-5/8 inch tall single rail where others would have to use an inserted rail. This can save hundreds of pounds.

Rear suspensions are another opportunity to save weight. We’re seeing more and more Kenworth Airglide 200’s used in vocational applications -- over a third of our vocational trucks now ride on air. At 40,000 pounds, the Airglide 200 saves 250 pounds compared to a typical walking beam suspension. At 46,000 pounds, where we use cast iron for the main-frame bracket and the trailing-arm wishbones , we still save over 120 pounds compared to walking beams, so you can haul that much more payload.

This suspension is ideal for lowboy operation because the eight air bags can lift heavy loads, and the parallelogram articulation won’t change ride height or axle pinion angle under high torque loads like other air suspensions do. This means lower driveline vibration, and longer input shaft seal life, and even lower transmission maintenance costs, compared with other air suspensions.

In addition to the low weight and the geometry, the upper V-link arrangement allows excellent cross-articulation without binding. This means you can climb through rougher terrain, while keeping your feet planted for better traction. And, all Airglide suspensions ride 100% on air for the best possible ride.

The subject of ride is a nice transition into the topic of keeping the driver productive. Superior ride is only a part of what makes drivers prefer to be in a Kenworth. The visibility and maneuverability I mentioned earlier are also popular, but the comfort and convenience of the Kenworth cab keep them asking to drive the Kenworths over anything else.

Part of this is how easy it is to get into and out of the Kenworth cab. For some of you, your drivers are in and out of the cab 50 times a day. So, safe steps and grabhandles are a must.

Drivers like the even spacing of the Kenworth steps, and the way each successive step moves inboard as you climb into the cab.

The cab of a Kenworth is an impressive office for your drivers to work in. The controls are easy to reach, the switches have a good tactile feel, the gauges are easy to read, day or night. And combine the good ride with the quietness of the Kenworth cab, and your drivers will stay sharp and alert for better productivity.

Not to mention that it’s easier to attract and retain good drivers if you’re running a fleet of nice-looking trucks.

All of this is nice, but in order for you to be the most productive, your trucks have to be working when you need to work. Which leads us into the topics of reliability and durability, and serviceability. Kenworth trucks have proven themselves in the most rugged applications. And the reason is: they’re built to spend as little time in the shop as possible.

Kenworth’s cab durability is legendary -- just compare the cab on a 10-year-old Kenworth mixer, dump, or log truck, with a 10-year-old anything else. The way the doors open and shut, the way our cabs resist corrosion -- by the way, this is part of why Kenworth’s resale value after 10 or 12 years is so high.

We build our trucks for quick and easy service, so it takes less time for the technician to do his job, from tracing a circuit in the electrical system, to changing a heater blower motor, or replacing an oil filter.

Kenworth also offers a wide range of other factory-installed options to make your truck work-ready on delivery such as:

– 6- and 8-bolt PTOs

– hydraulic tanks or split fuel-and-hydraulic tanks

– roof-mounted beacons and so on.

And you and your dealer can draw on our experienced application engineers to help spec the right options for your conditions, and make your trucks the most productive possible.

Obviously I believe Kenworth builds the World’s Best vocational trucks. No one engineers and builds more value into a truck. And I trust that, by the end of this week, you’ll believe that, too.

Thank you.