I will have to admit that one month ago I hadn’t heard about gliders.
I mean, I had heard about gliders in the sky — you know, gliders — but not gliders in the world of trucking. Now, thanks to the Trump administration, gliders are in the news again.
Gliders — truck version — are refurbished tractors that use old engines and transmissions, etc., in new chassis. Building (or rebuilding) gliders became a small industry because truck engines are built to last, and if a tractor was wrecked early in its life, then chances were good that the engine was still in perfect working order and would be so for a million more miles.
So putting together a glider made good sense and still does, within proper limits. Usable parts get recycled and used, less-expensive trucks are built and put into operation, and people who can build (or rebuild) gliders have work.
Gliders were important to independent drivers or small companies because they cost $100,000 compared with $140,000 for a new tractor. Also, because it is a “used” tractor, there was no 12 percent federal excise tax imposed.
People soon figured out that a 1998 engine in a current year tractor made the tractor technically a 1998 truck. And regulations such as U.S. Environmental Protection Agency emission rules applied for the year of the engine, not the chassis, so an older truck wouldn’t have to measure up to stricter 21st century rules. In addition, electronic logging device requirements don’t apply to pre-2000 trucks.
In recent years, gliders have become much more popular, to the point now that finding a perfect old engine for a new glider is hard work.
“At first gliders were popular because of the emissions rules; you could have a ’97 EPA engine so everyone could work on them,” said Todd Havens, who until early May was a co-owner of Truck Centers of Arkansas. “Now the big thing is the logs. You’re able to run without the onboard electronic logs.
“The older stuff, the equipment vehicle, was becoming more and more scarce. Boy, they have had a resurgence lately.”
President Barack Obama’s EPA made a rule that, beginning January 2018, would have addressed the potential for glider abuse. The rule said that after 300 gliders, any builders had to bring each subsequent truck up to code for the current year.
President Donald Trump’s EPA chief, Scott Pruitt, proposed killing that rule in November. It is still being debated, but Pruitt cited Tennessee Tech research that said old engines weren’t bad polluters. This despite the fact that literally every other study showed older engines were worse at pollution.
The university later lambasted its own research. The Los Angeles Times reported that Tennessee Tech’s engineering department dean called the study’s conclusion “far-fetched” and “scientifically implausible.”
The research was funded by a businessman named Tommy Fitzgerald, who just happens to be an owner of a truck dealership that sells the rigs with the rebuilt engines. You get one guess which presidential candidate Fitzgerald hosted in 2016. One guess which EPA chief he has met with privately.
Oh, and the Tennessee gubernatorial candidate pushing the research for glider repeal … one guess who gave her a big donation.
Havens said that when he owned TCA he put together approximately 200 gliders in about five years. One customer, a less-than-truckload carrier in Detroit, bought 180 of them.
“I didn’t get into it too much because I didn’t do the assembly of the glider on site,” Havens said. “To be able to capitalize on your profit margin, you need to be able to sell your own parts, do your own assembly.”
California’s house just passed a bill — it’s not law yet — that would fine anyone driving a noncompliant glider $25,000. It passed by a 73-0 vote, which included 25 Republicans.
This is not to knock any glider buyer or driver. I understand how saving $40,000 on a tractor could mean the difference between someone earning a living driving a truck or having to do something else.
Obama seemed to understand that gliders were acceptable in smaller doses, like pollution, dessert and children’s recitals. The 300-plus rule seems to be a worthy compromise to prevent loophole pillaging.
I predict its ruination.
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