Laing Industries Blog

Recently, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) conducted tests that show strong side underride guards on tractor trailers are effective for preventing underride crashes. Underride guards are steel bars attached below a trailer to prevent a smaller vehicle from going under the trailer during a crash. The industry knows that rear underride guards are effective in preventing vehicle underride, and the latest IIHS tests further illustrate the importance of countermea

Preventive maintenance (PM) is a fact of life for every fleet, but not all fleets give it enough of the right kind of attention. Some fleets only loosely follow PM guidelines set by the manufacturer and not really know which vehicles are current on their PM service. Other fleets strive to focus a great deal of attention on it, but don't have the people, processes and technology in place to make their PM program as effective as possible. Why Preventive Maintenance Matters A pr

Most truck owner-operators or fleet managers understand, at least in theory, the importance of preventive maintenance (PM). But a lot of owners still don’t plan as well as they could for regular repairs. In this article we’ll look at some of the downsides of not doing regular PM. We’ll also look at: Some reasons why drivers and managers make PM mistakes Why setting aside a dedicated PM budget is such a good idea The downsides of neglecting PM It’s easy to prove the importance

The days of summer are long gone, and with them the opportunities to haul your boat to the nearest waterway for a few laps on the water skis or lazy hours spent fishing. Before winter is firmly entrenched, you need to put your boat in dry dock storage or prep it for storage in your garage throughout the winter months. However, you also have to figure out what to do with your trailer until next summer. Leaving it outside under a tarp all winter is a mistake. If you want to ens

So you own a truck which once looked new and shiny and moved down the road like a shiney stanley cup but has now become worn out and rusty looking? Well it’s natural for any kind of a truck or trailer to become less smoother and shiny looking than it once was. This is where the importance of regular servicing and maintenance comes into play. If you are someone who owns a large fleet of vehicles like buses or trucks then you must make sure that you send them for periodic serv

Laing Truck & Trailer helps fleets keep trailers safe and in compliance. The Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) program, governed by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), is in its fifth year of monitoring vehicle's safety performance and compliance. The program measures safety performance, using inspection and crash results to identify carriers whose behaviors could reasonably lead to crashes. It covers the full spectrum of safety issues, from how da

The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s (CVSA) 30th annual International Roadcheck will take place June 6-8, 2017. Over a 72-hour period, CVSA-certified commercial motor vehicle inspectors in jurisdictions throughout North America will conduct inspections of commercial motor vehicles and their drivers. Each year, International Roadcheck places special emphasis on a category of violations. This year’s focus is cargo securement. While checking for compliance with safe cargo se

If your truck has become hard to steer or there is excessive vibration or shimmy of the front axle, there can be several sources of the problem. The first things to rule out are lack of lubrication and low pressure in the power steering system. Then you have to look at wear in the steering linkage. The problem could be as simple as worn or missing seals but most often it is a worn kingpin. Axle Eye Re-Sleeving The eye that holds the kingpin on each end of the axle will eventu

When it comes to daylight savings, most people set their clocks ahead before they head to bed on Saturday. Isn’t it disconcerting when you wake up Sunday morning and wonder if your clock automatically adjusted the time for you? That’s why I always change the battery-operated and digital clocks in the kitchen. You know, the stove, the microwave and the two battery-powered clocks on the wall. Don’t ask me why we need four clocks in the kitchen, but I find myself looking at each

It’s been 14 years since repairing any trailer’s “ICC bumper” was a simple matter of cutting off the damaged section and welding on a straight piece of angle iron. Most trailers built since Jan. 26, 1998, have been equipped with more complex required rear impact guards that are not only stronger but are designed to absorb shock from a collision. The hope is that the car or light-truck that’s rear-ending the trailer won’t ride under it, and the motorists won’t be decapitated o

We often receives calls from operators asking why their coach tires are wearing oddly or faster than expected. The reasons are generally as varied as the operators themselves. For example, a line-haul or charter operation will generally see different types of tire wear than a transit operation; tires on over-the-road coaches run hotter due to speed and the types of road surface, while a transit coach will see more scuffing and sidewall issues due to more frequent turning. If