Channel 171, Trucking Business and Beyond. It's the first program I've come across actually worth listening to. Most of those trucking programs are pretty bad, IMHO, but this guy gives a lot of sound advice.

He's running off listeners panning Classics, 379s and W900s et al. Guy is really fuel economy conscious. He's so hard on the windcatchers I think there must be a lot of O/O's who couldn't stand listening to him :lol: My guess is the word gets back to him, 'hey, quit running off half your listeners!'

Yeah this guy is awesome!

www.kevinonxm.com is his website.

Only problem I have is he pushes the turbo 3000d because he gets advertising $$$. I have seen zero proof this thing actually works.

Other then that, you can tell this guy knows what he's talking about.

Yeah, it's a mix of useful information and sales. I think the sales is pretty smooth so that it doesn't sound like sales.

For instance, like I want to listen along with thousands of others while he tells one person where to buy fuel. But, that makes a great segway to...'our fuel optimization software.' Then there's the fact that the software will do the majority of the listeners no good because it won't take into account their company discounts. Did you get tired of the 'sweet spot' calculations? There is filler stuff in the program but overall I think I'm learning stuff.

-He's death on non-aerodynamic trucks
-Said something like flatbeds getting 15% worse fuel economy than vans. That is interesting because you can run the numbers and it sounds like $6-7k of the higher flatbed rates has to go to cover the higher annual fuel costs- that has me thinking.

Interesting you say that about Turbo 3000. I had never heard of it. I don't doubt he gets some kind of kickback or something but I doubt he'd sell out his valuable reputation (goodwill) just to make a little up front.

He gets advertising $$$'s.

What's funny is during the commercial they say "gauranteed 10% MPG increase"

then he comes on, and says it's usually around 3-5%.

LOL

i think he is kevin rutherford, very smart, everyone can learn something just by listening.

It is amazing, every kind of trucking, investing, finances, accounting, different equipment, maintenance, he does research but he can also pull a whole lot just off the top of his head.

Another thing he said that was interesting. First guy 'in the know' I've heard say most of us DO NOT need to incorporate, particularly those of us leased on. Matches something I heard from a friend who just got out of law school. This professor told him that most lawsuits aren't worthwhile unless you're going after a million bucks or more!!! Hey,...I'm just telling you what this guy told him. Rutherford thinks most O/Os are safe because they don't have the kind of assets that percentage lawyers are looking for. What was kind of weird, if not dubious is that he included himself in that group- I don't believe it, that boys got money!

A couple more tidbits from the show. Flats and reefers do better than vans, he believes flats do a bit better than reefers.

Bypass oil filters. You can put synthetic oil in the truck and do regular oil analysis and the oil can last 400,000 miles.

No newsflashes to some of you but interesting conversational fodder.

Some can go that far, but you are introducing extra wear to the engine.

Also, the filters have to be changed just as regular.

EGR engines generally cannot get away with extended drain intervals. They introduce a lot of soot, and soot is abrasive. Warranties can be denied because you have too much soot in the oil.

He spoke of a guy who changed his oil every 60k miles. His oil samples were still coming up great. Rutherford's argument was that if the oil samples are coming up right, the oil samples are coming up right...don't look a gifthorse in the mouth. I'm quite sure he doesn't believe there is extra engine wear because that is exactly what we do not want and a little savings in oil changes would not be worth shortening the life of your engine. I haven't researched this, do I call this a difference of opinion?

Regular filter has to be changed though less often. Bypass filter has to be changed. Of course somebody still has to do your zerts and in my case, I need a mechanic crawling under the truck from time to time looking for stuff. That's how I got tipped off to replace my drums. I didn't do it there with that mechanic but I did get them done. TA mechanic said I needed new belts, looked and sounded reasonable to me. I was carrying spare belts with me and he changed both of them for 1/2 hour of labor.

Maybe if I strike up a relationship with somebody whom I'll call 'my mechanic' then I can think about a bypass filter. But, if I don't get back to the house for two months, fat chance with 'my mechanic'.

Oh yeah, gonna show a little more of the dummy here, what's an EGR engine?