cteatoday...d’automne. le temps semble s’écouler beaucoup plus rapi-dement que l’année...

TodayCTEAThe official publication of the Canadian Transportation Equipment Association

Fall 2012

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Missed and Misplaced Lights

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4 Canadian Transportation Equipment Association

Fall 2012 7

Fall 2012CTEA TODAY PublishED FOr: The Canadian Transportation Equipment Association 16 Barrie Boulevard, Unit 3B St. Thomas, Ontario N5P 4B9 Tel: (519) 631-0414 Fax: (519) 631-1333 [email protected] www.ctea.ca

CTEA sTAFF: Donald (Don) E. Moore, P. Eng. Executive Director [email protected]

Lynn Eden Director of Administration and Member Services [email protected]

Eddy Tschirhart Director of Technical Programs [email protected]

Jeremy Harrower Manager, Technical Programs [email protected]

Stan Delaney Communications Administrator [email protected]

CTEA bOArD: Kevin Last President

Brian Scales Vice President

Gary Greer, P.Eng, Director

Suzy Léveillé Director

Steve McManus Director

John Michel Director

John Procter Director

Luc Stang Director

David Tremblay Director

contentsMESSAGES: 9 A Message from the CTEA President, Kevin Last |

Message du Président l’AETC Kevin Last

15 A Message from the CTEA Executive Director, Don Moore | Message du Directeur exécutif l’AETC Don Moore

SPECIAL SECTION:48 CTEA’s 49th Manufacturer’s Conference -

Preliminary Program

ON THE COVER:22 Missed and Misplaced Lights on Trucks and Trailers |

Feux manquants ou mal placés sur les camions et les remorques

FEATURES:36 Load Equalization Across Suspension: Yes, It Can Be Done!

40 An Education in Importation: The New Curriculum | Les nouveautés au sujet de l’importation

45 Corrosion: Options that Can Lessen the Impact of the Season

DEPARTMENTS:52 Member Profile: Vanvouver Axle & Frame

55 Tools of the Trade

57 News and Views

58 Buyer’s Guide

PublishED bY: Matrix Group Publishing Inc. Publication Mail Agreement Number: 40609661 Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: 52 Donald Street, Suite 300 Winnipeg, MB R3C 1L6 Toll Free Phone: (866) 999-1299 Toll Free Fax: (866) 244-2544 [email protected] www.matrixgroupinc.net

PRESIDENT & CEO Jack Andress

CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER Jessica Potter [email protected]

PUBLISHER Peter Schulz

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Shannon Savory [email protected]

EDITOR Alexandra Walld [email protected]

FINANCE/ACCOUNTING & ADMINISTRATION Shoshana Weinberg, Pat Andress, Nathan Redekop [email protected]

DIRECTOR OF MARKETING & CIRCULATION Shoshana Weinberg

SALES MANAGER – WINNIPEG Neil Gottfred

SALES MANAGER – HAMILTON Brian Davey

TEAM LEADER Robert Choi

MATRIx GROUP PUBLISHING INC. ACCOUNT ExECUTIVES Brian MacIntyre, Brodie Armes, Christopher Smith, Colleen Bell, Courtney Green, David Roddie, David Wilson, Declan O’Donovan, Jeff Boyle, Jeff Cash, Jim Hamilton, Ken Percival, Marc Blais, Melissa Walker, Miles Meagher, Monique Simons, Rick Kuzie, Robert Allan, Robert Choi, Ronald Guerra, Sandi Aquino, Wilma Gray-Rose

LAyOUT & DESIGN Cody Chomiak

ADVERTISING DESIGN James Robinson

©2012 Matrix Group Publishing Inc. All rights reserved. Contents may not be reproduced by any means, in whole or in part, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

On the cover: This issue's cover features vehicles from CTEA member

companies (clockwise, starting at the top left) C & M Assemblies, Harper Ontario Truck Centres, Cobra

Trailer Manufacturing Inc., Barton Truck Centre Ltd., Mustang Well Services Ltd., BIK Hydraulics Ltd., and

Euroway Industrial Service Co. Ltd.

Fall 2012 9

messages•messagesinfrenchpresident’smessage•lemessageduprésident

As I Look out of my office window, I’m noticing that the daylight hours are disappearing a lot earlier now. The outside air has a little crispness to it and the leaves are all turning the beautiful autumn colors. This year seems to be rolling along far quicker than the previous year did.

The past year has provided somewhat of an upturn in our dismal economic state; it has been slight but at times the economy, especially out west, has been booming. We, in the trucking and transportation industry, are one of the vital com-ponents that constantly drive Canada’s economic status from coast to coast. I guarantee that very few of us actually think of how important the trucking industry is to our economic status. Trucks quietly, consistently and effectively keep things moving because that is what our industry is all about. But we should all occasionally remember just how important the trucking industry is to Canada’s communities and our daily lives. If you got it, a truck brought it. It doesn’t get much sim-pler than that.

The grocery chains depend on the trucks bringing in fresh and packaged foods on a daily basis. The automotive industry relies on trucking to bring it fuel and associated fluids, and replacement parts on a daily basis. The medical and health facilities depend on trucking services to provide them with their medications, supplies, radiopharmaceuticals and oxygen regularly. The waste industry, whether domestic or industrial, relies on the trucks on a regular basis to transport garbage, chemical and medical waste. Hazardous waste, such as bat-teries, oil, asbestos and solvents are transported to a facility where they can be properly disposed of.

Even banking businesses use the trucking industry to pick up bank notes and coins via armored security trucks. Trucks carry clothing, lumber or computers and vehicles to distribu-tors and retailers all over the country. That being said, you can see how important every single CTEA member is to the Canadian economy.

The truck dealers provide a product which then, in turn, goes out to the various intermediate and final-stage manu-factures to up-fit with the applicable body or equipment. The trailer manufacturers provide a much needed rolling chassis

Lorsque je regArde par la fenêtre de mon bureau, j’ai l’impression que les heures de clarté commencent à diminuer plus tôt qu’auparavant. À l’extérieur, l’air est frais et les feuilles commencent à prendre une belle teinte d’automne. Le temps semble s’écouler beaucoup plus rapi-dement que l’année dernière.

La dernière année, nous avons assisté à un certain redressement de l’économie, qui était assez chancelan-te. Certes, la reprise a été limitée, mais dans certains cas, l’économie a prospéré, surtout dans l’ouest du pays. L’industrie du camionnage et du transport représente un élément moteur de l’économie canadienne. Chose certaine, il est très rare que nous pensions vraiment à l’importance de notre industrie pour la situation économique nationale. Les camions font constamment bouger les choses, quoique discrètement, et le font de façon efficace; c’est le fonde-ment même de notre industrie. Cependant, nous devrions tous, à l’occasion, nous rappeler l’importance de l’industrie du camionnage pour les communautés du Canada et notre vie quotidienne. Tout ce que vous avez à la maison, c’est arrivé par camion. Aussi simple que cela.

Les épiceries se fient aux camions afin de recevoir chaque jour des produits alimentaires frais et emballés. L’industrie automobile fait de même pour obtenir le carbu-rant, les liquides et les pièces de rechange nécessaires. Les établissements de soins de santé dépendent des camions pour recevoir régulièrement des médicaments, des fourni-tures, des produits radiopharmaceutiques et de l’oxygène. Le secteur de la gestion des déchets dépend des camions pour le transport des déchets chimiques, médicaux et autres, qu’il s’agisse d’ordures ménagères ou de déchets industriels. Sans compter les déchets dangereux, tels les piles, l’huile, l’amiante et les solvants, qui doivent être acheminés à un centre où l’on peut les éliminer correcte-ment.

On peut même penser au secteur bancaire, où l’on utili-se des camions blindés pour recueillir les billets de banque et les pièces de monnaie. Les camions permettent de four-nir vêtements, bois d’œuvre, ordinateurs et véhicules à des

Kevin LastPresident, CTEA

Continued on page 11

HelloCTEA Members

Bonjour à tous les membres de l’AETC

Suite à la page 11

Fall 2012 11

Continued from page 9

Suite de la page 9

Continued on page 12 Suite à la page 12

to which the end-user will configure with the appropriate equipment. All of our membership is involved in these modi-fications, whether it be one of the fastener companies, axle companies, suspension, brake components, wheel ends, etc., we are all a very vital cog in the truck and trailer equipment that Canadians depend on every day to transport their goods.

At the CTEA, we’re constantly keeping up with all pro-vincial and federal regulations—present, past and proposed. We’re currently doing testing on the Truck CMVSS 121. You can access information on this test on our website, www.ctea.ca. Speaking of our website, we, on the board of directors, will be working on updating the look and ease of navigation to make our site as interesting and informative as possible. We will be providing our CTEA members with a current and pro-gressive website to surf at their leisure.

The SPIF program is also in the CTEA crosshairs, with our staff providing all of the information our members are look-ing to obtain on this subject. Eddy, Don, Lynn, Jeremy and all of the CTEA support staff are constantly available for any of your questions or concerns on various matters arising in the industry. They are very intelligent and well-informed—our CTEA members should feel very privileged to have these fine people an e-mail or phone call away. You can obtain the

We,inthetruckingandtransportationindustry,areoneofthevitalcomponentsthatconstantlydriveCanada’seconomicstatusfromcoast to coast.

president’smessage•lemessageduprésident

distributeurs et détaillants partout au pays. Ainsi, on peut saisir l’importance de chacun des membres de l’AETC pour l’économie canadienne.

Les fournisseurs de camions offrent un produit qui est acheminé à divers fabricants des étapes intermédiaire et finale, qui eux installent la carrosserie ou l’équipement requis. Les fabricants de remorques fournissent quant à eux un châs-sis roulant, composante extrêmement importante sur laquelle l’utilisateur final installe l’équipement approprié. Tous nos membres participent à ce processus. Qu’il s’agisse de four-nisseurs de pièces de fixation, d’essieux, de suspensions, de freins, d’extrémités de roues ou d’autres composantes, cha-cun joue un rôle essentiel dans la production d’équipement de camion et de remorque dont dépendent chaque jour les Canadiens pour le transport des marchandises.

À l’AETC, nous demeurons constamment au fait de tous les règlements provinciaux et fédéraux, que ce soit les règlements actuels, les anciens règlements ou les pro-jets de règlement. Nous effectuons actuellement des essais pour la NSVAC 12. Vous pouvez obtenir des renseigne-ments à ce sujet sur notre site Web, à l’adresse www.ctea.ca. D’ailleurs, en ce qui concerne le site, les membres du conseil d’administration entendent en améliorer l’aspect et la convivialité afin de le rendre le plus intéressant et le plus informatif possible. Les membres de l’AETC auront donc un site Web moderne et évolutif qu’ils pourront consulter à leur gré.

L’AETC s’intéresse également à la réglementation SPNPI, et notre personnel s’emploie à fournir toute l’in-formation que nos membres souhaitent obtenir à ce sujet. Eddy, Don, Lynn, Jeremy et tout le personnel de soutien de l’AETC sont toujours à votre disposition et se feront un plaisir de répondre à vos questions ou préoccupations concernant les divers sujets liés à notre industrie. Ce sont des personnes très intelligentes et bien informées – les membres de l’AETC peuvent se compter chanceux, puisqu’un courriel ou un coup de téléphone suffit à les joindre. Les adresses de messagerie électronique sont four-nies à l’adresse www.ctea.ca. Sur notre site, les membres ont également accès à des liens fort utiles de sources fédé-rales, provinciales et américaines.


president’smessage•lemessageduprésident

Continued from page 11 Suite de la page 11

appropriate e-mail addresses at www.ctea.ca. On the website, our membership has full access to federal, provincial and USA informative links.

We are closing in on our 49th annual CTEA Conference in Montreal—the home of my beloved HABS—from November 5-7, 2012. Who knows if the NHL will be play-ing come conference time; we’ll have the honor and privi-lege of spending the evening listening to the former coach of Les Habitants, Jacques Demers, as our guest speaker —once again, well done Board of Directors, on a remark-able job!

Speaking of the Board of Directors, they include Brian Scales, David Tremblay, Gary Greer, John Proctor, John Michel, Luc Stang, Steve McManus and Suzi Leveille. Without these special individuals, we wouldn’t be moving ahead in the CTEA. These individuals volunteer their time and intelligence to make the CTEA the best association it can be, so at the AGM breakfast, I would encourage all of you to not only come out and vote but to acknowledge the efforts of these individu-als as well. You may also listen to my speech—earplugs will be provided for those individuals not wishing to hear such a great drafted paper. Let’s make this conference and this association something to be valued and remembered from now and well into the future years.

“Keep smiling, it makes people wonder what you are up to!” See you in Montreal! l

La 49e conférence annuelle de l’AETC arrive à grands pas. Elle se tiendra du 5 au 7 novembre 2012 à Montréal, domicile de mes Canadiens bien-aimés. Qui sait s’il y aura des matchs de la LNH au moment de la conférence. Quoi qu’il en soit, nous aurons l’honneur et le privilège de pas-ser une soirée en compagnie de Jacques Demers, ancien entraîneur-chef des Habitants, qui agira comme conféren-cier. Une fois de plus, on se doit de lever notre chapeau aux membres du conseil d’administration, qui ont fait tout un travail!

Le conseil d’administration comprend Brian Scales, David Tremblay, Gary Greer, John Proctor, John Michel, Luc Stang, Steve McManus et Suzi Leveille. Sans ces gens extraordinaires, l’AETC ne ferait pas autant de progrès. Ces personnes consacrent leur temps et leur talent à faire de l’AETC la meilleure association possible. Voilà pourquoi je vous invite tous à assister au déjeuner de l’assemblée générale annuelle, non seulement pour voter, mais égale-ment pour souligner leur travail. Vous pourrez également entendre mon discours – des bouchons d’oreille seront offerts à ceux qui ne tiennent pas à entendre mon allocu-tion, qui aura été rédigée d’une main de maître. Faisons de cette conférence un événement agréable et marquant dont on se souviendra pendant plusieurs années.

Gardez le sourire; les gens se demanderont ce que vous mijotez! Rendez-vous à Montréal! l

Fall 2012 13

SErving Our MEMbErSThe CTEA serves its members, commercial vehicle manufacturers (trucks

and trailers), their dealers, distributors, component manufacturers and ser-vice providers in the Canadian marketplace.

The association promotes excellence in commercial vehicle manufacturing through the development of standard practices. We also initiate and encou-rage research and development programs to improve component and vehicle design.

Acting as a spokesperson and liaison between the industry and govern-ment ministries, the CTEA promotes public awareness of the industry and its importance to the economy, maintains a complete industry data base and provides a forum for networking within the industry.

The CTEA is the only not-for-profit trade association in Canada that addresses the specific needs of commercial vehicle manufacturers. Our mem-bers’ products are primarily heavy duty vehicles (80 per cent) with a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) exceeding 14,970 kgs or 33,001 lbs. The remaining 20 per cent have a GVWR of 4,537 kg or 10,000 lbs.

Our funding is generated from annual membership dues and the delivery of fee-generating programs and services. Our programs and some services are tailored to enhance members’ manufacturing capabilities and/or help them conform to the Canada Motor Vehicle Safety Act (CMVSA) and its Regulations and Standards. While the CMVSA is our primary focus, the asso-ciation also helps members comply with other legislated requirements, like vehicle weights and dimensions, load security, wheel-end safety, and suspen-sions (liftable /steerable axles), to name just a few.

Au SErviCE dE nOS MEMbrESL’AETC est au service de ses membres, des fabricants de véhicules commer-

ciaux (camions et remorques), des concessionnaires, des distributeurs, des fabri-cants de composantes et de fournisseurs de services sur le marché canadien.

Elle tend à promouvoir l’excellence dans le domaine de la fabrication de véhi-cules commerciaux en mettant en place des pratiques normalisées. De plus, elle met en œuvre et appuie des programmes de recherche et de développement dans le but d’améliorer la conception des composantes et des véhicules.

Agissant comme porte-parole de l’industrie et comme intermédiaire entre celle-ci et les ministères, l’AETC souhaite sensibiliser la population à l’industrie et à son importance pour l’économie. Elle tient également une base de données exhaustive de l’industrie et offre des possibilités de réseautage aux intervenants du secteur.

L’AETC est la seule association professionnelle canadienne sans but lucra-tif qui traite des besoins particuliers des fabricants de véhicules commerciaux. Les produits de nos membres comprennent principalement les véhicules lourds (80 pour cent) qui présentent un poids nominal brut du véhicule (PNBV) de plus de 14 970 kg (33 001 lb). Les 20 pour cent restants sont des véhicules qui affi-chent un PNBV de 4 537 kg (10 000 lb).

Nos fonds proviennent des cotisations annuelles et de la prestation de program-mes et de services générateurs de recettes. Nos programmes et certains de nos ser-vices visent à accroître la capacité de fabrication de nos membres ou à les aider à se conformer à la Loi sur la sécurité automobile du Canada, ainsi qu’aux règlements et normes connexes. Bien qu’elle s’intéresse surtout à la Loi sur la sécurité auto-mobile du Canada, l’AETC aide aussi les membres à respecter d’autres exigences prévues par la loi, notamment en ce qui concerne le poids et les dimensions des véhicules, la fixation des charges, la sécurité des extrémités de roue et les suspen-sions (essieux relevables/orientables), pour ne nommer que ces éléments.

Fall 2012 15

I wouLd LIke to clarify an issue related to my message in the Spring 2012 issue of CTEA Today. In my discussion I stated that, “...vehicles imported using the RIV process cannot be imported for the purpose of resale.” Our under-standing at that time was that this was generally true, but since then, we’ve had discussions with Transport Canada that provided a clearer interpretation of the requirements.

Our understanding now is that NEW Canadian compli-ant vehicles with a Canadian Compliance Label attached by the manufacturer(s) cannot be imported using the RIV pro-cess. A vehicle is considered “NEW” when it is purchased directly from a manufacturer. Acquisition documents must clearly indicate a purchase at the manufacturing level. These vehicles would be imported either via pre-clearance Appendix F, G or, for those companies not on pre-clearance, using the normal importation method on a case-by-case basis, with an authorization letter obtained from Transport Canada prior to importation.

A vehicle manufactured for the United States market with a United States (FMVSS) Compliance Label or a vehicle bearing both CMVSS and FMVSS certification labels can go through the RIV process and be resold in Canada.

Environment Canada’s proposed Heavy-duty vehicle and Engine greenhouse gas Emission regulations: What they might mean for you in 2014

Well...if you’re a trailer manufacturer only, you can prob-ably ignore the rest of my rambling—but for everyone else, this proposal may likely affect you in some way, and if it goes unchanged to a final regulation, it won’t likely be a positive effect.

Environment Canada (EC) published Part I of its proposed Heavy-duty Vehicle and Engine Greenhouse Gas Emission regulation in the Canada Gazette on Saturday, April 14, 2012. This regulation, including preamble in English and French, took up some 115 pages in the Gazette, so as you can imagine, it took some time to work through it.

The emission limits themselves are in line with the United States EPA requirements, and based on the responses from the Truck & Engine Manufacturers Association (EMA) and the National Truck Equipment Association (NTEA) to EPA and the United States National Transportation Safety

j’AIMerAIs Apporter queLques précisions concernant un énoncé que j’ai fait dans le numéro du printemps 2012 d’AETC aujourd’hui. Dans mon message, j’avais affirmé

que les véhicules importés en utilisant le processus d’inscrip-tion au Registraire des véhicules importés (RVI) ne pouvaient pas être destinés à la revente. À ce moment, nous croyions que c’était généralement le cas, mais après nous être entre-tenus avec Transports Canada, nous comprenons mieux les exigences.

Nous savons maintenant que les véhicules NEUFS accompagnés d’une étiquette de conformité canadienne apposée par le ou les fabricants ne peuvent être importés en utilisant le processus d’inscription au RVI. Un véhi-cule est considéré NEUF lorsqu’on l’achète directement du fabricant. Les documents d’acquisition doivent indiquer clairement que l’achat a été effectué auprès du fabricant. Ces véhicules seraient importés dans le cadre du pro-gramme de prédédouanement (Mémorandum D19-12-1, Annexe F ou G), ou dans le cas des sociétés qui ne sont pas admissibles au prédédouanement, en utilisant le processus normal d’importation. Pour ces sociétés, on procède au cas par cas, et il faut obtenir une lettre d’autorisation de Transports Canada avant l’importation.

Les véhicules fabriqués pour le marché des États-Unis qui comportent une étiquette de conformité américaine (FMVSS), de même que ceux qui comportent à la fois une étiquette NSVAC et une étiquette FMVSS peuvent être ins-crits au RVI et revendus au Canada.

Projet de règlement d’Environnement Canada sur les émissions de gaz à effet de serre des véhicules lourds et de leurs moteurs : répercussions possibles en 2014

Si vous fabriquez seulement des remorques, vous pou-vez sans doute sauter le reste de mes propos. Pour les autres, ce projet de règlement risque bien de vous toucher d’une façon ou d’une autre. S’il est adopté tel quel de façon définitive, les effets ne seront sans doute pas positifs.

Environnement Canada (EC) a publié son projet de règlement sur les gaz à effet de serre des véhicules lourds et de leurs moteurs dans la Partie I de la Gazette du Canada le samedi 14 avril 2012. Ce projet de règlement,

Don MooreExecutive Director,

CTEA

Concerns About Proposed Greenhouse Gas Rule

Préoccupations au sujet de la règle proposée Greenhouse Gas


executivedirector’smessage•messagedudirecteurgénéral

Fall 2012 17



Administration (NHTSA), I’m inclined to believe that the United States chassis manufacturers and up-fitters feel they can meet the EPA and NHTSA requirements on schedule. So, the actual emissions aren’t so much an issue, since we use the same chassis in Canada.

The problems start to appear when delving into the “Made-in-Canada” part of the EC regulations. These requirements include labeling, documentation and reporting for the multi-stage manufacturing community—namely, our industry. The proposed requirements exempt any company that manufac-tures or imports 100 vehicles or less per year from a portion of the requirements but that still leaves a number of our mem-bers with new obligations under these proposed regulations, and even these small companies will have some reporting requirements to add to their list of challenges.

In a nutshell, Environment Canada is trying to parallel the requirements Transport Canada put on the multi-stage industry back in 2003 under Sections 6 and 9 of the Motor Vehicle Safety Regulations. In other words, an Incomplete Vehicle Document (IVD) supplied by the Incomplete Vehicle Manufacturer (the OEM chassis manufacturer) will be required to have a statement regarding emissions, and all subsequent manufacturers (i.e., intermediate and final stage) must include an addendum with the IVD indicating how they have modified the vehicle and whether or not they have affected the emissions and what they have done to ensure the vehicle still complies or is covered by emissions credits. The intermediate and final stage manufactures must also apply a compliance label to the vehicle, which includes their National Emissions Mark, which they must apply for from the Minister of the Environment.

Now, on the more positive side, the IVD and labels can be the ones that are already being placed on the vehicle by the manufacturers but with the additional information required.


y compris le préambule en français et en anglais, compte environ 115 pages. Vous comprendrez donc qu’il a fallu un certain temps pour l’étudier.

Les limites des émissions concordent avec celles qui sont prescrites dans les exigences de l’EPA des États-Unis, et d’après les réponses de la Truck & Engine Manufacturers Association (EMA) et de la National Truck Equipment Association (NTEA) formulées auprès de l’EPA et de la National Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) des États-Unis, les fabricants de châssis et les installateurs américains semblent croire qu’ils seront en mesure de se conformer aux exigences de l’EPA et de la NHTSA dans les délais prévus. Par conséquent, les émissions en soi ne devraient pas poser de problème, puisque nous utilisons les mêmes châssis au Canada.

Les choses se compliquent lorsque l’on entre dans la partie du projet de règlement qui touche spécialement la fabrication au Canada. Ces exigences s’appliquent à l’éti-quetage, aux documents et à la déclaration pour le milieu de la fabrication à étapes multiples – notre industrie. On propose une exemption d’une partie des exigences pour toute société qui fabrique ou importe 100 véhicules ou moins par année. Toutefois, cela laisse un nombre impor-tant de nos membres qui devront composer avec de nou-velles obligations, et même les sociétés qui bénéficient de cette exemption devront respecter certaines exigences en matière de déclaration, ce qui viendra compliquer les cho-ses pour elles aussi.

En résumé, Environnement Canada cherche à établir des exigences comparables à celles qu’a appliquées Transports Canada à l’industrie de la fabrication à étapes multiples en 2003, aux termes des articles 6 et 9 du Règlement sur la sécurité des véhicules automobiles. Ainsi, un document de véhicule incomplet (DVI) remis par le fabricant de

Mymainquestionafteranumberofpassesthroughthisproposedregulationis,“Whatisbeinggainedbythenewdocumentationandreportingrequirements?”

Aprèsavoirexaminéplusieursfoisleprojetderèglement,jenepeuxquemedemanderquelssontlesavantagesdesnouvellesexigencesrelativesauxdocumentsetàladéclaration.





Unfortunately, the compliance label is already pretty large and there is less room available on the truck cab door jams as it is.

In addition to these documentation requirements, the proposal spells out reporting requirements for all manufactur-ers and importers of HD vehicles and engines. Now, I have been assured by EC that most of our members will simply have to provide an annual statement that advises EC that they do not affect the emissions of the vehicles they modify. Note that, in the case of a vocational truck, this now also means you can’t touch the existing tires or add steer or drive tires that aren’t exactly the same as those originally provided by the original chassis manufacturer.

My understanding is also that up-fitters manufacturing over 100 vehicles per year must also use the free GEM soft-ware from EPA to analyze the vehicles and provide this infor-mation with their annual report to EC. The software can be downloaded at www.epa.gov/oms/climate/gem.htm.

My main question after a number of passes through this proposed regulation is, “What is being gained by the new documentation and reporting requirements?” I understand why there are multi-stage requirements from TC. All multi-stage manufacturers touch at least CMVSS 108 and either 105 or 121. Others affect even more of the safety regulations dur-ing their modification processes.

véhicules incomplets (le fabricant de châssis d’origine) devra comprendre un énoncé concernant les émissions, et tous les fabricants suivants (étapes intermédiaire et finale) devront joindre un addenda au DVI qui précisera de quelle façon le véhicule a été modifié, si cela a une incidence sur les émissions et les mesures prises pour que le véhicule demeure conforme ou soit couvert par les crédits d’émis-sions. Les fabricants des étapes intermédiaire et finale doi-vent également appliquer une étiquette de conformité au véhicule, qui comprend leur marque nationale de sécurité. Pour obtenir cette marque, les fabricants doivent faire une demande auprès du ministre de l’Environnement.

Sur une note plus positive, pour le DVI et les étiquettes, on peut utiliser ce que les fabricants fournissent actuel-lement avec le véhicule; il suffit d’y ajouter l’information requise. Malheureusement, l’étiquette de conformité prend déjà beaucoup de place, et il y a très peu d’espace sur le montant des portières.

Outre ces exigences relatives aux documents, le projet de règlement comprend des exigences en matière de décla-ration pour tous les fabricants et importateurs de véhicules lourds et de leurs moteurs. Environnement Canada m’a garanti que la majorité de nos membres n’auront qu’à pré-senter une déclaration annuelle dans laquelle ils affirme-ront que les modifications apportées aux véhicules n’ont

Fall 2012 19




As far as engine emissions devices and steering and drive tires, I would hazard to say that our members typically don’t touch these items. As far as emissions control on the engine, we’ve known since 2007 that they are “off-limits”. If we look at tires, auxiliary tires aren’t addressed by the GEM program and my understanding is that if intermediate and final-stage manufacturers add forced steer or drive axle tires, they use the same as OEM. So, what is the point of a negative response to EC year after year? We have a classic example here where the government is adding unnecessary cost and burdensome regulation with little or no overall benefit. They are also likely adding additional administrative cost to the regulatory process within EC based on the need to process National Environment Mark applications and annual reports, etc.

It should be noted that the United States regulations (they have two: GHG emissions from EPA and fuel economy from NHTSA) don’t include any of the documentation or reporting from the multi-stage manufacturers.

The CTEA has taken the following actions in order to voice our concerns to EC:

We surveyed our membership to understand what num-•bers they are actually manufacturing and what modifica-tions they may be doing in regards to tires and engines; andWe responded to Environment Canada formally, pointing •out where their documentation, labeling and reporting

aucune incidence sur les émissions. Soulignons que pour les camions spécialisés, cela signifie également que l’on ne peut plus toucher aux pneus existants ou ajouter des pneus d’essieu moteur ou directeur qui ne sont pas identiques à ceux qui ont été fournis par le fabricant initial du châssis.

D’après ce que je comprends, ceux qui fabriquent plus de 100 véhicules par année doivent également utiliser le logiciel gratuit GEM de l’EPA afin d’analyser les véhicules, en plus de fournir les résultats de ces analyses dans le rap-port annuel qu’ils remettent à Environnement Canada. Le logiciel est offert à l’adresse suivante : www.epa.gov/oms/climate/gem.htm.

Après avoir examiné plusieurs fois le projet de règle-ment, je ne peux que me demander quels sont les avanta-ges des nouvelles exigences relatives aux documents et à la déclaration. Je comprends pourquoi Transports Canada applique des exigences aux étapes multiples de la fabrica-tion. En effet, les fabricants sont tous assujettis à tout le moins aux dispositions de la NSVAC 108 et à celles de la NSVAC 105 ou 121. Les modifications peuvent aussi avoir une incidence par rapport à d’autres règlements en matière de sécurité.

En ce qui concerne les dispositifs de réduction des émis-sions sur les moteurs et les pneus d’essieu moteur ou direc-teur, je serais tenté d’affirmer que nos membres y touchent


l’industrie de la fabrication à étapes multiples.

L’AETC a pris les mesures suivan-tes afin d’exprimer nos inquiétudes auprès d’Environnement Canada :

Nous avons mené un sondage •auprès de nos membres afin de savoir combien de véhicules ils fabriquaient et quelles étaient les modifications qu’ils apportaient aux pneus et aux moteurs; etNous avons présenté une réponse •officielle à Environnement Canada, en donnant les raisons pour les-quelles leurs exigences relatives aux documents, à l’étiquetage et à la déclaration sont superflues, en nous appuyant sur le sondage et nos arguments.A y a n t t e r m i n é l e t o u t l e

11 juin 2012, nous avons respecté le délai dont nous disposions pour réagir, qui était de 60 jours suivant la date du 14 avril 2012.

De plus, nous avons rencontré les représentants de Transports Canada lors d’une consultation tenue le 30 mai 2012 afin de réitérer nos pré-occupations, et nous nous sommes entretenus maintes fois au téléphone afin de discuter des enjeux et d’ap-porter des précisions.

Le projet de règlement est dis-ponible en ligne à l ’adresse sui-vante : www.gazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/p1/2012/2012-04-14/html/reg1-fra.html. Nous vous invitons à le lire et à fournir vos observations. N’hésitez pas à communiquer avec le minis-tre de l’Environnement Peter Kent, à l’adresse [email protected], ou avec votre député pour faire connaître de vos préoccupations.

La Partie II de la Gazette du Canada (règlements officiels) n’avait pas encore été publiée au moment où j’ai écrit ces lignes. Ainsi, il n’est peut-être pas trop tard pour expri-mer vos préoccupations, même si la période de commentaires officielle est déjà passée. Si quelque chose a changé depuis, j’aurai avisé tous nos membres directement par courrier électronique ou dans le bulletin men-suel CTEA eXpress. l

rarement. Pour ce qui est des disposi-tifs sur le moteur, nous savons depuis 2007 qu’il ne faut pas y toucher. Dans le cas des pneus, on constate que les pneus auxiliaires ne sont pas compris dans le programme GEM, et selon ce que je sais, lorsque les fabricants des étapes intermédiaire et finale ajoutent des pneus d’essieu moteur ou direc-teur, ils utilisent les mêmes pneus que l’équipementier. Alors, pourquoi réa-gissons-nous négativement aux pro-positions d’Environnement Canada chaque année? Et bien, nous avons ici le parfait exemple d’un règlement qui, s’il est adopté, entraînera des coûts inutiles, les avantages étant négligea-bles, voire inexistants. De plus, il y aura sans doute une augmentation des frais d’administration associés au processus de réglementation d’En-vironnement Canada, en raison du traitement des demandes de marque nationale de sécurité, des rapports annuels, etc., qui devra être effectué.

Il faut souligner que les règle-ments des États-Unis – on en compte deux, celui de l’EPA qui s’applique aux émissions de GES et celui de la NHTSA qui s’applique à l’économie de carburant – ne comportent aucune exigence concernant les documents à présenter ou la déclaration pour

requirements are redundant and unnecessary, based on both the sur-vey and the arguments.These efforts were completed by

June 11, 2012, to be within the 60 days from the April 14, 2012 deadline to respond.

In addition, we met with Transport Canada at a Consultation Session on May 30, 2012 to further reinforce these concerns and have had numerous tele-phone conversations to discuss and clarify the issues.

If you wish to review the regula-tions, please find them at www.gazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/p1/2012/2012-04-14/html/reg1-eng.html. Please do so if you can, and provide any comments you may have. Also, don’t hesitate to contact Environment Canada Minister Peter Kent at [email protected], and/or your local member of Parliament regarding the issues.

T h e G a z e t t e P a r t I I ( F i n a l Regulations) had not been published when I wrote this, so there may still be time to voice concerns even though the official comment period has passed. If anything has happened between then and now, I will have notified all members via direct e-mail or through our monthly newsletter, CTEA eXpress. l



Fall 2012 21


onthecover•surlacouverture


Feux manquants ou mal placés


sur les camions et les remorques

Fall 2012 23


en 10 Ans de travail à l’Association d’équipement de trans-port du Canada (AETC), j’ai vu de l’équipement de camions et de remorques construit de part et d’autre du pays. Là où j’en suis dans ma carrière, je sais ce que certains installateurs ont tendance à oublier et ce que les réparateurs laissent passer à leur tour. Les problèmes d’éclairage ne sont pas associés seule-ment aux remorques ou aux camions; ils touchent les deux.

D’abord, laissez-moi présenter mes excuses en avance à toute personne qui serait froissée par ce je vais dire—je ne fais que rapporter ce que je vois. Bien que les problèmes de feux manquants ou mal placés ne soient pas associés unique-ment aux bennes basculantes, c’est certainement à cet endroit que j’en vois le plus. Je tiens aussi à mettre une chose clai-re—et j’espère que ce sera très clair—les bennes basculantes présentent certains problèmes inhérents à leur utilisation. On peut penser à l’asphalte chaud, aux épandeurs d’asphalte, aux

durIng the LAst 10 years working with the CTEA, I have seen truck and trailer equipment that has been manu-factured across the country. By this point in my career, I have seen some common trends as to what some up-fitters are missing and what repair services are, in turn, missing or overlooking. Lighting deficiencies are not specific to trailers or trucks; they are found with both.

Upfront, I’m going to put out an apology for any bruis-ing the following statement may cause but I’m stating the facts only as I see them. Dump body installations don’t carry all of the lighting deficiencies but they seem to be where I’ve seen most of the missing and misplaced light-ing. Now, I also wish to make something else clear—very clear, I know—dump bodies do have inherent issues with their applications, such as hot asphalt, interaction with asphalt spreaders, chip and stone spreaders, shoulder spreaders and some other types of road building and main-tenance equipment. The shortcoming of missing and mis-placed lighting can come first from the up-fitter, the body installer to the truck chassis; secondly from the repair and service provider of the unit; thirdly, the folks responsible for carrying out the annual Periodic Commercial Motor Vehicle Inspections (PMVI); and fourthly, from enforce-ment of the regulations at roadside, etc. Imagine, required lighting missed by a minimum of four parties!

By Eddy Tschirhart Par Eddy Tschirhart


Pourquelesexigencesrelativesàl’éclairagedel’arrièred’uncamionoud’uneremorquesoientremplies,ilfautauminimumseptfeuxenétatdemarcheavecdesréflecteurs,chacundevantêtreplacéaubonendroit...Danslecasdesremorques,enplusdesseptfeux,ilfautrespecterlesexigencesrelativesausystèmedeperceptibilité.Pourlesremorquesetlescamionsorteurs,lalampedeplaqued’immatriculationestobligatoire.

Fortherearofatruckoratrailertomeetlightingrequirements,thereisaminimumofsevenrunninglampsalongwithreflectorsandtheyhavetobeinthecorrectlocations...Fortrailers,inadditiontothesevenlamps,thereistheneedtomeetconspicuitytreatmentrequirements.Inthecaseoftrailerandstraighttruck,licenselampisrequired.

messages•messagesinfrench


At times, lighting, especially with specialty equipment, seems to appear as an afterthought. By this, I mean the vehicle may have been ready and done, and all of a sudden, wow, we have to install lighting. If this is the case, there are some real dangers for the up-fitter, such as how to mount them, and to what? Remember I do come from the up-fitting industry myself, with 30-plus years of experience. I will also make a clarification statement that, for the most part, the likes of van body installations rate about as good as anything for lighting. The biggest downfall I see with them is the “not having the stop/turn/tail lamps set apart as far as practicable. We’ll dis-cuss this in more detail further on.

The provinces and the territories have accepted National Safety Code (NSC) 11, which is a standard for vehicles in those jurisdictions to meet the annual PMVI Inspections. Before I go any further, I must explain NSC 11. NSC 11 is broken into two sections: NSC 11 Part A and NSC 11 Part B. NSC 11 A contains the mandatory standards for a commercial vehicle maintenance program and presents the minimum criteria which would be audited by a province or territory of a carrier’s operation.

épandeurs de pierre concassée, aux épandeurs pour accote-ment et à d’autres types d’équipement de construction et d’en-tretien des routes que l’on utilise avec elles. L’oubli ou l’erreur est d’abord commis par l’installateur, au moment de l’instal-lation de la carrosserie ou du châssis du camion. Les fournis-seurs de services de réparation ou d’entretien ne s’aperçoivent pas du problème, puis ceux qui effectuent l’inspection périodi-que des véhicules utilitaires (inspection annuelle) ne remar-quent rien non plus. Enfin, personne ne voit le problème au moment de l’application des règlements aux abords de la route ou ailleurs. Imaginez, des feux obligatoires manquants ou mal placés, et au moins quatre groupes de professionnels ne le remarquent même pas!

Il arrive parfois que l’on pense à l’éclairage après coup, sur-tout dans le cas de l’équipement spécialisé. Un véhicule peut être construit et prêt à livrer et, soudainement, on se rappelle qu’il faut installer les feux. Si cela se produit, l’installateur peut connaître de réelles difficultés. Il doit, par exemple, déter-miner comment les poser, et sur quoi. Je tiens à rappeler que j’ai moi-même été installateur pendant plus de 30 ans. Je dois également souligner que les camions sont parmi les véhicules qui présentent les meilleurs systèmes d’éclairage. Toutefois, leurs feux de freinage, clignotants et arrière ne sont pas espa-cés autant que possible, et c’est là leur principal défaut selon moi. Nous en parlerons plus en détail plus loin.

Les provinces et territoires ont approuvé la norme 11 du Code canadien de sécurité pour les transporteurs routiers (CCS), qui concerne l’inspection périodique des véhicules utilitaires



Suite de la page 23

reAr LIghtIng thAt pAssesÉclairage adéquat à l’arrière Éclairage inadéquat

FAILure For LIghtIng

Point 11. Feux de gabarit arrière supér-

ieurs.2. Feux de freinage/clignotants/

arrière espacés le plus possible, à la bonne hauteur par rapport au sol (de 15 po/380 mm à 72 po/1 830 mm).

3. Réflecteurs arrière.4. Feux d’identification.5. Au moins un feu de recul.6. Lampe de plaque

d’immatriculation.7. Réflecteurs.8. Feu de freinage/clignotant/

arrière additionnel.

Point 21. L’ajout d’un feu de gabarit dans

le haut réglerait le problème.2. Le ruban de perceptibilité que l’on

voit ici n’est pas conforme.

Figure 11. Upper rear clearance lamps.2. Brake/turn/tail lamps placed

out as far as practicable and proper height (within 15”/380mm - 72”/1,830mm from ground level).

3. Rear reflectors.4. ID marker lamps.5. Minimum of one back-up lamp.6. License plate lamp.7. Reflectors.8. Additional stop/tail/turn lamp.

Figure 21. The addition of an upper

location clearance lamp would solve the deficiency issue.

2. Conspicuity tape, as shown isn’t compliant.

1

12

2

34

568

7



Fall 2012 25

NSC 11 B contains the PMVI standards—the standards to which a vehicle will be inspected by an authorized facil-ity at a scheduled frequency. So you may ask, what does this have to do with lighting and missing lighting? Well, the answer to that is that the NSC 11 B requirement for lighting parallels what lighting is to be supplied to a unit at the get go, meeting the Canada Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (CMVSS) CMVSS TSD 108. Lighting for truck and truck tractor is found in NSC 11 B Section 6 subsec-tions one through six. Lighting for Trailer, Semi-Trailer, is found in NSC 11 B Section 6 subsections one through three.

As a side note, Alberta has started with “soft-enforcement” of NSC 11 B as of January 1, 2012, until 2013. Ontario has a program in place at the moment that has the NSC 11 B standard as the requirement for annual PMVI inspections for all vehicles built after January 1, 2014. The present time, between now and January 1, 2014, being a “soft-enforcement” time is so that operators have time with existing equipment to get their fleet(s) up to date.

On another note, there is a constant query coming into the CTEA office: What are the lighting requirements for Converter Dollies? There is no requirement in Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) or Canada Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (CMVSS) 108 for light-ing on dollies, however with Long Combination Vehicles (LCVs), Ontario and some other provinces have adopted the requirements as follows: The converter dolly must be equipped with functioning tail lights, brake lights, turn signals and two red reflectors in accordance with USA Federal Motor Carriers Safety Administration (FMCSA) FMCSA – title 49cfr 393.11.

que l’on effectue annuellement dans ces territoires de compé-tence. Avant d’aller plus loin, laissez-moi vous parler de cette norme, qui est divisée en deux parties : la partie A et la par-tie B. La partie A comprend les règles obligatoires qui s’appli-quent aux programmes d’entretien de véhicules commerciaux, ainsi que les critères minimaux qui seraient utilisés par une province ou un territoire pour évaluer les activités d’un trans-porteur routier.

La partie B s’applique à l’inspection périodique des véhicules utilitaires – elle est donc utilisée par les profes-sionnels autorisés au moment des inspections régulières. Vous devez bien vous demander en quoi cela est relié aux systèmes d’éclairage ou aux feux manquants. Et bien, l’exigence de la norme 11B relativement aux feux reflète l’éclairage qui doit être installé sur un véhicule dès le départ, selon le Document de normes techniques (DNT) no 108 (associé à la Norme de sécurité des véhicules auto-mobiles du Canada no 108). Il est question de l’éclairage pour les camions et les tracteurs routiers à l’article 6 de la norme 11B, aux paragraphes 1 à 6. Pour les remorques et semi-remorques, on traite des exigences également à l’arti-cle 6 de la norme 11B, aux paragraphes 1 à 3.



MuLtIpLe LIghtIng FAILuresproblèmes d’éclairage multiples

MeetIng soMe requIreMents, MIssIng others

Certaines exigences sont remplies, d’autres pas

Figure 3 Point 3

Figure 41. This vehicle has been

supplied from the chassis OEM without a lamp on the mirror.

2. The corner lamp on the body meets requirements.

Point 41. Ce véhicule a été fourni

par le fabricant du châssis d’origine sans qu’il y ait de feu sur le rétroviseur.

2. Le feu dans le coin de la carrosserie est conforme aux exigences.

Suite de la page 24

1

2




This dolly lighting requirement is in place in the event that the rearmost trailer of the combination is not in tow at any time in the operation. One more lamp that is not discussed in this dolly requirement is for the license plate. A license plate isn’t required on a dolly in all jurisdictions; however, there are jurisdictions where the license plate is required and possibly only when the rear trailer isn’t in tow. With this fact, a license plate lamp and plate bracket is recommended on dollies.

For the rear of a truck or a trailer to meet lighting require-ments, there is a minimum of seven running lamps and they have to be in the correct locations. In addition to this, there is the requirement for reflectors for straight trucks, which, if and when possible, can be met with light lenses if they are manu-factured with the correct reflectivity. For trailers, in addition to the seven lamps, there is the need to meet conspicuity treat-ment requirements. In the case of trailer and straight truck, license lamp is required.

Figure 1 shows lamps meeting and exceeding the “to the rear” requirement. To explain how the vehicle in the photo meets the requirement, I will take you through the seven lamps that are required to meet requirements. The lamps on this unit that make it meet the requirement are:

Two rear clearance lamps;•Two brake/turn/tail lamps;•Three rear identification lamps;•A license plate lamp;•A back-up lamp; and•Rear reflectors.•In addition to the lamps, it must be noted that addi-

tional reflectors are required when lamps that don’t meet the required “reflectivity” are employed; that is why the installer has used the reflectors shown as item three in the photo. In addition to the lights discussed, this installer chose to have additional reflectors, shown as item seven and an additional set of stop/turn/tail lamps shown as item eight.

Another point that must be made perfectly clear has to do with item five—the back-up lamp. One back-up lamp of the nature shown on this unit will meet the requirements

Soulignons que l’Alberta a décidé de commencer par une application « souple » de la norme 11B à compter du 1er jan-vier 2012, et qu’elle procédera ainsi jusqu’en 2013. L’Ontario a mis en place un programme qui fait de la norme 11B l’exi-gence applicable à l’inspection périodique des véhicules uti-litaires menée annuellement, et ce, pour tous les véhicules construits après le 1er janvier 2014. D’ici là, l’Ontario y ira également d’une application souple afin de donner le temps aux transporteurs d’apporter les changements requis à leur parc de véhicules.

Dans un autre ordre d’idées, on demande constamment à l’AETC quelles sont les exigences relatives à l’éclairage pour les diabolos convertisseurs. Il n’existe aucune exigence dans les Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) ou dans la NSVAC no 108 pour ce qui est de l’éclairage sur les diabolos. Toutefois, dans le cas des trains routiers, l’Ontario et d’autres provinces ont adopté l’exigence suivante : Le diabolo convertis-seur doit être équipé de feux arrière, de feux de freinage, de clignotants en état de marche et de deux réflecteurs rouges selon les exigences du FMSCA – titre 49cfr 393.11.

Cette exigence a été adoptée pour les cas où la remorque située le plus vers l’arrière n’est pas en remorquage à un moment ou un autre du transport. Il y a une lampe qui n’est pas comprise dans cette exigence : celle de la plaque d’im-matriculation. Dans certains territoires de compétence, on n’exige pas de plaque d’immatriculation sur les diabolos; dans d’autres, la plaque est obligatoire, parfois seulement lorsque la remorque arrière n’est pas en remorquage. Par conséquent, une lampe de plaque d’immatriculation et un support de pla-que sont recommandés sur les diabolos.



IdentIFICAtIon MArker LAMps IdentIFICAtIon MArker LAMps

LICense pLAte LAMps

Figure 5These ID marker lamps are under 127mm/5”.

Point 5Ces feux d’identification ont un espacement de moins de 127 mm/5 po

Figure 6 Point 6

Figure 7 Point 7

Suite de la page 25


Feux d’identification Feux d’identification

Lampes de plaque d’immatriculation


Fall 2012 27

of CMVSS TSD 108 Table I, titled Required Motor Vehicle Lighting Equipment other than Headlamps for Multipurpose Passenger Vehicles, Trucks, Trailers, and Buses of 2.05 m or more (80 or more inches) Overall Width. It must be noted that there is no requirement with trailers to have a back-up lamp.

Figure 2 shows a failure for lighting. It’s missing the upper clearance lamps shown with the body in Figure 1. The lamps set into the rear corner posts are stop/turn/tail and are set out as far as practicable, but the primary purpose for this lamp would be that of clearance and could be also used for signalling, but not for the three purposes. To overcome this deficiency, the addition of an upper location clearance lamp would solve the issue.

Conspicuity tape must be no less than 75 mm / 3” from the lamps. Tape as shown in Figure 2 is not compliant. Conspicuity tape may be used on a straight truck but isn’t required; if it’s used, it must meet the clearance to lamps requirement of a trailer.

The picture in Figure 2 is taken from a slightly wrong per-spective but there is an issue regarding the lamp visibility for the lamp that is placed into the right-side rear corner post. A minimum of half of the light must be visible from a 45-degree viewpoint side-to-side, and from a 15-degree angle up or down. These dimensions reference to the lamp center.

This vehicle shown in Figure 3 has a number of issues—there’s no outer rear-facing clearance lamps or side-facing rear marker lamps, the stop/turn/tail/back-up combina-tion lamps are OE lamps and are mounted off the chassis frame but are not located out far enough to meet the “as far out as practicable” requirement. With what this unit is equipped with for rear-mounted lights, meeting the reflect-or requirement is questionable. This unit is also a failure in respect to meeting lighting requirements.

A commonly omitted lamp is the front body marker. There seems to be a thought out there that if there’s a lamp on the rear-view mirror mounted to the cab doors, there need not be a lamp on the body. This isn’t true. As a body installer, take responsibility and install the lamp to the front outer of the body. The bottom line? Not all truck chassis are equipped with mirror-mounted lamps, and

Pour que les exigences relatives à l’éclairage de l’arrière d’un camion ou d’une remorque soient remplies, il faut au minimum sept feux en état de marche, chacun devant être placé au bon endroit. Mentionnons également les réflecteurs exigés pour les camions porteurs, que l’on doit remplir autant que possible en utilisant des lentilles qui présentent la bonne réflectivité. Dans le cas des remorques, en plus des sept feux, il faut respecter les exigences relatives au système de percepti-bilité. Pour les remorques et les camions porteurs, la lampe de plaque d’immatriculation est obligatoire.

La figure 1 illustre des exemples de feux qui répondent à l’exi-gence pour l’arrière. Afin d’expliquer pourquoi le véhicule dans l’image satisfait à l’exigence, je dois dresser la liste des sept feux requis. Les feux qui sont présents sur ce véhicule et qui font en sorte que l’exigence est respectée sont les suivants :

Deux feux de gabarit arrière;•Deux feux de freinage, clignotants et arrière;•Trois feux d’identification arrière;•Lampe de plaque d’immatriculation;•Feux de recul; et•Réflecteurs arrière.•Lorsque des feux qui ne présentent pas la réflectivité

requise sont employés, des réflecteurs additionnels sont exigés; voilà pourquoi l’installateur a utilisé ceux qui sont illustrés au point 3 dans l’image. Ici, l’installateur a décidé de poser d’autres réflecteurs, illustrés au point 7, en plus des feux dont on a parlé, ainsi qu’un ensemble supplémen-taire de feux de freinage, clignotants et arrière, illustrés au point 8.

Un autre fait mérite d’être soulevé concernant le point 5 de l’image – le feu de recul. Celui qui est illustré à l’image répond bien aux exigences établies au tableau I du DNT no 108, qui porte le titre « Équipement d’éclairage obliga-toire des véhicules automobiles, autre que les projecteurs – Véhicules de tourisme à usages multiples, camions, remor-ques et autobus de 2,05 m ou plus (80 pouces ou plus) de largeur hors tout ». Soulignons qu’aucun feu de recul n’est exigé sur les remorques.

La figure 2 montre un éclairage inadéquat. En effet, il man-que les feux de gabarit supérieurs que l’on voit à la figure 1,






there is no saying that if the mirror is damaged that it will be replaced with a mirror that has a light mounted to it.

The vehicle in Figure 4 has been supplied from the chassis Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) with-out a lamp on the mirror. This leaves no width marking if the body installer doesn’t install a marker lamp for body width. Remember, as a body installer, what the chassis OE provides is not our concern—especially if they say they meet all requirements for the cab-mounted lighting in their CMVSS 108 statement in their IVD. But, what we’re required to install is our concern and our liability.

In Figure 4, the corner lamp on the body meets require-ments; a lamp installed as shown in the photo needs to be a PC2 as it is mounted on a 45-degree angle.

Identification marker lamps, a requirement to the rear of the vehicle for units of 2,023 mm/80" or wider, seem to cause some issues with understanding the centers of, and the need for, the three lamps to be set on 150 mm/6” to 300 mm/12” centers. ID markers aren’t required on trac-tors. The ID marker lamps shown in Figure 5 are under 127 mm/5”. For ID lamps, four lamps instead of three seems to be employed; this is wrong. Ironically, five lamps would have a chance of meeting the requirement, because the three center lamps would meet the requirement if spaced correctly on the centers previously discussed. In Figure 6, ID marker lamp modification to allow for the “pull pin” doesn’t meet lighting requirements as there are four lamps in lieu of three lamps.

One more issue that seems to be missed is license plate lamps. License plate lamps are designed to be mounted above the license plate in the middle and shining down over the plate. They weren’t designed or intended to be mounted in the center of the bottom and shining up, yet that installation seems to appear. If license plate lamps are mounted to the side of the license plate, there needs to be a license plate lamp on each side of the plate. In Figure 7, this is incorrect lamp placement; to make this proper, there would need to be two license plate lamps, one on each side of the plate.

Side-mounted lighting also has criteria in regards to length and mid-lighting. A mid-length marker is required on vehicles of 9.1 m/ 30’ or more in overall length. On a truck as shown in Figure 8, a lamp at the top and a reflect-or at the bottom are preferred. For a mid-length marker, you will often find a combination turn signal/marker lamp. This combination is advantageous, especially if mounted at the lower area of the body (rubrail area), as is often done on dump bodies, trailers, etc. A common problem with this type of side-mounted lamp is that it gets wired wrong and then operates as a side-marker, a signal lamp and also as a stop lamp. This error is created by taking power source from the wrong location in the wiring system of the vehicle and not allowing a seperation with stop/turn. The real problem is that amber lamps can’t be used for braking

sur la carrosserie. Les feux se trouvant aux coins arrière sont les feux de freinage, clignotants et arrière et sont espacés le plus possible, mais ils serviraient principalement de feux de gabarit, et pourraient être employés pour la signalisation. Cependant, ces feux ne pourraient pas remplir les trois fonc-tions principales. Afin de résoudre ce problème, il suffirait d’ajouter des feux de gabarit à la partie supérieure.

Le ruban de perceptibilité doit être placé à au moins 75 mm (3 po) des feux. Le ruban illustré à la figure 2 n’est pas placé conformément aux exigences. On peut utiliser ce ruban sur un camion porteur, mais ce n’est pas obligatoire; si on le fait, on doit respecter le même espacement par rapport aux feux que pour les remorques.

Bien que l’angle de vue de l’image de la figure 2 ne soit pas parfait, on constate qu’il y a un problème de visibilité pour ce qui du feu situé au coin arrière droit. Il faut voir au moins la moitié du feu dans un angle de 45 degrés d’un côté ou de l’autre, et dans un angle de 15 degrés du haut ou du bas. Soulignons que ces valeurs se rapportent au centre du feu.

Le véhicule illustré à la figure 3 révèle plusieurs problèmes. En effet, on ne voit aucun feu de gabarit extérieur orienté vers l’arrière ni aucun feu de position orienté vers le côté. De plus, les feux combinés de freinage, de recul, arrière et cligno-tants sont ceux qui ont été fournis par l’équipementier et sont fixés sur le cadre de châssis, mais ne respectent pas l’exigence selon laquelle ils doivent être le plus espacés possible. Compte tenu des feux posés à l’arrière, on peut s’interroger quant à la conformité à l’exigence concernant les réflecteurs. Enfin, les exigences relatives à l’éclairage ne sont pas respectées.

Le marquage de la partie avant de la carrosserie est un feu que l’on oublie souvent. Les gens semblent croire que s’il y a un feu sur le rétroviseur des portières de cabine, aucun autre n’est nécessaire sur la carrosserie. Ils font erreur. En tant que monteur de carrosseries, il faut assumer ses responsabilités et installer un feu à l’avant de la carrosserie. Pourquoi? Et bien, les rétroviseurs ne sont pas toujours équipés d’un feu, et même s’ils le sont, ils peuvent être endommagés, et rien ne garantit qu’ils seront remplacés par un rétroviseur muni d’un tel feu.

Le châssis du véhicule illustré à la figure 4 a été fourni par l’équipementier sans qu’un feu soit fixé aux rétroviseurs. Cela ne laisse aucun marquage de la largeur si le monteur de carrosserie n’installe aucune autre lumière. Souvenez-vous, en tant que monteur, vous n’avez pas à vous préoccuper de ce que l’équipementier fournit – surtout s’il affirme, dans sa déclaration associée à la NSVAC no 108 comprise dans le document de véhicule incomplet, que toutes les exigences rela-tives à l’éclairage fixé à la cabine sont remplies. Cependant, vous devez vous préoccuper de ce que vous devez installer, car c’est vous qui en êtes responsable.

À la figure 4, le feu de coin sur la carrosserie répond aux exigences; un feu installé tel qu’illustré à l’image doit avoir une lentille PC2, puisqu’il est fixé selon un angle de 45 degrés.





Fall 2012 29

Les feux d’identification, lesquels sont obligatoires à l’ar-rière des véhicules d’une largeur de 2 023 mm/80 po ou plus, semblent causer certains problèmes. En effet, on ne com-prend pas toujours pourquoi ceux-ci doivent être espacés de 150 mm/6 po à 300 mm/12 po de centre à centre, ou ce que l’on entend par « centre ». Les feux d’identification ne sont pas obligatoires sur les tracteurs. Ceux qui sont illustrés à la figu-re 5 ont un espacement de moins de 127 mm/5 po. On a sou-vent tendance à utiliser quatre feux au lieu de trois. Il s’agit là d’une erreur. Curieusement, il serait possible de respecter l’exigence en utilisant cinq feux, puisque les trois feux du centre seraient conformes s’ils étaient espacés correctement,



in anyway, and a brake lamp on the side of the unit could be considered confusing to the motoring public.

In closing, I feel it appropriate to end with a list of “Dos and Don’ts” for lighing installation and its ongoing main-tenance and up-keep:

To best understand lighting requirements, study CMVSS 1. TSD 108, which is available online at www.tc.gc.ca/eng/acts-regulations/regulations-crc-c1038-sch-iv-108. htm.For additional assistance on light placement and proper 2. lens requirements, use the posters published by Transport Canada in conjunction with the National Highway Traffic





Safety Administration (NHTSA) from the USA.Use only lamps that come with lens-3. es marked showing that they meet the requirements desired for the loca-tion the lamp is being installed. For example, a lamp with a PC2 (Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE)) designation would be allowed for installation on a 45-degree angle to meet the likes of front and side as a front of body marker.

Use only the colours that meet the 4. standard; don’t use the colour amber for stop lamps.On a straight truck, reflectors are 5. required; be sure to add seperate reflectors beside lamps where reflect-ors are required in the event that the lenses being used don’t have the “A” factor to meet reflectivety require-ments.On trailers, conspicuity tape is 6. required and thus takes away the

reflector requirement on trailers only.For the conspicuity tape require-7. ment for trailers, or if it is used on straight trucks as an additional safety feature, be sure to keep a 75 mm/3” space between the tape and lamps.Stop/turn/tail/rear-reflex reflectors 8. must be kept apart as far as prac-ticable, which means they have to be set out near as possible to the extremity width of the vehicle.Always remember, and work to 9. the the minimum of, seven lamps as shown in Figure 1. The in-frame mounted stop/turn/tai l lights (item eight in Figure 1) are allowed to be there but don’t meet the requirement of being as far apart as practicable. The lamps in the corner posts (item two in Figure 1) meet the requirements but the rear clearance lamps (item one) is what takes the seven lamps over the line and into meet-ing requirements.Install and maintain lighting with 10. due diligence; improper lighting on a vehicle can send the wrong mes-sage to other drivers on the road and this could be a gigantic liabil-ity. Lighting requirements are so simple to follow, please do so. And I beg maintanance and repair folks to be sure to keep the lighting in place for the life of the vehicle.Don’t install lighting the way the 11. “other guy does.” Study what you need, install what is needed to meet the regulation and to cover your liabilities!Meeting lighting requirements 12. is one of the most important, if not the simplest, criteria to meet. If lighting isn’t correct, it could put other issues of the vehicle you have built or serviced into ques-tion.If you have any questions that

arise from reading this article or any other questions regarding lighting, please contact us at the CTEA office by calling (519) 631-0414 or e-mail-ing [email protected]. l


Fall 2012 31

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J’aimerais terminer en présentant une liste de ce qu’il faut faire et de ce qu’il ne faut pas faire en ce qui concer-ne l’installation des systèmes d’éclairage et leur entretien :

Pour être bien certain de com-1. prendre les exigences relatives à l’éclairage, vous pouvez consul-ter les disposit ions du DNT no 108 à l’adresse http://www.tc.gc.ca/fra/lois-reglements/regle-ments-crc-ch1038-ann-iv-108.htm.

Pour plus d’information sur les exi-2. gences concernant le placement des feux et les lentilles, référez-vous aux affiches publiées par Transports Canada et la National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) des États-Unis.Seuls les feux munis d’une lentille 3. dont le code indique qu’elle remplit les exigences pour l’emplacement souhaité peuvent être utilisés. Un feu

en utilisant les positions mentionnées ci-dessus. À la figure 6, les modifica-tions apportées aux feux d’identifica-tion pour permettre de poser la goupille ne sont pas conformes aux exigences, puisque l’on compte quatre feux plutôt que trois.

On constate également un problè-me en ce qui a trait aux lampes de pla-que d’immatriculation. Celles-ci sont conçues pour être fixées au-dessus de la plaque, au centre, de façon à éclairer la plaque de haut en bas. Elles ne sont pas conçues pour être placées au-dessous, au centre, de façon à éclairer la plaque du bas vers le haut. Pourtant, on semble souvent les installer de cette façon. Si les lampes sont fixées sur le côté de la plaque d’immatriculation, il doit y avoir une lampe de chaque côté. La figure 7 montre une lampe de plaque d’immatri-culation qui n’est pas bien posée; pour corriger le problème, il faudrait deux lampes, une de chaque côté de la pla-que.

Certains critères s’appliquent égale-ment aux feux de position latéraux pour ce qui est de la longueur et de la mi-lon-gueur des véhicules. Un feu de position de mi-longueur est exigé sur les véhicu-les d’une longueur totale de 9,1 m/30 pi ou plus. Sur le camion illustré à la figure 8, il est conseillé d’avoir un feu sur la partie supérieure et un réflecteur sur la partie inférieure. Pour les feux de mi-longueur, on trouve souvent des feux combinés de type clignotant-feu de position. Cela est avantageux, surtout si le feu est posé sur la partie inférieure de la carrosserie (lisse latérale de protec-tion), ce qui est souvent le cas des ben-nes basculantes, des remorques, etc. Ce type de feu latéral finit souvent par être mal connecté, ce qui fait en sorte qu’il agit à la fois comme feu de position, cli-gnotant et feu de freinage. Cette erreur survient lorsque l’on branche la mau-vaise source d’alimentation à partir des fils électriques et en empêchant toute séparation entre la fonction de feu de freinage et de clignotant. Le vrai problè-me, c’est que les feux orange ne peuvent être utilisés comme feux de freinage, et que le fait d’utiliser un feu de freinage latéral pourrait porter à confusion.




Suite de la page 31

qui porte la mention PC2 (Society of Automotive Engineers – SAE), par exemple, pourrait être installé selon un angle de 45 degrés et servir ainsi de marquage latéral ou antérieur de la carrosserie.Seules les couleurs qui répondent 4. à la norme peuvent être utilisées; ne pas utiliser de feux de freinage orange.Sur un camion porteur, des réflec-5. teurs sont nécessaires; il faut en

ajouter à côté des feux au cas où les lentilles ne correspondraient pas au facteur « A » et ne répondraient donc pas aux exigences en matière de réflectivité.Sur les remorques, il faut appliquer 6. un ruban de perceptibilité. Ainsi, l’exigence concernant les réflecteurs ne s’applique pas aux remorques.Lorsque l’on applique le ruban de 7. perceptibilité sur les remorques, ou encore, lorsque l’on s’en sert comme

mesure de sécurité additionnelle sur les camions porteurs, il est important de garder un espace de 75 mm/3 po entre le ruban et les feux.Les feux de freinage, clignotants et 8. arrière et les cataphotes arrière doi-vent être espacés le plus possible. Autrement dit, ils doivent être placés le plus près possible de l’extrémité latérale du véhicule.Souvenez-vous, il faut toujours au 9. moins sept feux, tel qu’illustré à la figure 1. Les feux de freinage, cligno-tants et arrière (point 8 à la figure 1) peuvent être placés à cet endroit, mais ici, l’exigence selon laquelle ils doi-vent être le plus espacés possible n’est pas respectée. Les feux dans les coins (point 2 à la figure 1) sont conformes, mais ce sont les feux de gabarit arrière (point 1) qui font que les sept feux res-pectent les exigences.Il faut inst10. aller les feux et en assu-rer l’entretien avec prudence; un éclairage inadéquat sur un véhicule peut envoyer le mauvais message aux autres conducteurs, ce qui pré-sente un risque énorme. S’il vous plaît, respectez les exigences relati-ves à l’éclairage; elles sont si simples à suivre. J’invite également ceux qui s’occupent de l’entretien et des répa-rations à veiller à ce que les feux demeurent en place pendant toute la durée de vie du véhicule.Ne vous fiez pas à ce que font les 11. autres pour installer les feux. Lisez bien les exigences et installez tout ce qui est nécessaire pour répondre aux règlements et pour ne courir aucun risque.Les critères entourant l’éclairage font 12. partie des exigences les plus impor-tantes et les plus faciles à respecter. Si l’éclairage n’est pas installé correc-tement sur le véhicule que vous avez construit ou dont vous avez effectué l’entretien, on pourrait être porté à croire que le véhicule comporte d’autres problèmes.Si vous avez des questions concer-

nant l’éclairage, n’hésitez pas à commu-niquer avec l’AETC en composant le 519-631-0414 ou en écrivant à l’adresse [email protected]. l


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SPIF puzzle and what’s required of vehi-cles to meet the regulations. The presen-tation also identified why some vehicles come up short in that regard.

Performance of the suspension air-pressure equalization system was identi-fied as a potential problem. Owners and operators of certain Red River series live-bottom trailers manufactured by Trail King Industries (and others, to be fair) were experiencing such problems.

What went wrong?Technically, there’s nothing wrong

with the trailers. It’s not bad engineer-ing, it’s not bad components, it’s not bad regulation. Because certain trailers are designed with higher ground clearance on the liftable axle, which is highly desired when working off-road on a jobsite, a physically smaller suspension must be used on that axle. Trail King designed the trailers with different primary and sec-ondary suspensions.

parameters including axle equalization were met. When the Ontario Ministry of Transportation (MTO) began hard enforcement of these requirements, incon-sistencies in load equalization on some trailers were noticed and operators were cited for weight violations.

That raised a lot of questions. Chiefly, if the trailers were okay before hard enforcement began, why is there a prob-lem after hard enforcement?

The simple answer is the ministry wasn’t paying meticulous attention to axle weight. Inspectors focused on the 1,500 kg cutback to the registered gross weight. When full enforcement of axle weight began, the problems began.

Amid much finger-pointing and many heated exchanges between equip-ment owners, dealers, manufacturers and enforcement officials, MTO decided, in June, to hold a listening session to get to the crux of the problem. The CTEA made a presentation illustrating the pieces of the

durIng the sprIng of 2012, some operators of multi-axle aggregate hauling equipment in Ontario became aware of a problem they didn’t realize they had. Ontario regulation 413/05 requires that all axles and axle groups on these trailers automatically load-equalize, or bear the same load (±500 kg) as adja-cent axles and axle groups. Variances in the load threshold were hidden by a regu-lated 1,500 kg reduction of allowable gross vehicle weights.

In other words, by reducing maxi-mum allowable gross weight by 1,500 kg, unless the load distribution on the trail-er was wildly off, the automatic weight reduction masked inconsistencies in load equalization. Under Phase II & III of the province’s Safe Productive Infrastructure Friendly (SPIF) vehicle requirements, the 1,500 kg cutback was removed and aggre-gate haulers were permitted to load to full available gross weight for their tractor-trailer configuration—assuming all other

feature

getting trailer axles to equalize under SPiF is much easier when you read the instructions.

Load Equalization Across Suspension:

Yes, It Can Be Done!

By Jim Park and Eddy Tschirhart

Load Equalization Across Suspension:

The additional ground clearance on Trail King’s lift-able self-steer axle requires the manufacturer to use a suspension that is physically smaller than the primary suspension. A properly calibrated proportioning valve is necessary to maintain correct pressure in each of the axles to get equal loading on all axles in the group.

Fall 2012 37

“If we used a 30,000 lb suspension on the liftable axle, we wouldn’t get the ground clearance we want,” says John Rust, vice-president of engineering at Trail King Industries. “To get the lift, we went to a 25,000 lb model, which has smaller air bags and requires a proportion-ing valve to achieve equal axle weights. Had we used two identical suspensions, as many manufacturers do, we wouldn’t have had the equalization issues but we wouldn’t have had the extra ground clear-ance either.”

Proportioning valves, or ratio valves, need to calibrated, and that can only be done under load. Rust says if they erred anywhere, it was in not emphasizing the need to adjust the proportioning before the trailers went into service.

“We believed we were getting valves from our suppliers that were roughly cali-brated,” he says. “We tested a few dur-ing the design phase of the project and they were all in the ballpark. We still had to make a fine adjustment to get to the 500 kg tolerance. We thought those ratio valves were like all the others we got but that wasn’t the case.”

The other hurdle is matching the trac-tor and trailer. Once the ratio valve has been set for a tractor with a certain ride height and the correct fifth-wheel height of 49 inches, the valves should need little adjustment, except as part of a regular preventative maintenance schedule, Rust notes.

It’s difficult to make the case for a fac-tory setting of this valve because of the variety of tractors that will eventually be pulling the trailers.

Fine tuning In early September, officials from Trail

King, MTO, CTEA and representatives from several aggregate hauling organi-zations met at MTO’s Trafalgar South inspection station for a demonstration of proportioning valve adjustment. Rust had arranged for two in-service customer-owned trailers to be loaded at a nearby quarry and driven to the scale for the demonstration.

The initial pass of the quad trailer over the scale revealed 25,310 kg on the tridem, 6,160 kg on the liftable steer axle, 18,540 kg on the tractor drive axles and 6,470

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The Principle of Load EqualizationUnder Ontario’s SPIF regulations, individual laden axles on a trailer must

bear an equal amount of the load, regardless of the axle grouping or loading conditions—full, half or otherwise. Each of the axles in any group must equalize to ±500 kg.

For example, on a trailer with a three-axle tridem group and single self-steer-ing axle, the laden weight of the self-steer axle should equal the weight on each of the axles in the tridem group—±500 kg. Since load equalizing takes place across the four axles, the allowable weight on the steerable axle is determined by the average weight of the three fixed axles in the tridem group.

If the tridem group weighed 21,900 kg, the average weight on each of the axles would be 7,300 kg (21,900 ÷ 3 = 7,300). The allowable weight on the steerable axle is 7,300 kg, ±500 kg. Similarly, with a tandem group weighing 17,600 kg, the steerable axle should weigh 8,800 kg ±500 kg (17,600 ÷ 2 = 8,800).

Boyle’s Law helps us understand; it states, paraphrasing, that “the pressure of a given mass of [air] is inversely proportional to its volume at a constant tem-perature.” So, if all the air suspension air bags are connected together and are of an equal size and volume, the system will equalize, or bear the same amount of weight under load.

However, in trailers that use different sized air bags—as is the case with the Trail King live bottom trailers discussed here, and others currently on the mar-ket—a proportioning valve or ratio valve is needed to adjust for the difference in volume and pressure needed to equalize the axles.

kg on the steer axle, for a gross weight of 56,480 kg. In that condition, the liftable steer-axle wasn’t equalizing to ±500 kg. At 6,160 kg, it was 2,280 kg light. While the tridem was still 190 kg under its limit, the tractor drive axles were 540 kg over-weight. In real life, that driver would have received a pretty stiff overweight ticket.

After Rust adjusted the proportioning valve, it weighed out 24,070 kg on the tridem, 8,220 kg on the liftable steer axle; 17,770 kg on the tractor drives and 6,430 kg on the tractor steer. The gross weight remained the same. Using the average of

the axle weight in the tridem group, the steerable lift should have weighed 8,020 kg. It was 120 kg above that but well with-in the ±500 kg tolerance. That truck is good to go.

Rust then deliberately overloaded the back-end of the trailer by placing about 6,000 kg of material from the other truck over the tridem group. Even in the over-loaded condition, the axles equalized to within 200 kg. The fix for the problem is a simple valve calibration—assuming the rest of the mechanical and physical requirements are met.

An operator pulls onto the MTO scale during a load-equalization demonstration project held in Milton, Ont. in September 2012.


“We have supplied Transit Trailer (Trail King’s Toronto-area dealer) with detailed instructions on how to set them up empty in the yard to get them close, and some more detailed instructions on how to set them up perfectly with a load on,” Rust told attendees of the demonstration.

This has been a learning experience for everyone, Rust said, noting it was compli-cated slightly by a lack of information on how to set the valve and the “timing” of MTO’s transition from the 1,500 kg cutback in gross weight to axle weight enforcement.

“By cutting the gross weight back by 1,500 kg, the axle-loading prob-lem more or less fell off the radar screen,” he says. “It got back on pret-ty quickly when the SPIF rules went into effect. In the interim, customers using our trailers weren’t aware of the need to calibrate that valve. I think we’ve demonstrated that need, and I think we’ve proven the trailers work and meet the SPIF axle-equal-izing requirement.” l

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The Many Legs of the SPiF StoolLoad equalization is but one of

more than a dozen factors that affect correct weight distribution on multi-axle tractor/semi-trailer combinations. This article focuses on load equaliza-tion as it relates to ratio valves, valve calibration, etc. Properly calibrated, the proportioning valve will only equalize the weight across a group of axles. It won’t shift improperly posi-tioned weight, nor can it compensate for improper equipment specifications or conditions related to poor weight distribution. Here’s a partial list of other conditions that must be present for the systems to work as designed and comply with SPIF requirements:

Adequate vehicle base length to •achieve proper axle and group spacing;Adequate power unit wheelbase for •correct axle and group spacing;Adequate loading capacity and •positioning of the power unit’s steer axle;

Adequate steer axle, steer tire and •steer suspension rating for desired axle loads;Correct fifth-wheel position relative •to the drive axles for proper weight distribution;Correct fifth-wheel height to match •trailer ride height;Correct and matched tire size, air •suspension height and air bag size and volume;Matched or compensated suspen-•sion and axle components;Proper payload weight and weight •distribution; andTrained operators.•This list is certainly not exhaustive.

The deeper you go into this issue, the more variables arise. For our purposes, the above factors—in addition to the proper calibration of the proportion-ing valve—are the most critical issues facing operators today. If any of the above are inconsistent with correct practices and procedures, SPIF compli-ance could be compromised.

Fall 2012 39


feature•articledefond

As MAny oF our members are aware, serious changes occurred in February 2012 to the enforcement of regulations regarding importation per a Transport Canada (TC) decree. In this article, we will detail what has changed, what to do and what to expect in the future.

The main methods of importation that are available to importers in Canada are the Registrar of Imported Vehicles (RIV), TC’s preclearance list for qualifying Canadian importers that are associated with a foreign manufacturer, and lastly, companies with manufacturing facilities outside of Canada and have Canadian companies that hold a National Safety Mark (NSM) in Canada and essentially act as their own importers.

What’s changedSince the implementation of the Registrar of Imported

Vehicles was established nearly 20 years ago, private citizens, fleets, vehicle manufacturers, importers and dealers were presented with an alternative method for importing vehicles from the United States to Canada, but as with many things, loopholes were found and the program wasn’t always used as intended. As of February 2012, TC mandated that the program be used properly.

CoMMe bon noMbre d’entre vous le savent déjà, des changements importants ont été apportés en février 2012 en ce qui concerne l’application des règlements relatifs à l’importation – le résultat d’un décret de Transports Canada. Le présent article vise à fournir des explications sur ce qui a changé, sur ce que l’on peut faire et sur ce à quoi on peut s’attendre à l’avenir.

Au Canada, l’importation s’effectue par l’entremise du Registraire des véhicules importés (RVI) ou grâce au programme d’autorisation préalable, dans le cas des importateurs canadiens admissibles qui sont associés à un fabricant étranger. Mentionnons également les compagnies qui possèdent à la fois des installations de fabrication à l’extérieur du Canada et des sociétés canadiennes qui détiennent une marque nationale de sécurité au Canada – ces compagnies agissent en quelque sorte comme importateurs de leurs propres véhicules.

Qu’est-ce qui a changé?La création du RVI, il y a près de 20 ans, a offert aux

particuliers, aux entreprises qui exploitent un parc de véhicules, aux fabricants, aux importateurs et aux concessionnaires une nouvelle façon d’importer des véhicules des États-Unis au Canada. Toutefois, comme c’est souvent le cas, on a trouvé

An Education in Importation: The New CurriculumLes nouveautés au sujet de l’importation

Par Jeremy Harrower, gestionnaire des programmes techniques, AETC

By Jeremy Harrower, Technical Programs Manager, CTEA


Fall 2012 41


In our discussions with TC, we have also learned that they are contacting manufacturers and importers that appear on the preclearance list of foreign manufacturers and their associated importers to determine if they are meeting their obligations for compliance under the Motor Vehicle Safety Act (The Act). At last count, we were told that some 15,000 names have been removed from the list and that the total continues to grow. TC’s wish is to reduce the number of importers tied to each foreign manufacturer down to one to four, to have those importers be aware of what is necessary to import compliant vehicles and to have a person at each of these importers to act as a compliance contact. Based on those factors, NSM holders make ideal importers as they have the knowledge in regard to regulatory compliance issues.

The current optionsAs outlined in the message from our Executive Director,

Don Moore, on page 15, RIV is still an option for the correct situation when importing US FMVSS-compliant vehicles. Those manufacturers and importers that are currently on TC’s preclearance list are still able to import as they have in the past, but if their contact information isn’t current with TC, it would be wise for them to update that information. Those importers applying to get their foreign manufacturers on the preclearance list are going to be highly scrutinized by TC. Since they have been removing names of importers and manufacturers, TC isn’t highly inclined to add names without some level of comfort that the applicants understand their obligations under the Act.

For Canadian importers that deal with manufacturers that aren’t on the preclearance list, the importers may submit importation packages for each vehicle identification number (VIN) or for a series of VINs imported over a prescribed time period. These packages must be submitted to TC by the

certaines failles, et le programme n’a pas toujours été utilisé tel qu’on le prévoyait. En février 2012, Transports Canada a pris des mesures pour que le programme soit utilisé correctement.

En discutant avec Transports Canada, nous avons appris que le ministère avait commencé à communiquer avec les fabricants étrangers et les importateurs dont le nom figure sur la liste d’autorisation préalable afin de déterminer s’ils respectent les exigences de la Loi sur la sécurité automobile (la Loi). Aux dernières nouvelles, on avait rayé quelque 15 000 noms de la liste, et ce chiffre continue d’augmenter. Transports Canada souhaite que le nombre d’importateurs associés à chaque fabricant étranger se situe entre un et quatre pour que les importateurs soient bien conscients de ce qui est requis pour importer des véhicules conformes et pour faire en sorte qu’il y ait une personne-ressource en matière de conformité chez chacun des importateurs. Compte tenu de ceci, ceux qui détiennent une marque nationale de sécurité représentent des importateurs idéaux, puisqu’ils possèdent les connaissances nécessaires entourant à la conformité réglementaire.

Quelles sont les options qui s’offrent à vous?Comme le mentionne Don Moore, directeur général de

l’AETC (page 15), le RVI demeure une option, dans certains cas, lorsque l’on importe des véhicules des États-Unis conformes aux FMVSS. Les fabricants et importateurs dont le nom figure actuellement sur la liste d’autorisation préalable de Transports Canada peuvent continuer d’importer des véhicules comme ils le faisaient. Toutefois, si leurs coordonnées ne sont pas à jour, on conseille de fournir cette information à Transports Canada. Les importateurs qui demandent que les fabricants étrangers auxquels ils sont associés soient ajoutés à la liste d’autorisation préalable seront examinés de près par Transports Canada. Depuis qu’il retire des noms d’importateurs et de fabricants de la liste, le Ministère est peu enclin à ajouter des noms sans qu’il soit convaincu que les demandeurs comprennent parfaitement les exigences de la Loi.

Les importateurs canadiens qui font affaire avec des fabricants dont le nom ne figure pas sur la liste d’autorisation préalable peuvent soumettre des dossiers pour chaque numéro d’identification du véhicule (NIV) ou pour une série de NIV associés aux véhicules importés au cours d’une période précise. Ces dossiers doivent être présentés à Transports Canada par l’importateur et doivent comprendre, dans le cas de l’installation de la carrosserie et de l’équipement de l’étape intermédiaire ou finale, des documents et autres éléments qui prouvent que les véhicules sont en conformité.

Pour ce qui est des camions construits en plusieurs étapes, cela comprend des documents qui prouvent que les étiquettes appropriées sont en place et qui indiquent la disposition des feux, les dimensions du véhicule, le centre de gravité vertical, la charge utile et la répartition du chargement. On doit également soumettre les addendas appropriés et le document de véhicule incomplet (DVI).

Dans le cas des remorques équipées de freins à air comprimé, il faut fournir des documents qui prouvent que les étiquettes,



Suite de la page 40AnotheroptionforaforeignmanufacturertosimplifytheimportationprocedureistosetupaCanadianentitythatcanapplyforanNSMthroughTC,therebyallowingthemtoactastheirownimporter.



importer and must, in the case of a final or intermediate stage body and equipment installation, include documentation and evidence that proves that the vehicles are compliant.

In the case of trucks manufactured in stages, this includes evidence of proper labelling, lighting layout, vehicle dimensions, vertical centre-of-gravity calculations, payload and load distribution calculations, the appropriate addendum and incomplete vehicle document (IVD).

In the case of air braked trailers, the package would require evidence of proper labelling, tire, rim, axle and suspension documentation, lighting layout, vehicle dimensions, rear impact guard documentation, anchor point documentation (if equipped), brake schematics, ABS documentation, brake timing tests, axle braking system test results and, if necessary, comparisons.

Another option for a foreign manufacturer to simplify the importation procedure is to set up a Canadian entity that can apply for an NSM through TC, thereby allowing them to act as their own importer. This allows the manufacturer to label their vehicles as Canadian compliant at their production facilities abroad and import the vehicles to Canada for distribution to their customers or dealer network. TC also has a short list of designated importers (DI) that can assist Canadian importers with less complicated vehicles.

What to expectThe RIV program will continue as a viable option for

the proper situation when it comes to importation but heightened enforcement by TC and Canada Border Services will make it very difficult for those importers abusing the system to continue with impunity. Those importers and manufacturers that intend to import low numbers of vehicles per year will need to use the preclearance package method on a case-by-case basis.

TC will continue to whittle away at the expansive list of manufacturers and importers and have been concentrated heavily on RV and small utility type trailers, but have advised us that they will be focusing their attention on the air-braked trailer market and multi-stage truck market in the very near future. So, those of you who haven’t heard from TC should expect a call sooner rather than later. Once TC completes this project, we expect that being added to the preclearance list and becoming an associated importer will be easier but will continue to be restricted to a minimal number of importers per manufacturer and be held to the highest standards regarding regulatory compliance.

TC will also continue to encourage United States manufacturers to create a Canadian entity to hold an NSM and act as their own importer of record, which provides TC with a Canadian compliance contact for ease of importation and communication.

If you have any questions regarding this article or need help with importation issues, please contact us at the CTEA by calling (519) 631-0414 or e-mailing [email protected]. l

les suspensions, les pneus, les jantes et les essieux appropriés sont en place. Il faut aussi indiquer la disposition des feux et les dimensions du véhicule, et fournir des documents sur les dispositifs de protection arrière, sur les points d’ancrage (s’il y a lieu) et sur les systèmes de freinage antiblocage, de même que des schémas des freins et les résultats d’essais portant sur le délai de freinage et le système de freins des essieux. De plus, des comparaisons peuvent être nécessaires.

Un importateur étranger peut également simplifier le processus d’importation en créant une entité canadienne, qui elle fera une demande de marque nationale de sécurité auprès de Transports Canada. De cette façon, s’il se voit accorder la marque nationale de sécurité, le fabricant pourra agir comme importateur de ses propres véhicules. Il pourra apposer les étiquettes de conformité pour le Canada dans ses installations de fabrication, à l’étranger, puis importer les véhicules au Canada, où il pourra les fournir aux clients et aux concessionnaires. Transports Canada tient également une courte liste d’importateurs désignés pouvant aider certains importateurs canadiens pour l’importation de véhicules moins complexes.

À quoi faut-il s’attendre?Le programme du RVI pourra toujours être utilisé pour

l’importation dans certains cas. Cependant, l’application plus rigoureuse des règlements par Transports Canada et l’Agence des services frontaliers du Canada fera en sorte que les importateurs auront beaucoup de mal à continuer de profiter du système sans en subir les conséquences. Les importateurs et fabricants qui comptent importer un nombre restreint de véhicules chaque année devront, selon le cas, présenter un dossier dans le cadre du programme d’autorisation préalable.

Transports Canada entend continuer de réduire la longue liste de fabricants et d’importateurs. Bien qu’il se soit concentré jusqu’ici sur les véhicules de plaisance et les petites remorques utilitaires, le Ministère nous a avisés qu’il allait très bientôt porter son attention sur le marché des remorques équipées de freins à air comprimé et des camions construits en plusieurs étapes. Donc, ceux d’entre vous qui n’ont pas été contactés par Transports Canada peuvent s’attendre à recevoir un appel prochainement. Une fois que le Ministère aura terminé le tout, il sera sans doute plus facile d’être ajouté à la liste d’autorisation préalable et de devenir un importateur associé. Par contre, on continuera de limiter le nombre d’importateurs pour chaque fabricant et d’être le plus rigoureux possible dans l’application des règlements.

Transports Canada continuera également d’inciter les fabricants des États-Unis à se créer une entité canadienne qui pourra se voir accorder la marque nationale de sécurité, ce qui leur permettra d’agir comme importateurs de leurs propres véhicules. De cette façon, le Ministère aura une personne-ressource avec qui traiter pour ce qui est de la conformité à la réglementation canadienne, ce qui facilitera l’importation et la communication.

Si vous avez des questions ou avez besoin d’aide concernant l’importation, n’hésitez pas à communiquer avec l’AETC en composant le 519-631-0414 ou en écrivant à [email protected]. l


Fall 2012 43

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did You Know?The Canadian Transportation Equipment Association was

created as the Canadian Truck Body Equipment Association (CTBEA) in 1964 in London, ON. Until 1990, the organization was run by volunteers, and in 1991, the first employee was hired.

The 1990s were the formative years of the CTEA. Regulatory challenges made it necessary for the CTEA to focus on ways to collectively respond. Government safety regulations were being enforced more vigorously or being updated. The association’s 30 members in 1990 grew to 167 in 1995 and 315 in 2000. Current membership is at 500+.

The CTEA recognized that many small-volume manufacturers lacked the engineering and/or financial capability to perform compliance testing to meet safety standards. In these situations, it becomes advantageous for trade associations to perform cooperative testing, which typically involves the development of a generic design and performance of the tests necessary to assure compliance with the applicable standard.

Since the CTEA always has Transport Canada’s involvement in every generic project and will ensure they accept the results, there is no doubt the proof of compliance will be acceptable.

Fall 2012 45

and pressure changes, and can be trapped, destroying tubing and elec-trical parts.Capillary action—pinholes in wir-7. ing from a pin test probe create an entry point, where salts and acids will steadily creep into, making their way along lengths of wire.Beware of the beautiful killer: stain-8. less steel! Customers who want to pay extra to use stainless steel close to lower voltage metals may think that it’s a good extra investment, but it can backfire and perforate nearby sheet metal. The flat grey finish of zinc (galvanizing) doesn’t only have a lower initial cost; its low voltage will serve to protect other nearby metals for a low-life cycle cost. It’s hard to say no to a customer who is adamant about stainless steel, but you owe it to the buyer to share information, which may help in the future.Size matters. When the battery is 9. made, it’s okay to have a small high-voltage part next to a large, thick unpainted low-voltage part (i.e., a stainless steel rivet on a thick part of aluminum). However, the opposite will rapidly destroy a small negative part.High profile customers can unwit-10. tingly damage equipment with wash-ing. In the interest of a happy cus-tomer, there’s a temptation to use strong acids and alkaline chem-icals to ensure that the vehicle

When two metals are within a couple 1. of inches of each other, a battery is created when there is a trace amount of road salt or similar electrolyte.Road salt and other chemicals absorb 2. and hold moisture from the humid-ity in the air to allow the battery to run 24/7.The lower voltage material is eaten 3. away to sacrifice itself to protect the higher voltage material. For example, lower voltage zinc next to steel would create a 0.4 volt battery which is why galvanizing protects steel. Higher voltage brass or stain-less steel next to steel or aluminum would cause the steel or aluminum to be eaten away. Even on the same metal, any area 4. that has less oxygen, like under a rivet head, in a crevice, under a blis-ter of paint or overlapped panel or in a pitted hole will be more nega-tive and sacrificed to the surround-ing identical metal. Deep pitting that perforates is especially noticeable with alumium. A gasket or tape/plastic spacer can 5. help by keeping chemicals out of crevices with identical metals but is not fully effective when metals are different, unless the spacer is about two inches thick and can cover the electrical connection that a layer of salt can bridge.Avoid voids—any air void will try 6. to suck in air, moisture, salts and acids during normal temperature

feature

when CustoMers buy your product, they like to trust that you have foresight and have taken reasonable steps to protect their purchase from an early failure. It’s a challenging task to stay one step ahead of the changes in chemicals used on roads.

As road crews perfect the chemicals that are optimal for reducing ice, the same Magnesium Chloride (MgCl2) road brine sprays up off of tires and locks itself into crevices and coats the vehicle with an electrically conducting film that attracts moisture and cannot easily be removed. In most cases, it’s stuck there for the life of the vehicle. If that’s not enough, the mist hovering above the road turns into hydrochloric acid with sunlight and, around the heat of your brakes, turns into deadly chlorine gas—nasty stuff! No wonder corrosion seems to be worse now than in the past.

Given that it won’t go away, the best way to protect your customers’ invest-ment and your reputation, and to try to keep your warranty costs down, is to get to know the science behind how things corrode. An efficient way to do this is to dig deeply to clearly understand the root cause(s) of every new failure so that you can build knowledge and adapt designs to avert a future avalanche of customer complaints and claims.

It’s nearly impossible to cover all of the chemistry and electrical reactions in a short article but the following are a few of the things to think about when designing a product or doing a failure analysis:

Corrosion: Options that Can Lessen the Impact of the SeasonBy Ray Camball

Corrosion: Options that Can Lessen the Impact of the Season


feature

the parts and conditions and not upon conjecture or opinions. Some custom-ers can be quick to point blame at the supplier, but many times, the results can help customers become aware of things that are happening in their operation (spills, chemical exposure, etc.) that may not be covered under warranty but can help them to lower their future costs and recurring fail-ures. l

Ray Camball, P. Eng., is an engineer-ing consultant who provides support on failure diagnosis and improving equip-ment designs. He can be reached at [email protected].

highly alkaline, and if they’re not thoroughly removed and neutralized, they can absorb and hold moisture and drill holes through thick alum-inum. Again, litmus paper can avoid future problems and help identify root causes.It’s wise to treat every failure as

an opportunity in order to learn and improve your product so that it can survive with the chemicals surround-ing us. Isolated failures, if ignored, tend to grow into an expensive prob-lem in warranty, legal cases or lost customers. When properly done, a failure analysis should be unbiased and based on solid facts, inspecting

looks perfectly clean for repeat business. Unfortunately, acids can strip off protective coatings of zinc and what’s worse, they can deposit aggressive chemicals into crevices, where they steadily corrode.Clean up spills. When materials 11. spill inside of a vehicle, it’s import-ant to clean up and ensure there is no chemically-aggressive residual material in crevices. The pH balance should be neutralized. Litmus paper can be a helpful tool to confirm the material has been brought back to neutral. Note, some popular absorb-ent materials designed to soak up liquid spills on concrete floors are

Fall 2012 47

Pleasesupportouradvertiserswhohelpmakethispublicationpossible.

specialsection

Delta Centre-Ville, Montreal, QCNovember 5-7, 2012“On the road Again” / ‘Sur la bonne voie’

CTEA’s 49th Manufacturer’s Technical Conference

Fall 2012 49

specialsection

MondAy, noveMber 5th

Board of Directors Meeting Le Royer (Working lunch provided) 12:00PM – 3:00PM

Delegate Registration Foyer Regénce BC 2:00PM – 6:00PM

Set-Up for Vendor Technical Fair Regénce BC 1:00PM – 5:00PM

CTEA’S TOWN HALL: Speakers: Transport Canada, TTMA, CTEA – Provincial Rep. QC, ON, NB (As available)

Regénce A 4:30PM – 5:30PM

SPONSORS WELCOME RECEPTION Regénce BC 6:00PM – 8:00PM

CONCURRENT TECHNICAL FAIR & INFORMATION EXCHANGE

Regénce BC 6:00PM – 8:00PM

tuesdAy, noveMber 6th Registration Foyer Regénce BC 7:00AM – 6:00PM

President’s Breakfast Cartier AB 7:15AM – 8:15AM

Welcome: CTEA President Kevin Last & Mayor Tremblay Cartier AB 7:30AM – 8:00AM

CTEA Annual General Meeting Cartier AB 8:30AM – 9:30AM

Coffee Break Foyer Regénce BC 9:40AM – 9:55AM

CONCURRENT TECHNICAL SESSIONS

Session A: CNG/LNG Conversions & the NSM St. Charles 10:00AM – 12:10PM

Session B: Chassis OEM Updates St. Laurént 10:00AM – 12:10PM

SPONSOR’S LUNCHEON Cartier AB 12:15AM – 12:50PM

Luncheon Keynote Speaker: Mark Bowden, “Body Language”

Cartier AB 12:50PM – 1:50PM

Session C: Chassis OEM Updates St. Paul 2:00PM – 5:40PM

Session D: Branding: Nuts, Bolts and a Few Loose Screws by Gair Maxwell

St. Jacques 2:00PM – 4:00PM

Coffee Break Foyer Regénce BC 4:00PM – 4:15PM

Session E: New Product Review St. Jacques 4:15PM – 5:30PM

TECHNICAL FAIR, INFORMATION EXCHANGE & RECEPTION (Dinner on your own)

Regénce BC 6:00PM – 8:00PM

wednesdAy, noveMber 7th

BREAKFAST ON YOUR OWN

REGISTRATION Foyer St. Jacques 8:00AM – 11:00AM

Session F: Importation: The Issues St. Jacques 8:00AM – 10:00AM

COFFEE BREAK Foyer St. Jacques 10:00AM – 10:15AM

Session G: The Four Partners St. Jacques 10:15AM – 12:00PM

Buses Depart for Paccar Ste. Therese, QC (Boxed Lunch Provided)

Front Lobby 12:15PM – 12:30PM

Session H: Paccar Plant Tour Paccar Plant 1:10PM – 4:20PM

SPONSORS RECEPTION Cartier AB & Foyer 6:30PM – 7:00PM

CTEA/AETC 49TH GALA BANQUET Regénce C 7:00PM – 9:15PM

SPECIAL GUEST: jACQUES DEMERS Regénce C 9:15PM – 10:15PM

Preliminary Program - information subject to changenote: For complete session workshop descriptions, go to page 50.A complete registration package is available for download at www.ctea.ca.


specialsection

Town Hall: government updatesEd Tschirhart will moderate this presentation regarding government updates with a special session on HDV&E greenhouse gas emissions regulations. There will be Transport Canada and local provincial government representation at this update.

Session A: Cng/Lng Conversions & the nSMCome hear what is required in respect to CNG conversions. This session will help you understand the legal requirements and testing commitments to meet NSM level with such work. Learn about the ins and outs of installing bodies, equipment, etc., to these units powered with CNG.

Sessions b & C: Chassis OEM updatesRepresentatives from the attending OEMs will discuss some important issues surrounding the use of their equipment and what’s new for 2013.

sesIon workshop desCrIptIons

Fall 2012 51

specialsection

Session d: branding: nuts, bolts and a Few Loose ScrewsThis session will help those in attendance to understand how to build and present their company image.

Session E: new Product reviewHere’s your opportunity to see the latest and greatest products and innovations from your fellow manufacturers and suppliers. You may just find a solution to one of your problems.

Session F: importation: The issuesThis session is designed to help companies that are importing completed equipment. Also, for members that try using and importing United Stated Chassis, find out which documents you need and what you should know.

Session g: The Four PartnersLearn about the four partners that are needed to get a vocational truck to the marketplace. Panel discussion made up of: the chassis OE, the chassis dealer, the up-fitter and, most importantly, the end-user.


stuff before but never as an authorized dealer,” he says. “To prepare for this ven-ture, we’re basically doubling the size of our facility.”

By early January, Vancouver Axle & Frame will have added 7,000 square feet of open shop floor to its already respect-able 11,000 square feet of existing facility space. “One of the challenges we’re fac-ing right now is that during the course of construction, everything is a little turned upside down,” says Miller with a chuckle, confident that this temporary inconve-nience is well worth the long-term ben-efits of growth.

One of the key strengths of Vancouver Axle & Frame lies with its staff and its ability to retain a stable core of employees, resulting in virtually hundreds of years of accumulated knowledge and experience in the commercial transport industry.

There are currently 16 employees working with Vancouver Axle & Frame, ranging from three to 30 years in the industry. A few of these workers have been with the company since before the move to Surrey. Miller expects to add three or four more with the expansion to the facility.

“We’re small, so it’s a family atmo-sphere where everybody covers every-body’s back and we look out for one another,” says Miller. “Everyone has dif-ferent strengths and there’s not one per-son in the shop that can cover all of the areas that we handle. It’s really an accu-mulation of people with very different skills that seem to complement each other very well.”

At Vancouver Axle & Frame, this fam-ily atmosphere isn’t simply a metaphor for

In southern British Columbia, there is heavy competition in attracting an increasingly discerning consumer base. This drives Vancouver Axle & Frame to endeavour in being the best in meeting their customers’ needs.

“Some might say that the competition is a disadvantage but I would say it’s a positive thing in that it keeps you sharp,” says Miller. “If you do it right, then you’ll have the business. We’re a very small com-pany but we find there is always going to be work for somebody who can put out a reasonable product at a reasonable price.”

Currently, Vancouver Axle & Frame has two parts to their company’s work-load. “Many years ago, our basic area of expertise was alignment, suspension and framework—where we are still very strong,” says Miller. “Since then, how-ever, we’ve moved on to fabricating. Right now, about 50 per cent of our business is currently fabrication and vehicle modifi-cation. We’re dealing with vehicle alter-ations and GBW upgrades-dshortening your wheelbases and chassis,” says Miller.

“Moving into the next year, we’ll still be maintaining our focus in providing this service because, really, that’s where our bread and butter is. However, we’re also going to be focusing on adding a couple of product lines, starting with van bodies and steel truck dump bodies,” he adds. “In the van body part, we’re getting teamed up with Morgan, a company out of the United States. For the dump body, we’re dealing with a company called Brandon Manufacturing, based in Montreal.”

Miller realizes this undertaking into the truck body business is new for Vancouver Axle & Frame. “We’ve touched all this

the southern MAInLAnd of British Columbia is well known to be a hotbed for the commercial transport industry. Vancouver Axle & Frame has been meeting the needs of this industry, from West Vancouver to Hope and every-thing in between, for over 50 years.

“The company’s been around, believe it or not, since 1959,” says owner Ken Miller. “I worked for Paul Campeau and Vancouver Axle up until 1982, before I went away for a little bit. When the com-pany was ready for sale in 1988, he gave me a shout and it was purchased at that point. I was pretty young when I took over,” he says, laughing. “But it was excit-ing at the time and excitement always drives change.”

One of the changes Miller brought to Vancouver Axle & Frame was a moving the company from its home in Vancouver out to Surrey in 1991. With that move came a change in focus for the business.

“When we were in Vancouver, we were a combination of automotive service and truck service. In our transition out to Surrey, we turned strictly to commercial transport.”

Miller says the move to Surrey was strategic—to better meet the needs of his almost 3,000 commercial customers, which range from large municipal clients to single owner-operators.

“Surrey is really strong into trucking and a lot of the services are right where we are. All the support businesses as far as warehousing, parts distribution and anything related to the trucking industry, is placed right within a 12-block radius of Vancouver Axle & Frame. That’s a huge advantage for us.”

memberprofile

By Paul Adair

Vancouver Axle & Frame

An artist's rendering of what Vancouver Axle & Frame's newly-renovated facility will look like upon completion in January 2013. The renovations, which will double their floor space, are being done by Smith Construction.

Fall 2012 53

years of being in business, Vancouver Axle & Frame is keeping an eye on the future of British Columbia’s commercial transport industry and striving to meet its needs for many years to come. l

Membership within the CTEA is important to Miller and Vancouver Axle & Frame. “It adds to us a reputation and validity to what we’re doing,” he says. “Sometimes, it’s almost as though you operate with blinders on and you don’t notice what’s going on around you. Our CTEA membership allows us to see what other people are doing in our backyard and across the country. It keeps us better informed, and with that, we can pick up what we feel is relevant to our business.”

Armed with the industry knowledge and experience that comes with over 50

a close and friendly working environment. Miller’s older (by only four days) cous-in, Kevin Last, is also his business part-ner and service manager, not to mention President of the Canadian Association of Fleet Supervisors (CAFS) and Canadian Transportation Equipment Association (CTEA).

“There is a lot of loyalty involved and a lot of trust that you can derive from working with family,” says Miller.

memberprofile

For More InForMAtIonVancouver Axle & Frame19548 96th AvenueSurrey, BC V4N 4C3Tel: (604) 882-5112Fax: (604) 882-5113www.vanaxle.com

the woMAn behInd the Men“Deb is co-owner and a key com-ponent to the company’s success. She is the glue that holds the Van Axle shop together, from her friend-ly smile and encouraging words to the medical attention one of our employees requires. She makes sure everyone gets their paycheques on time, that all paperwork is done on time and that all I’s are dotted and T’s are crossed. We would not be Vancouver Axle without Deb.”Kevin Last, co-owner and service manager, Vancouver Axle & Frame


IneveryissueofCTEAToday,wefeaturenewandusefultools,softwareandproductsrelatedtotheindustry.Ifyouhaveanewproductyou'dliketoseefeaturedinanupcomingissue,pleasesendapressreleaseandphototoawalld@matrixgroupinc.netandputCTEATodayinthesubjectline.AllsubmissionsmustbeapprovedbytheCTEAandwillbeeditedforspelling,grammar,etc.

we want to Feature your new products!

Fall 2012 55

messages•messagesinfrench toolsofthetrade

Advance engineered group unveils new ultralight Supertrain tanker at Truck World 2012

A new tank trailer design is a rare thing in the bulk hauling business, so the industry took quick notice of Advance Engineered Group’s new Ultralight Supertrain. This new petroleum tank trailer unit features a number of unique design elements, including an inflatable airgap filler for increased fuel efficiency.

The Ultralight Supertrain is engineered to help owners:Increase Fuel Efficiency – Unique trailer gap filler and other •features work to create a substantial drag reduction and increased fuel efficiency.Increase Payload Revenue – New components and materials •cut trailer weight by 2,100 lbs, which translates into a substan-tial increase in revenue payload capacity.Improve Safety – New lower center of gravity design promotes •reduced rollover risk.For more details, please go to www.advanceengineered-

products.com.

New Industry ProductsPeterbilt’s bendix Air disc brakes available on models 382 and 348

Peterbilt Motors Company recently announced Bendix® air disc front brakes are immediately available on models 382 and 348. The Bendix air disc brakes offer improved performance and productivity.

“Peterbilt’s vocational duty customers will recognize the value of this addition to these models,” said Charles Cook, Peterbilt Vocational Market Segment Manager. “These brakes will add value to customers’ bottom line as it will require less maintenance and last longer.” Air disc brakes offer a number of operation advantages, including:

Reduced stopping distance;•Extended service intervals for reduced maintenance;•Reduced downtime during service;•Straight, stable stops due to minimized brake force varia-•tion between brakes;Minimized weight and maintenance due to compact design; •Internal automatic brake adjustment allows the brakes to •always be in a state of optimum adjustment; andOptimized friction pairing results in minimal noise and •maximized pad and rotor life. Peterbilt’s Model 382 is designed for regional haul markets

such as pickup and delivery, and many vocational markets, ideally suited to meet municipal specifications and a variety of construction, refuse, fire service and emergency applications.

Available in GVW ratings from 31,000 to 66,000 lbs, the Model 348 is designed for low horsepower and torque voca-tional environments, like dumps, mixers and cranes, where a more compact overall vehicle envelope is required.

For more details, please go to www.peterbilt.com.

Hendrickson introduces Fox bee Line to the Pro-genuine network

Hendrickson welcomes Fox Bee Line, Inc. / Buds Spring Service as the newest members of the Hendrickson Pro-Genuine network. Fox Bee Line has been serving the Lancaster, PA area and the heavy duty service industry for over 60 years.

“We are excited to have Fox Bee Line as part of the Pro-Genuine network and we look forward to servicing the end-users of Hendrickson systems with genuine parts through the partnership with Richard and his entire team,” says David McCleave, Director, Hendrickson Truck Commercial Vehicle Systems.

Pro-Genuine is an affiliate program that connects Hendrickson to the independent service network. The pro-gram focuses on marketing tools, technical training and pro-motions that reward members for their loyalty to selling and installing Hendrickson genuine components.

For more details, please go to www.hendrickson-intl.com.

Fall 2012 57

news&views

Members’ Newsregister, participate, network

Truly a win-win-win when stake-holders support industry activities by registering themselves and staff for these events, participate through sharing knowledge on panel pres-entations, and interact with fellow delegates through the social aspects of the event, continuing the process long after the event has ended.

The 48-year run of the Canadian Fleet Maintenance Seminar annual event was disrupted in 2012 and will return on May 6, 2013 as the Transportation Maintenance and Technology Conference (TMTC)—more registration details to follow as they become available at www.cfmsonline.com.

The executive committee of the TMTC are members of the Ontario-wide Transportation Maintenance a n d T e c h n o l o g y A s s o c i a t i o n (TMTA), wi th ac t ive par tner locations representing Windsor/C h a t h a m , L o n d o n , W a t e r l o o Region, Halton/Hamilton/Niagara and Sudbury and replacing ATSSA branch locations.

Working closely with Don Moore and CTEA staff, the executive com-mittee of the TMTC are excited about the interactive maintenance focused event being organized right now to bring together the best in commercial vehicle maintenance and maintenance technology.

You are invited to register, par-ticipate and network at the first industry maintenance conference with the 48-year history of excel-lence.

For more information, contact Jim Pinder, Chairperson, TMTC 2013 at (519) 780-5820 or [email protected].

WHiTing welcomes new employeesWHITING Door Manufacturing Ltd., manufacturer of overhead roll-up doors for

the truck and trailer industry, is pleased to announce the following appointments:

Ravi Tyronne (CMA, MBA) – Controller.• Responsible for all financial aspects of the operation, Ravi Tyronne brings over 25 years of international manufacturing experience, primarily in the field of heavy duty transportation components.

Aurel Trambitas (M. Eng, MBA) – Engineering Manager.• Responsible for the further development of the Engineering Department, Aurel Trambitas delivers over 20 years of engin-eering experience gained in the automotive, medical and nucle-ar fields.

Brent Posthuma – Marketing Coordinator.• Brent has extensive project management experience gained within the financial industry and will play a lead role in all aspects of WHITING’s Marketing program.

“We look forward to the experience and knowledge that these new team mem-bers will deliver to our expanding team,” says Bruce Whitehouse, President of WHITING Door Manufacturing Ltd.

WHITING Door Manufacturing Ltd. recently launched a new social media campaign. Please be sure to “Like” us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter (@WHITING_Canada) for updates, company news and much more.

Ancra Canada appoints george batesAncra Canada, a division of Ancra International, a leader in load secure-

ment innovation, redently announced the appointment of George Bates as Regional Sales Manager for Atlantic and Central Canada.

George brings with him over 25 years of experience in sales and service to the Heavy Duty Transportation Industry, including 10 years of previous load securement sales experience—six years of which were spent specifically with Ancra as a territory manager. George has been an active participant in several trade associations, including the Automotive Transportation Service Superintendents Association, the Canadian Fleet Maintenance Seminar and the Heavy Duty Distributor Council.

George’s previous load securement experience has left him well-versed in the current load securement regulations, making him a valuable resource for Ancra’s customers. George is based out of London, ON, where he is lives with his wife Diane. They have four children and four grandchildren.


messages•messagesinfrench buyer'sguide

ACCEssOrY lighTingGolight Inc. ................................................................................................. 54

AsPhAlT MAnuFACTuring EquiPMEnTE.D. Etnyre & Co. ........................................................................................ 39

brAkE TEsTingLite-Check LLC ............................................................................................ 34

COnsulTing sErviCEsCoudenys Management Systems Inc. ............................................................ 46

COugAr TruCk vibrATOrsMartin Engineering ..................................................................................... 50

CusTOM AnD sTAnDArD shOTblAsT sOluTiOnsWheelabrator Group ................................................................................... 58

CusTOM builT AxlEs, sElF sTEEr AxlEs, FOrCE sTEEr AxlEs AnD OFF-highwAY AxlEsK.G. Industries Ltd. ....................................................................................... 4

CusTOM builT bEllY DuMP grAvEl TrAilErsDeCap Trailer Manufacturing Ltd. ............................................................... 20

DiEsEl ExhAusT, FluiDs, DEF DElivErY TruCks, PArTs AnD EquiPMEnTOilmen’s Truck Tanks Inc. ........................................................................... 56

ElECTriCAl COMPOnEnTsR.P. Smith Sales & Manufacturing ................................................................ 11

ElECTrOniCs AnD lighTing sOluTiOnsPES Canada...............................................................................................OBC

EnginE hEATing COMPOnEnTsHotstart Inc. ............................................................................................... 29

EnginEErs AnD MAnuFACTurErs OF susPEnsiOns AnD COnTrACTsRidewell Corp. ............................................................................................. 53

EquiPMEnT TrAilErTowMaster ...................................................................................................18

FiFTh whEElsSAF Holland ................................................................................................ 55

FinAnCing/CAPiTAl AnD OPErATing lEAsE OPTiOnsDan The Money Man .....................................................................................19

FlEET rEPAirs, wElDing AnD FAbriCATiOnLambton Fleet Maintenance Inc. .................................................................. 56

FlEET sErviCE AnD rEPAirMarshall Truck & Trailer Repair Ltd. ............................................................51

FrEighTlinEr TruCk DEAlErshiPFreightliner of Red Deer .............................................................................. 47

Full linE TruCk bODY builDEr AnD EquiPMEnT suPPliErDel Equipment Ltd. ....................................................................................... 8

Full TruCk sErviCEsUnited Spring & Brake Ltd. ......................................................................... 47

hEATED winDshiElD wiPEr blADEsEverblades .................................................................................................. 44

hEAvY DuTY AxlEs AnD susPEnsiOnsEveley International Corp. ............................................................................. 5

hEAvY DuTY OilFiElD EquiPEnT AnD suPPliEsUnited Fabrication & Welding Ltd. .............................................................. 56

hEAvY DuTY TruCk EquiPMEnT AnD PArTsAxN Heavy Duty .......................................................................................... 43

hEAvY DuTY TOOlsTiger Tool ....................................................................................................12

hOsE AssEMbliEs, COuPlings AnD FiTTingsOntario Hose Specialties Ltd. ......................................................................... 4

hYDrAuliC CYlinDErs AnD COMPOnEnTsMailhot Industries ........................................................................................21

hYDrAuliC FAbriCATiOnFRF Canada ..................................................................................................33

hYDrAuliCs AnD CluTCh PuMP kiTsDewEze Manufacturing Inc. ..........................................................................13

hYDrO ExCAvATiOnVac-Con Inc. ................................................................................................10

inDusTriAl hArDwArE FAsTEnErs AnD COMPOnEnTsB&D Cold Heading ........................................................................................ 6Okabe Co. Inc. .............................................................................................21

insurAnCE AnD risk MAnAgEMEnT sErviCEsMainway Hunter Creighton Insurance Inc. ................................................... 47

lubriCAnTsWD-40 Products (Canada) Ltd. ..................................................................... 3

MAinTEnAnCE AnD rEPAir FACiliTiEsGear Centre Group .......................................................................................27

MAnuFACTurEr OF hEAvY DuTY lighTing PrODuCTsTruck-Lite Co. LLC ....................................................................................... 35

MAnuFACTurEr OF Msg DuMO FlATbED TrAnsFEr AnD PnEuMATiC TAnk TrAilErsMac Trailer Manufacturing ...........................................................................14

MAnurE sPrEADErs AnD vACuuM TAnksPik Rite Inc. .................................................................................................16

nEw AnD usED TrAilErs / rEMOrquEs nEuvE ET usAgéEFardiers Quebec Inc. ....................................................................................33

nEw AnD usED vEhiClEsLecours Motor Sales .................................................................................... 47

Oil AnD wATEr DElivErY TAnk TruCksOilmen’s Truck Tanks Inc. ........................................................................... 56

PrEssurizED CArgO TrAnsPOrT sAlEs AnD sErviCEMaxfield Inc. ................................................................................................32

sAFETY TrAining TDg whMis COMPliAnCEDanatec Educational Services Ltd. ................................................................51

snOw AnD iCE COnTrOl EquiPMEnTViking-Cives Ltd. ......................................................................................... 54

sPECiAlTY vEhiClE hArDwArE AnD ACCEssOriEsOrr & Orr Inc. ..............................................................................................51

sPiF-COMPliAnT susPEnsiOns AnD COnTrOlsWheel Monitor Inc. ..................................................................................... 38

TAnk TrAilEr MAnuFACTurErTremcar Inc. ................................................................................................21

TAnks, TruCks AnD TrAilErsHutchinson Industries Canada Inc. .............................................................. 56

TirE ChAinsRUD Chain Inc. ........................................................................................... 39

TirE ChAins (AuTOMATiC)ONSPOT of North of America Inc. .................................................................33RUD Chain Inc. ........................................................................................... 39

TirE PrEssurE MAinTEnAnCE sYsTEMsLink Manufacturing Ltd............................................................................... 56

TOwing AnD rECOvErY sErviCEsAccel Towing & Transport Ltd. ..................................................................... 30

TrAilEr MAnuFACTurErsAnderson Manufacturing Inc. .......................................................................16Cobra Trailer Manufacturing ...................................................................... IBCDeloupe Inc................................................................................................. 53TIMPTE Inc. .................................................................................................31

TrAilEr PArTsNational Trailer Parts Warehouse ............................................................... 47Nuera Transport ......................................................................................... 29

TrAilEr PArTs AnD COMPOnEnT sOluTiOnsMaclean Fogg Component Solutions .............................................................IFC

TrAnsPOrTATiOn EquiPMEnT FinAnCingDe Lage Landen Financial Services Canada Inc. ........................................... 54

TruCk & TrAilEr MAnuFACTurErFort Fabrication & Welding Ltd. .................................................................. 56

TruCk AnD TrAilEr rEPAirs, TAnk rEPAir sPECiAlisTsIRS Truck & Trailer Repair Inc. .....................................................................33

TruCk AnD vAn EquiPMEnTKnaak / Weather Guard .............................................................................. 44

TruCk EquiPMEnT FOr All COMMErCiAl TruCksHorizon Truck & Body Ltd. .......................................................................... 29

TruCk lighTing ACCEssOriEsKaper II Inc. ................................................................................................ 50

TruCk MOunTED CrAnEsCanada Cranes Ltd. ..................................................................................... 53

TruCk MOunTED EquiPMEnTDrive Products ............................................................................................ 44

TruCk PArTsGreat Lakes Parts Inc. ................................................................................. 43

TruCks AnD TrAilErs wiTh rOll-OFF sYsTEMsMachinerie Laurin Inc. ................................................................................ 46

vACuuM TrAilErsAcro Trailer Co. ........................................................................................... 39

vEhiClE rECOvErYAbrams Towing ........................................................................................... 56

wElDing EDuCATiOn AnD TrAiningCWB Group ................................................................................................. 35

cteatoday...d’automne. le temps semble s’écouler beaucoup plus rapi-dement que l’année...

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