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Every company has a budget for truck maintenance. This includes the replacement cost for brake parts, wheels, electronic-related items, and more. What’s often not included in the budget is rust prevention.
Corrosion, however, is a very costly problem to fix. In fact, it is a $2.2-trillion industrial problem.
“The approximate cost of corrosion to U.S society that year [2011] was $460 billion,” said Zane McCarthy, a mechanical engineer and corrosion expert.
McCarthy estimates the cost of corrosion from buildings, roads, and industrial equipment. While corrosion has always been a concern, it has become increasingly problematic over the last seven to eight years. Since the introduction of corrosive road de-icing chemicals that are mixed with binding agents, these chemicals keep material from flowing off the road, but causes corrosion and rust on vehicles.
Penske Truck Leasing has switched to air disc brakes from wide-block S-cam brakes to help control the rust problem.
“We decided to try air disc brakes on a few trucks operating up in the northeast, where those chemicals are used, and we saw a reduction in downtime and repair costs in the first year, said Paul Rosa, the president of Penske Truck Leasing.
Magnesium chloride is another problematic chemical, as it’s more conductive than sodium. It is attracted to electricity and copper, therefore spreads faster.
Instead of throwing money at the problem to try and fix it, there are cost-effective solutions to consider.
McCarthy suggests replacing parts if they study their own corrosion issues, develop a plan to tackle them, or better understand what parts are failing and why.
Source: Todaystrucking.com
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