kscarbel2

BMT...........Simply the best knowledge base for truck information the world over.

Please excuse me, but I don't understand what thought(s) you are trying to express.

Associated Press / December 18, 2016 Police say a 3-year-old boy being taken on a shopping trip by his grandmother was murdered in an Arkansas road rage shooting when a driver opened fire on the grandmother's car because he thought she "wasn't moving fast enough." The boy and his grandmother were at a stop sign in southwest Little Rock on Saturday when a driver angry about the delay stepped out of his car and opened fire. They say the boy was struck by gunfire at least once. The grandmother wasn't struck. She drove away and called police from a shopping center. Police Lt. Steve McClanahan says investigators believe the grandmother and the boy "were completely innocent" and have no relationship with the shooter. Police are looking for an older black Chevrolet Impala driven by a tall black man.

Jeffrey Rosen, The Wall Street Journal / December 16, 2016 The president-elect will inherit an executive branch whose power has ballooned far beyond its constitutional bounds In an interview in early December, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan said that President-elect Donald Trump is committed to respecting the constitutional prerogatives of Congress. “We’ve talked about…the separation of powers,” he said. “He feels very strongly, actually, that under President Obama’s watch, he stripped a lot of power away from the Constitution, away from the legislative branch of government, and we want to reset the balance of power so that [the] people and the Constitution are rightfully restored.” If history is any guide, Mr. Ryan’s optimism is misplaced. During the election of 1912, the Progressive candidate, Theodore Roosevelt, articulated a populist defense of virtually unchecked executive power, declaring that the president is a “steward of the people” who can do anything that the Constitution does not explicitly forbid. Roosevelt’s rival, the Republican incumbent William Howard Taft, defended a far more constrained view of executive power, holding that the president could only do what the Constitution explicitly authorized. Ever since the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Republican and Democratic presidents have embraced Theodore Roosevelt’s view, asserting ever more expansive visions of the president’s ability to do whatever he likes without congressional approval. Both George W. Bush and Barack Obama aggressively deployed executive power to circumvent Congress, and their partisans accepted it. During his own campaign, Mr. Trump declared, “I am your voice” and “I alone can fix it.” This is not the rhetoric of a president who intends to defer to the legislative branch. Teddy Roosevelt’s populist vision is hard to reconcile with the vision of the framers of the Constitution, who set out to create a president energetic enough to lead national initiatives but constrained enough that he would not threaten liberty. Alexander Hamilton yearned for a monarchical president, but the Constitutional Convention of 1787 designed a presidency with strikingly few enumerated powers—stronger than a state governor but much weaker than the hated tyrant King George III. Article II of the Constitution assigns to the president a few explicit powers—command of the armed forces, a veto on legislation, the power to make appointments and treaties with the Senate’s consent—but the text doesn’t specify whether the president has any general powers beyond those specifically listed. It fell to George Washington to fill in some of the gaps—establishing, for example, the president’s power to recognize foreign governments and initiate treaty negotiations without formally consulting the Senate. From George Washington to Abraham Lincoln, presidents were sensitive, by and large, to Congress’s constitutional prerogatives, which Congress asserted vigorously. President Washington, for instance, was concerned enough about “the insidious wiles of foreign influence” in American politics that he issued a proclamation threatening criminal prosecution of any U.S. citizen who took sides in the war pitting revolutionary France against the rest of Europe. But he also thought it important, after the fact, to persuade Congress to endorse this policy of neutrality. When President James K. Polk moved troops to the Mexican-American border in 1846 in response to what he claimed was the emergency of a Mexican invasion, a Whig congressman from Illinois named Abraham Lincoln introduced his famous “spot” resolutions. Lincoln demanded that Polk identify the precise spot where blood had been shed, to prove it was on U.S. soil. (The resolutions earned him the nickname “Spotty Lincoln.”) Beginning in 1859, President James Buchanan repeatedly asked Congress to approve his request to deploy troops to Central America; when Congress refused, he meekly submitted. As a wartime president himself, Lincoln authorized his generals in 1861 to suspend the writ of habeas corpus, which allows prisoners to challenge the constitutionality of their detentions. Although the Constitution gives Congress the power to suspend the writ, Congress wasn’t in session, and Lincoln felt that he needed emergency action to keep military rail lines open. But Lincoln then called Congress back into session and persuaded it to approve his suspension of habeas corpus. As President Taft would later note in a lecture on the powers of the presidency, “Congress subsequently expressly gave [Lincoln] this right, and the Supreme Court sustained his exercise of it under the act of Congress.” Taft was a judicially minded president who would achieve his life’s ambition only after leaving the White House, when he became chief justice on the Supreme Court. Throughout his years in public life, he approached all decisions by asking whether they comported with the Constitution. Appointed governor of the Philippines in 1900, for example, Taft stopped in Japan, where the empress presented his wife Nellie with a tapestry. Always honest to a fault, Taft insisted that she return the gift, on the grounds that the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution prevented him from accepting gifts from foreign governments. Mrs. Taft eventually appealed to President William McKinley, who ruled against her husband and sided with her. As president from 1909 to 1913, Taft took a constitutionally constrained view of his own powers. “The thing which impresses me most is not the power I have to exercise under the Constitution, but the limitations and restrictions to which I am subject under that instrument,” Taft declared. Taft was appalled in August 1910 when Theodore Roosevelt, his predecessor in the White House, delivered his famous “New Nationalism” speech in Osawatomie, Kansas. In his autobiography, published in 1913, Roosevelt elaborated on what he meant in that speech by declaring that “the executive power” was “the steward of the public welfare.” Roosevelt explained, “My belief was that it was not only [the president’s] right but his duty to do anything that the needs of the nation demanded unless such action was forbidden by the Constitution or by the law.” As he dramatically concluded, “I did not usurp power, but I did greatly broaden the use of executive power.” Taft strongly disagreed. “The true view of the Executive functions is, as I conceive it, that the President can exercise no power which cannot be fairly and reasonably traced to some specific grant of power,” he wrote in “The President and His Powers,” published in 1916. Although Presidents Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover subsequently embraced Taft’s constitutionalist vision of the presidency, all presidents since FDR have accepted some version of Theodore Roosevelt’s vision of the president as the powerful “steward of the public welfare.” During Franklin Roosevelt’s long tenure, for example, he exercised extraordinary powers across many domains: detaining Japanese Americans in California prison camps, trying and executing accused Nazi saboteurs, disregarding U.S. neutrality by implementing the Lend-Lease program and ultimately constructing the New Deal administrative state. He did all of this, it should be noted, with the tacit or explicit approval of Congress and the Supreme Court. When the historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr. wrote “The Imperial Presidency” in 1973, what he had in mind was the office’s further expansion during the Cold War. In confronting the Soviet Union and its allies, Schlesinger argued, presidents had asserted a range of extraconstitutional powers in foreign affairs. Because Congress had declined to push back, these powers had expanded to include domestic policy as well. President Harry Truman sent troops to Korea in 1950 without congressional authorization and two years later asserted his military powers as commander-in-chief to seize U.S. steel mills, claiming that he needed to avert a national strike that would harm the war effort. When presidents have acted imperially without the support of Congress, the Supreme Court has tended to rebuke them. The court repudiated Truman’s attempt to seize the steel mills under his military authority. It rejected President Richard Nixon’s attempt to invoke executive privilege to resist a special prosecutor’s demands for the Watergate tapes. And the justices also rejected President George W. Bush’s attempt, after the attacks of 9/11, to designate certain citizens and noncitizens as enemy combatants, to hold them indefinitely without trial and to try them in military commissions created without congressional approval. As a presidential candidate in 2008, Obama promised to repeal Mr. Bush’s executive orders on constitutional grounds. “The biggest problems we’re facing right now,” he said, “have to do with George Bush trying to bring more and more power in to the executive branch, and not go through Congress at all.” And yet, as president, Mr. Obama came to embrace—and even expand—the use of executive orders. In fact, in December 2011, he literally endorsed Theodore Roosevelt’s populist vision of the presidency, traveling to Osawatomie and invoking the New Nationalism speech to justify his own use of unilateral executive action. “Today,” Mr. Obama said, “we are a richer nation and a stronger democracy because of what [Theodore Roosevelt] fought for in his last campaign: an eight-hour workday and a minimum wage for women, insurance for the unemployed and for the elderly, and those with disabilities; political reform and a progressive income tax.” President-elect Trump is now drawing on that same populist tradition as he pledges to undo many progressive achievements by executive fiat. In 2014, Republicans won a majority in both houses of Congress, and Mr. Obama spent his final two years in office trying to circumvent congressional inaction or opposition. He issued a series of executive orders that critics said expanded the domestic reach of the imperial presidency. In areas such as immigration, greenhouse-gas emissions and gun control, Mr. Obama proposed policies, Congress refused to endorse them, and he then enacted the policies on his own. Overall, according to the Congressional Budget Office, Mr. Obama independently enacted 560 major regulations during his first seven years in office—nearly 50% more than during the two terms of the George W. Bush administration. The Supreme Court has repudiated or questioned some of Mr. Obama’s efforts to circumvent Congress, including his immigration orders, which the court effectively blocked by a 4-4 vote last June. Now Mr. Obama’s constitutional shortcuts may come back to haunt him. Mr. Trump has the power to repeal Mr. Obama’s executive orders with the stroke of a pen, just as Mr. Obama repealed those of his predecessor. Indeed, Mr. Trump has signaled that he may use his executive powers to dismantle key parts of Mr. Obama’s legacy—deferred deportation for undocumented immigrants, the Education Department’s Title IX regulations concerning gender identity on campuses, the Iran nuclear deal and the lifting of sanctions on Cuba. With the support or acquiescence of a Republican Congress, Mr. Trump could end up wielding even more sweeping powers. And he does not need congressional support to deploy troops abroad for limited periods. The Supreme Court might check Mr. Trump if he tried to carry out promises that are clearly unconstitutional—such as his threats to take away the citizenship of those who burn the American flag, to repeal libel laws or to deport people based on their religion. It might even check Mr. Trump in national-security cases—if he tried, for example, to reinstate waterboarding or sweeping surveillance without congressional approval. Mr. Trump’s international business interests and his children’s role in the White House may raise legal and constitutional challenges of their own. But unless a Republican Congress actively resists him, the conservative populist could enjoy sweeping powers, expanding the imperial presidency in ways that might make the progressive populist Theodore Roosevelt look constrained. Over the past century, presidential power has grown enormously in both foreign and domestic affairs. The only real check has occurred when the people themselves say that they have had enough—protesting in the streets, reshaping the parties and throwing the rascals out. In the end, only the American people, exercising their rights of speech, voting and association, can rein in a presidency that congressional Democrats and Republicans alike have allowed to grow far beyond the original bounds of the Constitution. .

Automotive News / December 18, 2016 Main benefits for diesel cars: Lower emissions, higher mpg A new generation of steel pistons is gaining favor in diesel passenger vehicles in Europe -- a strategic win in the lightweighting contest among steel, aluminum and other materials. But it could be a while before the technology reaches U.S. cars, experts say, primarily because diesels have fallen out of favor in the U.S., thanks to the Volkswagen diesel emissions scandal. Steel pistons are common in medium- and heavy-truck engines in the U.S. and other global markets. "In Europe it's a big thing. High-speed passenger-car diesels are going in this direction," said Joachim Wagenblast, director of product development for piston supplier Mahle Engine Components USA Inc. in Farmington Hills, Mich. He said some automakers have steel pistons "in the development phase" for U.S. diesels. Mahle has made steel pistons for Renault's 1.5- and 1.6-liter car diesels since 2014. Less space The pistons offer 3 to 5 percent lower emissions and correspondingly better fuel economy than traditional pistons, according to Mahle and Rheinmetall Automotive AG, another supplier that makes steel pistons through its subsidiary, KS Kolbenschmidt GmbH. A key factor is size: The steel pistons are shorter. Because they're stronger than aluminum, steel pistons can work with less length than equivalent aluminum pistons. That potentially helps create a lower-profile engine that can fit under a lower-profile hood, the companies said. Shorter pistons also mean less surface area to interact with the piston wall, the suppliers said. In addition, steel pistons expand less than aluminum when they're heated. Those two properties spell less friction than aluminum, the companies said. Part of the new demand comes from tougher European emission regulations. "Very few companies are using steel pistons so far," but many companies are exploring the concept, said Alexander Sagel, head of the Hardparts Division of Rheinmetall Automotive. Subsidiary Kolbenschmidt has made steel pistons for Mercedes-Benz since 2014, starting with the V-6 diesel in the Mercedes E350 BlueTec. Mercedes-Benz USA doesn't import that model. In the spring of 2016, Mercedes also added new four-cylinder diesels with steel pistons for Europe, starting with the diesel-powered E class. Mercedes-Benz USA isn't offering any diesels, said spokesman Rob Moran. He said the U.S. company's priority in the diesel segment is getting U.S. certification for the GLS large crossover. The U.S. gets aluminum pistons, Moran said.

Automotive News / December 18, 2016 Advocates for V2V communications systems are looking at Donald Trump's calls for infrastructure funding as a fresh opportunity to embed highway corridors and cities with the technology needed to link connected cars together. At the intersection of two presidential administrations, there's new hope for making cars more connected to one another and the world around them. Advocates for vehicle-to-vehicle communications systems are looking at President-elect Donald Trump's calls for an ambitious infrastructure funding bill as a fresh opportunity to embed highway corridors and cities with the technology needed to link connected cars together, or so-called vehicle-to-infrastructure communications systems. "Things are sort of lining up in a way that is useful and is going to help "vehicle-to-infrastructure' get deployed," said Steven Bayless, vice president of public policy for the Intelligent Transportation Society of America, a Washington, D.C., trade group. "We think there's an opportunity for vehicle-to-infrastructure in the bill, so we're going to push for that. The path is pretty clear." Policymakers, safety advocates and automakers have longed for a fleet equipped with vehicle-to-vehicle communications systems, linked together by a smart infrastructure, to reduce crashes and ease traffic congestion. But the pace of the technology's rollout, more than a decade in the making, has been hindered by several factors, including a lack of federal standards for the in-vehicle systems and limited funding for infrastructure deployment to link connected cars. Yet the Obama administration took key steps to advance the technology's rollout last week. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's proposed mandate for all new cars to have vehicle-to-vehicle communications systems calls for a shared set of standards to ensure that connected vehicles can communicate with one another in a common language and sets a timetable for the technology's rollout. NHTSA estimates the mandate will take full effect in 2023, assuming the proposal becomes a final rule in 2019. "A lot of folks were worried about sticking their nose out there without a standard," Bayless said. "With a standard, it gives automakers confidence to move forward." NHTSA said it plans to issue guidance soon for how state and local governments could deploy vehicle-to-infrastructure systems, adding another measure of clarity. NHTSA has said a connected fleet and infrastructure could prevent some 80 percent of vehicle crashes involving nonimpaired drivers. The systems use dedicated short-range communications radios to relay basic vehicle data -- such as speed and direction -- between vehicles 10 times per second. If the communications indicate an impending collision at a stoplight, for example, the vehicles can warn drivers to take action to avert it. Automakers likewise view V2V technology as a key enabler of autonomous vehicles [that virtually no consumers have asked for], which they see as a principal means of reducing the number of crashes caused by human error. Dedicated short-range communications messages have a range of about 300 yards, which NHTSA says is about triple the effective range of the radar, cameras and sensors of modern automated driving systems. V2V and V2I can also "see" around corners, allowing drivers to be warned of risks beyond their line of sight. Autonomous vehicles also need clear lane markings and smooth roads to operate safely, which means Trump's infrastructure ambitions are shaping up as an important turning point for the technology.

Reuters / December 13, 26 The U.S. Energy Department said on Tuesday it refused to comply with a request from President-elect Donald Trump's Energy Department transition team for the names of people who have worked on climate change and the professional society memberships of lab workers. The memo sent to the Energy Department on Tuesday and reviewed by Reuters last week contains 74 questions including a request for a list of all department employees and contractors who attended the annual global climate talks hosted by the United Nations within the last five years. Energy Department spokesman Eben Burnham-Snyder said Tuesday the department will not comply. "Our career workforce, including our contractors and employees at our labs, comprise the backbone of (the Energy Department) and the important work our department does to benefit the American people," Burnham-Snyder said. "We are going to respect the professional and scientific integrity and independence of our employees at our labs and across our department," he added. "We will be forthcoming with all publicly available information with the transition team. We will not be providing any individual names to the transition team." He added that the request "left many in our workforce unsettled." Trump has named former Texas Governor Rick Perry to run the Department of Energy*. The agency employs more than 90,000 people working on nuclear weapons maintenance and research labs, nuclear energy, advanced renewable energy, batteries and climate science. * https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/dec/14/rick-perry-formally-announced-as-trump-pick-for-energy-secretary

http://www.bigmacktrucks.com/topic/40601-can-anyone-explain-difference-between-tc15-and-tc25-transfer-cases/

You have an R688ST. "T" stands for tractor. Sales Engineering would never allow dump body fitment onto a regular R-model. The frame and front axle aren't up to the task. Even if you go to a heavier axle, then the tractor frame is the weak link. If you could upgrade to a 14,300 lb FAW538 front axle and springs, sure that would help. But it would be challenging to find one nowadays. An RD688S is a 6x4 dump chassis. "D" stands for dump. The RD has a deeper and thicker frame rail.

Looks cut and dry to me.........the president is exempt from the federal ethics rules. From January 20, we're entering uncharted territory anyway, so I see no problem with him simply ignoring the "tradition" and getting on with the show. As for not accepting money/gifts from kings, princes or foreign countries, that's understandable and easily done (to my knowledge all presidents have all accepted small gifts....... it would be considered rude in many foreign countries to decline).

Iveco Trucks Australia Press Release / December 6, 2016 .

Iveco Trucks Press Release / December 13, 2016 Champion racers Team PETRONAS De Rooy Iveco will field three trucks in the 2017 installment of the grueling Dakar rally: an Iveco “Powerstar” 4x4 and two Iveco “Trakker” 4x4 vehicles. Gerard De Rooy will again take the wheel of the Powerstar with the two Trakkers being piloted by Ton van Genugten and Wuf van Ginkel. Iveco’s sponsorship of Team PETRONAS De Rooy Iveco is now in its seventh consecutive year, with the manufacturer focused on providing the Team with the necessary vehicles, engines and spare parts, to defend the Dakar title and continue its outstanding race results of recent years. All three trucks are equipped with Iveco Cursor 13 engines with up to 900 horsepower, specially engineered for the rally by FPT Industrial – the powertrain brand of CNH Industrial. Seven additional vehicles – six Trakkers and one Daily – will complete the Team PETRONAS De Rooy Iveco line-up, providing support and assistance. This year’s Dakar will again take place in South America starting on January 2 from Asunción, Paraguay, with racers traversing over 9,000 kilometres (5,592 miles) through Paraguay, Bolivia and Argentina before crossing the finish line in Buenos Aires on January 14. Iveco Brand President, Pierre Lahutte, says the company has high hopes for success in its 2017 Dakar campaign. "With this year’s team, we hope to replicate the great performance of last year in which Iveco dominated one of the most competitive Dakar ever…” he said “As far as we are concerned, we are sure that we will continue to put the excellent reliability of our trucks on the trails of the Dakar rally, enabling the team's outstanding pilots to give their best performance in the race." Iveco Australia Marketing Manager, Darren Swenson, said the Dakar was a means for Iveco to demonstrate its reliability and off-road performance credentials on the world stage. “The Dakar is the real deal, it’s arguably the most demanding off-road event anywhere in the world – the race captures people’s imaginations and can have good flow-on effects for the Iveco range in the consumer market,” Mr Swenson said. “In Australia, the Iveco off-road range comprising Daily 4x4, Eurocargo 4x4, Trakker 4x4 and 6x6 and Astra 6x6 and 8x8 are already extremely well regarded, but performing well in Dakar further helps customer awareness and appreciation of these very capable vehicles.” Follow all the news at: http://www.iveco.com/dakar/Pages/HomePage.aspx Iveco will keep its fans up to date throughout the rally on www.iveco.com/dakar, following the race step by step with daily updates from South America. The website narrates a journey through the world’s most difficult and demanding off-road race. The website, published in English and Spanish, will be updated every day with Team PETRONAS De Rooy Iveco’s results and performance data, plus multimedia content transmitted directly from the course itself. Likewise, the Iveco’s global social media channels will be updated every day, with all the latest news as well as reports, videos and photos. .

Weekend Away Owner/Driver / December 14, 201 Terry Leanne and Ally Cecil headed to the 2016 Castlemaine Truck Show for a break "I’ve been coming here for 6-7 years," says Castlemaine Truck Show attendee Terry Leanne. "It’s a good break and weekend away," grinned Terry. "I’m not entered in anything, we’ve just come for the weekend, a family weekend." Terry’s Kenworth is a working truck and is kept busy hauling livestock and hay. The Kenworth is one of three trucks in the fleet that also includes a Kenworth Aerodyne and a little T350. The T404 has a C15 Caterpillar under the bonnet and has done 1.7 million having had a rebuild at 1.5 million. "It’s wearing the original paint and despite spending 40 per cent of its time on gravel roads. "It’s 7km of gravel every morning and evening to get underway. I have owned it for eight years and it’s a beautiful truck. "I am proud of my job and my rig so this weekend it a great chance to catch up with mates. Photo gallery - https://www.ownerdriver.com.au/events-news/1612/castlemaine-truck-show-2016-2

Family heirloom Owner/Driver / December 12, 2016 Two polished Kenworths were among the best trucks to hit the Castlemaine Truck Show in 2016 Dion Pateras and Dom Greco were polishing their respective trucks when Owner//Driver caught up with them. Dion had brought along a T950 with a 4.3 million kilometers (2.7 million miles) on the clock and Dom had brought a Kenworth T404ST both owned by Pateras Interstate Transport. "Six to seven years ago, it was given a paint job but still has the original chassis, paint, diffs and drive guards," stated Dion. "It is very straight and never been over. It doesn’t owe us anything. It’s a family heirloom, this one." The T950 is one of 35 trucks in the Pateras fleet which is based in Werribee South. The Cummins N14 that sits under the bonnet has been changed over three times. The T950 is still running up to Brisbane and according to Dion is still going strong. "It’s the one truck show that I make the effort for. I’d miss a day’s work to get to this show, it’s a great weekend!" Photo gallery - https://www.ownerdriver.com.au/events-news/1612/castlemaine-truck-show-2016-1

KTLA 5 / December 12, 2016 Two people in Oklahoma have been arrested in what nurses described as "the worst case of child abuse they had seen." On Saturday, the parents, 25-year-old Kevin Fowler and 24-year-old Aislyn Miller, were arrested on child abuse charges. Police in Owasso, Oklahoma were called to a local urgent care Friday evening to investigate reports of child abuse. When authorities arrived, nurses were working on two victims, who were described as twin infants, the Tulsa World reports. According to KJRH, officers said a nurse told them they saw a maggot crawl out of one of the victim's genitals. The nurse found feces in one of the infant's ears and said the malnourished children looked like skeletons. Nurses found feces in one child’s ear while the other baby had a strand of hair wrapped tightly around one of its fingers. The baby’s finger had become infected as a result, and that skin had started growing over the hair. The infants were both suffering from bed sores and severe diaper rash. Miller told police she knew the twin infants were in bad condition, but said that she and Fowler are "new parents" and she didn't have any experience taking care of babies. Miller said the children seemed malnourished because they were born prematurely. She said the couple didn’t have health insurance, so they let they ignored the children’s health problems. Miller said the babies had not seen a physician since their birth. Both were jailed and held on $100,000. .

Class 6 and 8 International, and Class 4 FCA (Dodge) data, are missing.

Ward’s Auto / December 13, 2016 U.S. big-truck sales totaled 29,754 units in October, 22.4% below like-2015’s 35,279. Class 8 sales were off 33.2% from year-ago on 13,943 deliveries. Kenworth sales fell 32.3% from the same month last year. Peterbilt was the only brand that saw a sales increase, rising 2.2% increase on 2,062 units. Freightliner posted the weakest results, dropping 44.7% from 2015. Mack brand sales plunged 31.5 percent, while Volvo brand sales crashed 39.1 percent. Year-to-date, Class 8 sales are down 22.4% from the same month last year. Overall, medium-duty sales fell 9.5% with monthly volume at 15,811. For January-November, sales are running 4.1% above the prior year. Class 7 sales reached 4,150 deliveries, 17.3% below year-ago. Current year-to-date sales are still up 2.6% on 55,107 units. Hino was the only truck maker to post an increase, up 1.7% from like-2015. Large losses were seen by Ford (-30.7%), International (-22.5%) and Kenworth (-34.6%). Class 6 sales also saw a decline in November, down 14.1% on 4,579 units. Group leader Ford rose 27.4%. Kenworth increased 15.9%, while Peterbilt slipped 4.5%. Freightliner posted the highest loss within the group, dropping 47.3%. Class 5 was the only medium-duty segment to see a gain, up 0.5% to 5,941 orders. Class 5 domestic volume increased 2.4% while imports fell 13.3%. Freightliner (61.6%), FCA (37.8%) and Hino (16.3%) saw big gains. International and Isuzu posted large declines of 67.6% and 20.7%, respectively. Mitsubishi Fuso underperformed the most, down 84.7%, but on small volume. Class 4 sales totaled 1,141 units, down 5.3%. Mitsubishi Fuso had the hardest hit in this segment as well, down 76.5% from prior-year. Isuzu’s domestically-assembled trucks [at Spartan Motors] rose 38.8%, but sales of imported models fell 20.6%. Hino’s import lineup was up 14.4%. Ford posted a large decline of 40.7% (handing market share to FCA/Dodge). Through November, combined sales of medium- and heavy-duty trucks in the U.S. sit 10.7% below last year at 364,633. Class 8 ended November with a 65 days’ supply, down from 68 a year ago. A total of 36,359 units were in stock at the end of the month, down from 57,041 a year ago. Medium-duty days’ supply increased to 90 from only 71 last November. Total units in inventory rose to 56,950 from 49,708. .

Bob, Ford could certainly do a LOT better in Class 7 with the F-750 if it actually tried to sell them, rather than seemingly focusing on Class 6 F-650 sales. Or is it because Ford U.S. doesn't have any real commercial truck people anymore?

Ward’s Auto / December 13, 2016 Canada’s heavy truck makers declined again, posting a combined Class 4-8 sales drop of 12.5% on 2,830 deliveries. Class 8 November sales fell the most, down 20.4% from a year ago. All truck makers in this group saw big declines. Mack brand sales plummeted 51.2 percent, while Volvo brand sales plunged 37.7%, suffering the biggest drops in the group. Kenworth and Peterbilt posted losses of 18.4 percent and 11.6 percent, respectively. Freightliner was the group leader, declining only 9 percent from the same month last year. In the medium-duty segment, sales rose 9.9% to 931 units from 782 in the same month 2015. A large double-digit gain in Class 7 offset the loss in smaller-volume Class 4. In Class 7, a 108.3% rise in volume leader International sales and a 48.4% boost posted by Kenworth drove the segment to a 33.8% gain. Ford (23.1%) and Hino (22.4%) saw big gains, while Freightliner (2.8%) and Peterbilt (3.2%) posted more subtle gains. Class 6 sales recorded a small gain of 2.0% with the help of Ford and International jumping 223.1% and 315.4%, respectively. Hino also rose 12.8%, but Freightliner plummeted 38.5%. Class 5 domestic and import lines both posted gains for an overall increase of 5.3%. Isuzu’s import line nearly doubled, rising 48.3% to 53 units. Freightliner (38.5%) and Ford (12.7%) also increased sales from year-ago. Hino dropped 15.3%, and International plunged 65.4%. For the third month in a row, sales of Class 4 trucks fared the worst among all medium-duty truck segments. Deliveries fell 13.6% to 103 units from 110 year-ago. The domestic lineup increased due to Isuzu’s jump of 115.4%, but it wasn’t enough with Hino and Isuzu import lineups dropping 28.2% and 67.9%, respectively. Year-to-date, Canadian medium- and heavy-duty truck volume is down 18.0% through November on sales of 32,661 from like-2015’s 39,823. .

Transport Engineer / December 14, 2016 Manchester-based Pace Logistics has taken delivery of two 44-tonne Renault Range T tractors and has seven 18-tonne Range D250 high vehicles on order, which will have 28.5ft curtainsides and tail-lifts. Following impressive fuel figures and excellent customer service, Manchester-based logistics experts, Pace Logistics, has once again selected Renault Trucks for the latest additions to its fleet. Two 44-tonne Range T460 6x2 tractor units have been supplied by JDS Trucks Ltd while a further seven 18-tonne Range D250 high with 28.5ft curtain-sides and tail lifts on order. Keen to drive down operating costs further, including fuel consumption, Pace Logistics has specified the Range Ts with Optifleet, Renault Trucks’ turnkey fleet management solution. Liveried in Pace Logistics’ distinctive dark blue and yellow branding, the new trucks join 14 existing Range Ts on the company’s exclusively Renault Trucks fleet. Phil Thurston, director of Pace Logistics, says: “We’ve been delighted with the Range Ts on our fleet and now they are bedded in we are seeing great fuel returns of just over 10 mpg, which is fantastic for our business. “Also, by using Optifleet we are in control of our day-to-day operations through the web portal – we can monitor the vehicles and drivers in real time, and control all of our main expenditures.” The Range Ts, on a 3-year Repair & Maintenance contract, work on general haulage operation to all the major distribution centres across the UK while the Range Ds are on a 7-year Repair & Maintenance, reflecting their lower mileage for Pallet Network deliveries Phil Thurston explains why he has remained faithful to the Renault Trucks brand: “We have enjoyed a long term and successful relationship with JDS for many years. We have progressed our business forward in partnership with JDS and we’ve been delighted with both the sales and service we have received. It just works and we’ve had no reason to move to another company. The location of JDS is great for our operation and we are on first name terms with all the sales and service teams too.” Chris Bell, JDS Trucks Ltd Manchester says: “We are delighted to continue to work in partnership with Pace Logistics and to hear that Phil and the team have been so impressed by both the service and sales at JDS as well as the quality and performance of the Range T.” .

Giving business control to sons doesn't end Trump's conflicts, ethics office says The Guardian / December 13, 2016 Donald Trump’s plan to transfer control of his business empire to his adult children has been dealt a fresh blow by the Office of Government Ethics (OGE). Tom Carper, top Democrat on the Senate homeland security and governmental affairs committee, wrote to OGE director Walter Shaub last month asking what guidance it is providing to the president-elect about addressing potential conflicts of interest. Since his election win, government ethics lawyers have pressured Trump to sell his assets and put the money in a blind trust overseen by an independent manager unrelated to him. While federal ethics rules place strict limits on nearly all government employees and elected officials, the rules do not apply to the president, as Trump himself has pointed out. But the OGE advised on Tuesday that failing to set up a blind trust would be a breach of the spirit if not the letter of the law. According to a letter posted on Carper’s website, the OGE wrote: “t has been the consistent policy of the executive branch that a President should conduct himself ‘as if’ he were bound by this financial conflict of interest law [18 U.S.C. § 208]. “Given the unique circumstances of the Presidency, OGE’s view is that a President should comply with this law by divesting conflicting assets, establishing a qualified blind trust, or both. However, although every President in modern times has adopted OGE’s recommended approach, OGE has no power to require adherence to this tradition.” For decades, presidents have sold their stocks and other personal holdings and put the cash into a blind trust overseen by an investment manager. Trump postponed a press conference that was due to address the matter on Thursday but tweeted that he will quit his businesses before his inauguration on 20 January. “Two of my children, Don and Eric, plus executives, will manage them,” he wrote. “No new deals will be done during my term(s) in office.” But the OGE’s response found this insufficient: “Transferring operational control of a company to one’s children would not constitute the establishment of a qualified blind trust, nor would it eliminate conflicts of interest under 18 U.S.C. § 208 if applicable.” Trump owns golf clubs, office towers and properties in several countries and has struck licensing deals for use of his name on hotels and other buildings around the world. Deutsche Bank, one of Trump’s lenders, is in settlement talks with the justice department over its role in the mortgage blowup that sparked the 2008 financial crisis. Carper, a senator from Delaware, said that the numerous conflicts facing the president-elect’s administration would not be solved with the handover of his business to his sons. “President-elect Trump has a sworn duty to ensure the American people that, in every decision he make as President of the United States, he has no other interests than those of our country, and I urge him to heed OGE’s advice in order to do so.” Carper is among 23 senators who on Tuesday sent a letter urging Trump to divest his business holdings to resolve potential conflicts between the national interest and his personal financial interests. A potential challenge to him could come via the “emoluments clause”, Article I, Section 9 of the constitution, which prohibits public officials from taking payments “of any kind whatever from any king, prince or foreign state”.

“The distance from the ISIS-held territory and Palmra is approximately 100 miles. It is inconceivable that the American-led coalition could not have seen this massive army moving towards Palmyra. Unfortunately, under the Obama Administration, I believe there has been a great deal of coordination between the terrorist forces and the coalition.” Virginia Senator Richard Black .

The larger issue here is, you're using a tractor with a 12,000lb front axle as a dump truck. The frame and axles are not designed for such loads. That's why your steering knuckle failed.

The Financial Times / December 13, 2016 The US government has proposed a rule which would require all new light vehicles in the US to be able to “talk” to each other to avoid crashes, within as little as five years. The move comes at a time when the federal government is trying to work out a framework of rules to regulate technology that does everything from helping humans drive cars, to technology that fully automates the driving process and removes devices such as steering wheels and gas pedals altogether [even though U.S. citizens haven’t requested their employees in Washington to conduct these activities]. Individual states are working out their own regulations to govern a new universe of self-driving or partially self-driving cars as well. Tuesday’s announcement from the US Department of Transportation starts a 90 day clock for public comment on proposed rules to govern so-called “vehicle to vehicle” or V2V technologies. A further rule mandating communications between light vehicles and transport infrastructure, such as traffic lights, is also expected to be published before the Trump administration comes into office next month. US government officials say mandating that cars should be able to “talk” to each other could prevent or mitigate the effects of as many as 80 per cent of crashes that do not involve a driver impaired by drugs or alcohol. The goal of the technology is to warn motorists of unseen hazards, in conditions such as intersections, or overtaking a truck on a two-lane road for example, the officials say. Light vehicles would have to be able to “speak the same language through a standard technology”, government regulators said. Each automaker would be able to choose how such warnings are communicated to drivers, with some automakers working on technology that makes the seat or wheel vibrate to communicate danger, or uses visible or audible warnings. Officials of the DoT and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said all new light vehicles would be required to have the technology within four years from the finalisation of the proposed rule published on Tuesday, with finalisation expected to take about a year. Half of all new cars would have to comply with the rule within two years of adoption of a final rule. The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, commenting on behalf of the US auto industry, said it would review the 400-page proposal “to see how it complements other advanced systems that are starting to be included in a growing number of new automobiles”. It said the technology was already being tested in Michigan, and individual manufacturers already provided a wide range of “driver assisted” technologies such as automatic braking, all aimed at mitigating the role of driver error in traffic accidents. Rebecca Lindland, auto industry analyst at Kelley Blue Book, said the guidelines “provide standardisation without dictating specific technology to achieve V2V benefits. They’re not telling companies what to write, they’re just telling them what language to write in”. The rule could be overturned by the incoming administration of Donald Trump, who has vowed to battle over-regulation of US industry. But asked whether this was likely, US Transportation Secretary [and ex-Charlotte, NC city mayor] Anthony Foxx played down that possibility, telling journalists: “From a safety perspective, this is a no brainer.”