CALGARY, Alta. – Just as race car drivers constantly fine-tune their car’s setup to get the most out its engine, fuel and tires, truck drivers are accustomed to tinkering with their rig’s specs.

New technology, however, is offering drivers a variety of low-maintenance specs, which save time and money and improve overall efficiency. Truck News asked truckers at the Road King truck stop in Calgary if they are taking advantage of any low-maintenance specs to make life easier behind the wheel.

Jim MacCarahan was preparing to haul a load of meat from Calgary, Alta. to Texas, aboard his 2001 Mack Vision.

“I have all of them on my truck,” says the TransX driver. “It saves money, it saves time and makes it much more efficient.”

Cochrane, Alta.-based trucker Gene Hays says that his 1997 Freightliner has many of the latest low-maintenance specs available.

“But I still play with it to make sure everything is set up properly,” says Hays, while preparing to haul a load of hogs to Langley, B.C.

Sharon Jacobs says she’s happy to have a mechanic take care of all of the maintenance.

“We have a mechanic that looks after everything,” says Jacobs, who had a truck full of cookies destined for Calgary’s Western Grocers.

Jacobs drives a 1999 Sterling for L.P. Enterprises.

Don Yee knows all about low-maintenance specs, from his days as an owner/operator.

“It’s been a few years since I’ve had to deal with that,” says Yee, who now drives a 1995 Kenworth.

“Synthetic lubes, slack adjusters and self-adjusting brakes were the ones I benefited from most,” Yee notes.

Louis Comeau drives a 1998 Peterbilt for Logistics International.

He says that even though he benefits from many low-maintenance specs, “you still have to go underneath to see what’s going on.” n