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Associated Press / September 19, 2016 Five armed Afghan men in an SUV were arrested Sunday night around 9:30 p.m. in connection with the New York explosion, following a traffic stop conducted by the FBI and NYPD on the Belt Parkway near the Verrazano–Narrows Bridge. The men were believed to be headed out of town or on their way to the airport. .

Back in 2001, I advised senior Ford management to bring the Transit to the US. They resisted, arguing that the Transit wasn't suitable. They said Americans like to tow with their vans, whereas the Transit wasn't engineering for towing because nobody tows with Transits in the global market. Still, I argued the Transit in every other way was 20 years ahead of the Econoline in overall form and function. They agreed, but decided to postpone a US launch. In Europe, the Transit is available in rear-wheel drive, front-wheel drive or all-wheel drive. Like all global market light vehicles, the US gets the decontented version, because we demand a low price.

In theory, the European COE "has" a tougher struggle to become aerodynamic than a conventional. And that is why European regulations are going to change, so as to allow a slightly longer cab in the front for enhanced aerodynamics. However, having said that, when you observe the next generation Scania in the wind tunnel, you can see the truckmaker has achieved virtual perfection in aerodynamics. Frankly speaking, Scania has some brilliant engineers with a life-long passion for truck design. I really wish you were attending the global IAA show in Hannover. It's good for one's head (eye-opening) to get out of town (or country) and see what's going on around the world. .

Paul my friend, I'm not lumping together my thoughts on global trucking trends with anything else. Cars, motorcycles, education, government, unions, general intelligence and health care aren't on my mind. Although my thoughts are global in scope, I'll be the first to criticize the dysfunctional European Union. You can blame global big business for its creation, their scheme for enhancing profitability in Europe.

"The Mack Dealer assumes responsibility for min buy, collect freight, non-cancellable and not eligible for return" Absolutely shocking. Volvo's Mack brand parts policies are not consistent with American values.

Relax my friend. Nobody said the US is dumb and stupid. We talking about truck design, i.e. tractors and trailers. The US does have a unique go-it-alone tone, that's undeniable. I myself wish we had one set of emissions standards for the entire world, rather than U.S. standards, and the Euro standards that most of the world uses. We could could it the "Global Emissions Standards". Limited to small trailers and 80,000lb GCW limits, we aren't operating as efficiently as we could or should. I will bash the United States EPA for forcing EPA2004 and EPA2007 down our throats before the technology was mature for US market trucks. It costs American truck operators millions of dollars. Those trucks are nothing more than rolling advanced science experiments. The engine compartments were so hot, I watched windshield washer reservoirs melting under the hoods of Mack Visions. Nobody ever said that Americans are "dumb" for not driving COEs. People expressed their opinion. I myself appreciate the added efficiency, serviceability and visibility of COEs. Mack sold thousands and thousands of F-models, Cruise-Liners and Ultra-Liners for those very reasons. If you want maximum load capacity while keeping overall length in check, the COE has a strong argument.

C'mon Paul, we're talking about truck design, and trailers..................not any of the other you mention.

I know Paul, I know. But old habits die hard. At one time the benchmark for the world, the US truck market today is behind the curve.

Curtain sided trailer usage is extremely limited in the US, versus Europe and Australia where they are mainstream.

Volvo has a non-returnable parts policy? That's the most absurd thing I ever heard. I thought such a policy in the United States by auto and truck makers was still illegal. The policy of the former Mack Trucks was, any part still packaged and saleable as new goods could be returned.

KrAZ Trucks Press Release / September 1, 2016 Today, on the 1st of September, on the occasion of Knowledge Day, KrAZ truck in conjunction with the Ukrainian government donated school supplies to underprivileged schoolchildren in the Molodyozhniy district. Almost seven hundred gift bags filled with supplies for studies were presented to the children after the first bell. The parents expressed their appreciation for the paints, notebooks, pencils, felt pens, colored paper and many other stationery items donated to their children for learning activities. Teachers and schoolmasters of the Molodyozhniy district also expressed their gratitude. Schoolmistress of the school No 17 Mrs.Valentina Marchenko said: “In our school alone, 124 first grade schoolchildren received stationery items required for learning activities. As for the whole school district, this number comes closer to 1,000. We sincerely thank our local government and KrAZ Trucks for help and support. In this difficult period for our country, companies, institutions, and parents, only such support can help us preserve our values, and we are happy to have such responsible helpers”. Pupils of the school No 31 had another present. The local government and KrAZ Trucks invested over UAH 200,000 to provide the school with a new outdoor sports ground complete with all the necessary equipment. KrAZ Trucks pays special attention to children realizing that, to move forward, young, talented and enterprising children are the key to our future. We are glad to welcome young additions into our family. They are worthy of taking over from today’s workers, and will continue to build excellent trucks in the KrAZ tradition. .

Hyundai Commercial Vehicle / May 19, 2015 .

The Guardian / September 19, 2016 Five explosive devices have been found in a backpack near Elizabeth train station in New Jersey. Two men called police after discovering the backpack with wires and a pipe coming out of it in a garbage can around 8:30 p.m. Sunday at North Broad Street and Julian Place. One of the devices exploded at 12:30 a.m. Monday when a bomb squad robot tried to disarm it by cutting a wire. .

The Financial Times / September 18, 2016 Groups to unveil aerodynamic components that promise to improve fuel efficiency and reduce emissions Mercedes-Benz Trucks has teamed up with trailer-maker Krone (http://gruppe.krone.de/english/) to sell a package of aerodynamic components that promise to improve fuel efficiency and cut carbon emissions. The two companies will demonstrate the new products on Thursday at the 66th IAA Commercial Vehicles conference in Hanover, where they hope to show the trucks industry has not been asleep at the wheel when it comes to the environment. The EU seeks to reduce emissions in the long-haul sector by 30 per cent by 2030, but Daimler — Mercedes’ parent — has been critical of Brussels for focusing narrowly on tyres and engine improvements, rather than the whole picture of how vehicles are actually used. Wolfgang Bernhard, head of Daimler’s trucks division, said regulators were trying to trim grass that had been lawn-mowed, but there was still grass standing sky high in places where nobody was looking. “It’s more cumbersome to look at trailer aerodynamics than it is to look at tyre classifications. We need to start looking there — there is a lot to be gained,” he said. Last year Daimler performed efficiency runs to determine what sort of fuel savings could be gained on heavy-duty lorries equipped with optimised trailers, tractors and tyres, as well as “predictive powertrain control”, a cruise control unit that uses GPS and 3D maps to look ahead and maintain an efficient speed on inclines and declines, saving fuel. The result was 12 to 14 per cent fuel savings. The lesson was that a few tweaks to the aerodynamism of a lorry would give a completely different air flow for the vehicle. The problem was, Daimler makes tractors — the front part of a heavy duty vehicle housing the engine — not trailers. So Mr Bernhard commissioned Krone, a family-run group and the second largest-trailer maker in Europe, to see if they could churn out a product at an economical cost. Krone was able to develop a package comprising side panels, a four-part rear wing and “A-label” low-resistance tyres that delivers a 7-9 per cent improvement in fuel efficiency. The “Profi Liner Efficiency” package it will unveil this week will cost €2,000 and be available right away. Previously something similar would cost €5,000. The lower price is meant to entice haulage companies when they are buying a new vehicle: the average lorry drives 120,000km per year; if a company can save 7-9 per cent in diesel, at €1.10 per litre, the savings will be €2,000 to €2,500 a year, said Gero Schulze Isfort, managing director of sales and marketing at Krone. The savings could have an outsized affect. Transportation in general accounts for one-quarter of man-made CO2 emissions, and while heavy-duty vehicles account for just 4 per cent of vehicles in the EU they are responsible for 30 per cent of on-road emissions, according to the International Council on Clean Transportation. A retrofit kit for existing vehicles will cost about twice the price, depending on volume, plus assembly cost. Mr Bernhard estimates that would pay for itself after about two years, on average. “Seven to nine per cent improvement is a huge step,” said Mr Bernhard. For context, he points out in the past 20 years Daimler lorries improved their fuel efficiency by 22 per cent. Lab-tested fuel efficiency figures have looked suspect since the Volkswagen emissions scandal was revealed one year ago, so Daimler and Krone first offered the efficiency package to five companies for three months of testing. The companies — Elflein, Grosse-Vehne, Rhenus, Seifert and Wiedmann & Winz — then used the trucks for everyday operation to compare their fuel efficiency with its normal fleet. “If you want to give a message to customers, you use real-life customers under their weather conditions, their roads, their vehicles,” Mr Isfort said. Separately, Daimler will be showcasing in Hanover its latest generation Mercedes-Benz Actros model with an OM 471 engine, which saves up to six per cent on fuel. Combined with the Krone products and its cruise-control unit, Daimler says the vehicle is 20 per cent more fuel efficient than a standard semi-trailer-tractor combo from 2014. .

Owner/Driver / September 16, 2016 Family-owned operation Brompton Road in Western Australia has come up with an innovative solution to hauling train wheels involving two Kenworth K104s Brompton Road is a small family-owned and operated company based in Bullsbrook, 25km north of Perth on the Great Northern Highway. Charlie Berne and his wife Julie started Brompton in the early 1970s. Today the couple’s two sons Jason and Tim are an integral part of the business. Owner//Driver recently caught up with Charlie and Jason at the BP Kewdale truck stop. The boys had just grabbed some breakfast and were about to head off to unload. "Except for a brief time offshore I have been with dad since the day I left school in ’95," Jason says. "That’s over 20 years now." Like many operators Brompton Road saw the advantages of specialising. The company has been working for rail companies for the past 30 years. "I should call myself ‘TNT’, trains not trucks," Charlie laughs. "We are not general carrier, we just specialise in looking after our customers’ needs." For Bromptons that has meant the need to solve a few tricky problems while working out transport solutions for their clients. The additional services means it’s more than just a transport company. One of Brompton Road’s big jobs is hauling rail wagons from Adelaide to Port Hedland. Charlie explains that the pilot vehicle costs on that job alone were $280,000. Charlie and Julie organised four trucks to carry out the work, with help of a subbies, two of which were towing Brompton trailers. Jason explains that they would unload the cars, take the bogies out of the bins and put them on the track. "We hook up the hoses and either Charlie or Julie do a brake test," he says. "So we commissioned the cars and that is why secured getting the job and with the combination that Jason’s got, we go up with three wagons and were only using 150 litres more fuel than the trucks carrying two. "Life is full of challenges and we love challenges." Brompton’s most recent challenge was moving railway wheels. The wheels come out of Newcastle to Brompton’s yard before being trucked north. It is a new concept because, previously the wheels were in skip bins unrestrained. The new ‘pallets’ allow the old wheels to stand up," Charlie says. "Everything is held and restrained; we have a patent pending on this system. "We think it is pretty good and it’s so simple and yet works so well. "The wheels go into the robots lying down and they come out of the robot standing up and that’s how we designed it." Despite their hands-on work, Charlie and Jason both agree that Julie is the backbone of the company. "She does everything," Jason says. "Mum cooks for us, does the paperwork, the finances and drives a truck, and she keeps us all honest. "For some families it doesn’t work, but for us I think it is the feature of our business. We all work together for a common good." .

ABC News / September 18, 2016 GOP vice presidential candidate Mike Pence said his role model for the number two spot is the last Republican to hold the job -- Dick Cheney. “I frankly hold Dick Cheney in really high regard in his role as vice president and as an American,” Pence said on ABC’s "This Week." --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- With those remarks about Cheney, Pence has lost all credibility.

Associated Press / September 18, 2016 Late one night in February 2011, a group of U.S. soldiers and civilians on a dusty airfield in Jalalabad, Afghanistan conspired to steal and sell jet fuel to a mysterious Afghan contractor. Little did they know that night that the scheme would evolve into a months-long racket that likely ended up funding the Taliban’s ongoing insurgency. Army Sergeant Kevin Bilal Abdullah, Spc. Stephanie Charboneau and civilian contractors Jonathan Hightower and Christopher Weaver helped an Afghan contractor smuggle over $1,225,000-worth of JP-8 jet fuel off Forward Operating Base Fenty from February to May 2010. JP-8 is a standard jet fuel utilized by U.S. Air Force aircraft, meaning the fuel ring’s actions likely jeopardized the Air Force’s ability to fly missions in support of U.S. troops, putting their lives in danger. “Fuel theft not only robs U.S. taxpayers and damages the reconstruction effort, but military operations can be jeopardized when needed fuel is stolen or otherwise diverted,” said the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) in a report released Wednesday. “Impending operations may force a commander to accept what fuel he can and forgo accountability processes to ensure mission success.” To make matters worse, the illicit sale of fuel on the Afghan black market is considered to be a primary funding stream for the Taliban and other Afghan insurgent groups, according to SIGAR. The conspiracy was a fairly simple operation, but clandestine in nature. Abdullah oversaw the distribution of fuel in the Nangarhar province, which gave him and his fellow conspirators access to the fuel and the papers required to transport it. Working in conjunction with the Afghan contractor, the the group would fill 3,000 gallon trucks, known locally as “jingle trucks” due to their flare and adornments. Abdullah would then forge the transportation movement requests (TMRs) required to move fuel from the base to various locations in the region and provide them to the Afghan contractor, allowing the drivers of the trucks to leave the base with the fuel with no problem. While Charboneau, Abdullah, Hightower and Weaver would eventually be caught and charged for their crimes, another group of soldiers on FOB Fenty continued the operation just months later. Army Sgt. Regionald Dixon, Sgt. 1st Class Marvin Ware and later Spc. Larry Emmons engaged in a similar fuel smuggling operation involving forged TMR documents and an Afghan contractor from December 2011 to February 2012. A mysterious Afghan contractor paid the group $6,000 for each 3,000 gallon truck full of fuel. While investigators have reported the two schemes were separate, it is unclear whether or not both groups were bribed by the same contractor. The second group was eventually caught and prosecuted. A third fuel smuggling case was recently discovered in 2016. Former Army Spc. Sheldon Morgan pleaded guilty to aiding an Afghan contractor in stealing and smuggling fuel out of FOB Fenty. It is unclear whether Morgan was involved or aware of the other two groups, though the dates of the crimes do coincide. At the time of Ware’s indictment, SIGAR chief John Sopko noted his office had recovered $1.6 million in illegal proceeds and $20 million in civil penalties related to fuel smuggling cases. Fuel is considered “liquid gold” in Afghanistan’s notorious black market. The Defense Logistics Agency has supplied more than 2.5 billion gallons of fuel, worth more than $12 billion, to U.S. personnel and the Afghan military as of September 2014. “Almost all the large fuel theft schemes investigated by SIGAR included U.S. military personnel and, in some cases, contract civilian personnel,” noted SIGAR’s report. Corruption in Conflict: Lessons from the U.S. experience in Afghanistan......... https://www.sigar.mil/pdf/LessonsLearned/SIGAR-16-58-LL.pdf Army Soldier Sentenced for Facilitating Thefts of Fuel in Afghanistan......... https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/army-soldier-sentenced-facilitating-thefts-fuel-afghanistan Army Sergeant Indicted For Accepting Bribes From Afghan Trucking Company In Exchange For Stealing Jet Fuel In Afghanistan........... https://www.justice.gov/usao-hi/pr/army-sergeant-indicted-accepting-bribes-afghan-trucking-company-exchange-stealing-jet Army Sergeant Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy in Afghanistan Bribery Scheme.......... https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/army-sergeant-pleads-guilty-conspiracy-afghanistan-bribery-scheme-0

Substituting the standard four 680CCA Group 4 6-volt batteries with either two or three 925CCA Group 31 12-volt batteries was a factory option with the former Mack Trucks, for operators desiring lighter weight for maximum payload.

Now, regarding Volvo's U.S. market Mack brand warranties, you CAN obtain them...........from the State of Ohio. Of course, any ordinarily prudent person would wonder why one can readily obtain a copy of the Mack brand warranties from a U.S. state, but not from the Mack brand itself. http://www.dot.state.oh.us/Divisions/ContractAdmin/Contracts/PurchDocs/023-16/RRTruc01/042016 MACK Standard Truck Warranty Certificate.pdf http://www.dot.state.oh.us/Divisions/ContractAdmin/Contracts/PurchDocs/023-16/RRTruc01/042016 and newer Standard Engine Mack.pdf

Unlike the former Allentown, Pennsylvania-based Mack Trucks, Volvo Group's U.S. Mack brand unit does not publish its warranties (or model spec sheets). Why ? http://www.macktrucks.com/search/?t=warranty&r=us On the other hand, Mack Trucks Australia, does list its warranties for all to see. Now, how hard was that? https://www.macktrucks.com.au/parts-and-services/warranties/

When you called Volvo Group's Mack brand toll-free (U.S. and Canada) at +1 (866) 298-6586, what did they tell you ?

Here's the specific info again...........https://www.motul.com/ca/en-US/products/oils-lubricants/dot-3-4-brake-fluid?f[application]=144&f[range]=25

The New York Times / September 18, 2016 A radical Islamist bomb that injured 29 people on Saturday in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, and another that failed to detonate, were filled with shrapnel and made with pressure cookers, flip phones and Christmas lights that set off a powerful explosive compound. Both bombs were designed to create maximum chaos and fatalities — they also provided a trove of clues even as any suspects remained unnervingly at large. The bomb that exploded, at 23rd Street, was filled with small bearings or metal BBs. A second device on 27th Street that did not explode appeared to be filled with the same material. Radical Islamist Afghan immigrant Ahmad Khan Rahami, age 28, has been arrested in Elizabeth, New Jersey for the bombing and charged with five counts of attempted murder and two gun charges. Bail was set at $5.2 million [Bail ???]. A video places him with a duffel bag at both the 23rd and 27th Street bomb locations. Fingerprints off a cellphone utilized on the improvised bombs identified Rahami. The FBI says Rahami made a trip back to Afghanistan in April 2013, and several to Pakistan over the last decade. He has a firearm license. Officials are increasingly focused on the possibility that the attack was connected to a bombing that took place 11 hours earlier in New Jersey. There, three pipe bombs were tied together, placed in a trash can and also employed by a flip cellphone as a timing mechanism. Only one of the three pipe bombs detonated and no one was injured. The explosive in that device appeared to be black powder. Governor Andrew M. Cuomo said “there is no evidence of an international terrorism connection with this incident.” It was unclear why Governor Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio dismissed with such certainty a tie to international terror. Experts said the New York bomb’s construction offered conflicting clues. The explosive material was similar to a commercially available compound called Tannerite. It is made by combining ammonium nitrate and aluminum powder, is frequently used in exploding targets at firearms ranges and has rarely been used in improvised explosive devices in the United States. But the materials are easy to buy here because each one on its own is not an explosive. At the same time, other evidence from the bomb seemed to point overseas. Pressure cookers have been a container of choice for many improvised explosive devices over the years. They were used in the deadly Boston Marathon bombings in 2013 based on a model in publications put out by Al Qaeda’s affiliate in Yemen. An expert on IEDs used by terrorists around the world said that a device constructed with a cellular phone as a timer and Christmas lights as an initiator would indicate a higher-than-average competence than is usually found in the United States. “Most of what we in the United States is a pipe bomb with black powder or smokeless powder or a simple hobby fuse,” said the expert. “This would be the high-end of sophistication for IEDs in the United States.” Late on Sunday, FBI agents were seen tearing apart a car of an Uber driver, who said the law enforcement officials were searching for possible evidence related to the attack. The bomb in Manhattan was placed under a steel dumpster, and was powerful enough to catapult it across the street. The 29 people who were wounded mostly suffered cuts and abrasions and had all been released from the hospital by Sunday morning. Police Commissioner James O’Neill said the unexploded device was found by two state troopers as they walked down 27th Street after calls to 911 alerted the police to a suspicious device. It was being examined by bomb technicians at a police facility in Rodman’s Neck in the Bronx. .