Great company with Great products!

“We’ve had the best experience ever with Ex-Guard, lots of saved radiators, hoods and bumpers. Great company with Great products!”

– Mihai Dercaci | President | Schwarz Logistics

FUEL ECONOMY TESTING

MESILLA VALLEY TRANSPORTATION SOLUTIONS

Validates Ex-Guard’s Performance

Las Cruces, New Mexico – May 15, 2019 – MVT Solutions, a provider of breakthrough fuel economy testing and design and development services for the trucking industry, today announced that its evaluation of the Ex-Guard LT series grille guards, manufactured by Ex-Guard Industries, provides front end damage protection to trucks which have little to no negative impact on the trucks overall fuel efficiency.

“Our testing found the Ex-Guard LT-325 grille guard had no discernable effect on fuel  economy while the LT-350 had only a small negative impact of -0.51%, which is a smaller impact than the tractor’s side mirrors,” stated Daryl Bear, lead engineer & COO at MVT Solutions.

“The results are what we expected based on feedback from fleets that already use our product, but we asked MVT Solutions to quantify the fuel consumption impact of our grille guards in an attempt to completely alleviate any concerns about MPG loss with our guards,”

Dennis Geipel, a representative from Ex-Guard added. “We chose MVT Solutions for these trials because of their reputation in fuel economy testing and wanted to eliminate any questionable variables that might have remained. These verified results will now allow fleets to make a well-informed decision about adding Ex-Guard grille guards based on their ability to prevent costly front-end damage.”

The certified testing by MVT Solutions was developed from race car engineering and advanced vehicle test methods using sensors and recording systems that collect data on fuel consumption, aerodynamics, rolling resistance, driver behavior and other variables that affect fuel consumption. The data is analyzed using MVTS proprietary methods.

For the Ex-Guard evaluations, two test vehicles ran simultaneously at 65 MPH on a 9-mile circle track. The 2019 International LT models were specified with Cummins X15 engines and Eaton 10-speed automated manual transmissions. The tractors pulled 53-ft Hyundai dry vans equipped with Michelin Energy Guard aerodynamic systems, and both tractors and trailers were fitted with single wide-base tires.

“Typically, interfering with the airflow on a vehicle can impact fuel economy significantly,” said Daryl Bear. “However, Ex-Guard products minimize their affect on aerodynamic drag because they are mounted several inches away from the front of the vehicle and are designed with round tubing, allowing air to continue flowing. Ex-Guard grille guards are not a fuel saving product, but our testing should provide fleets with the confidence to consider their use based on maintenance and operational costs as opposed to fuel economy losses.”

Calculating Total Savings or Cost with Ex-Guard 

MVTS Transport conducted Third Party Real Life Testing with Ex-Guards.

The following are the results of that test.

25 Designs
No effect on fuel economy, therefore zero cost in fuel.

50 Designs
At 125,000 miles traveled annually, the fuel used would be 66 gallons, .5GAL/1000 miles.

FINANCIAL IMPACT CALCULATION

-66 gallons/year x $2.58/gal = $162/yr fuel cost

Using the average retail cost of diesel fuel in the U.S. in 2020 at $2.58 /gal, this amounts to $162 annually in fuel per truck.

For more questions on test results contact Mesilla Valley Transportation Solutions, LLC or Ex-Guard Industries.

Ex-Guard Industries – ‘Life Saver’

I was going through some old pictures on my phone and ran across from photos from a once in a lifetime event (hopefully)! Back in 2010 I was driving the last trucks I owned before coming over to PeopleNet. It was in the middle of the night, about 3am, on my way with a load of mattresses to Kalispell, MT for a 6am delivery. I was just west of Browning, MT about to head through Glacier National Park when I spotted a white cow on the dotted line.

I swerved to the right and missed the white cow narrowly, but while I was watching to make sure I missed the white cow, 30 yards behind him and in the middle of my lane was the black cow that I didn’t see (picture below from when the sun came up of the victim, or perp, depending on your perspective). It was full grown, and the impact was staggering. My speed decreased about 30 MPH instantly, alarms started going off, flashing lights appeared on the dash, to say I was shaken would be a gross understatement.

Thankfully when I bought this Freightliner Columbia I also purchased an Ex-Guard bumper protection system, or cow-catcher for short to country boys like me. Honestly, I didn’t expect to actually catch a cow. I just thought they looked sweet, and they were really to easy to use and still perform maintenance on my truck. I hadn’t had any large animal strikes in about a million miles of OTR driving to that point so while the percentage was low, the ROI was still there, one front end strike from even a deer can run into the tens of thousands in damage depending on your luck. That’s not even accounting for any towing, other things you might hit after the animal impact, or lost time, load recovery and so on. Plus, like I mentioned earlier, it looks SWEET!

I dare you to tell me this doesn’t look sweet 🙂

Above is the before picture. Below is the after impact picture.

I won’t mention my speed on this lonely MT highway with no one around at 3am, but the speed limit is 65 mph. After hitting the brakes while dodging the white cow let’s safely say I was probably going 55 mph when I struck the black cow. On both sides of this stretch of road are steep and long embankments. Taking a ride down one of those embankments was going to be expensive and not likely to end in an upright situation!!

The center of the cow struck just to the right of the grill in the picture. You can guess which way the hind end of the cow was facing! The cow slid to a stop on across the oncoming lane of traffic and about 100 feet into the grass down that embankment. So I didn’t hit the cow dead center, and much of the impact from the hind half of the cow was on that smaller section of the cow catcher.

You can see the cosmetic damage. Under the hood the power steering case was cracked and the air to air after cooler was pushed back about an inch at the top left of it (which I hadn’t noticed yet). My call whether to drive it or not. I still had Glacier Nat’l Park in front of me so I towed it to Kalispell.

While the truck was being repaired I did what everybody should do when in Kalispell, MT with a few days on their hands, go fishing!

My truck was patched up, with some bondo and straps so I could go back home and get all rest of the repairs done at my home shop while I was with my family.

Introducing the Columbia Black Angus Edition!

The bottom line is without this Ex-Guard Bumper Protection System this story has a potentially devastating outcome for me, and without a doubt, a more costly outcome for me and my insurance company. The cow probably would have had the same outcome either way! No injury to me and I got to go home to my family a couple days delayed, but home in one piece none-the-less. I didn’t need to get the truck retrieved from the puckerbrush (pucker being the operative portion of that word). The damage was relatively minor, just ask someone who has seen the aftermath of a strike like this without a protection system, and I was back on the road with less than a week of downtime, which I used wisely 🙂

This isn’t a paid story, this was all unsolicited, and started from a review I put on Ex-Guard’s Facebook page upon finding these photos from 2010. Since that first review I’ve gotten to chat with some of their folks and found out more about the company and the people behind the product I purchased.

Ex-Guard Industries is based in, and manufactures their bumper protection systems out of, Des Moines, IA. So it’s an American based company making incredibly durable and high quality products at reasonable prices. The ROI on these systems is REAL, just ask my wife and kids, and insurance agent! Protect your equipment, reduce downtime, and most importantly safeguard your company’s most valuable asset, YOUR PEOPLE!

Thank you Ex-Guard, from the bottom of my entire family’s hearts!

Don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions about my story in the comments or by connecting here. More importantly call Ex-Guard to protect your people!

-Anthony Elliot | Coury Cartage

Ex-Guard, You Are Lifesavers!

Highlights from the #TMC2017 Show!

2017 TMC Annual Meeting & Transportation Technology Exhibition

Ex-Guard was proud to attend and exhibit our products at the American Trucking Association annual Technology & Maintenance Council held February 27 through March 2. There were over 9,000  attendees and exhibitors at this conference.  Several OEM booths at the show were presenting new models such as the International LT and the redesigned Freightliner Cascadia. Kenworth, Volvo, and others also had state-of-the-art displays which were real ‘eye catchers’ making each booth a great experience.

From the show, it is quite evident there are many changes occurring in the trucking industry ranging from Electronic Logging Devices (ELD) to brakes and wheel bearings. You name it, this show had it!

Another notable change is the prevalence of collision avoidance systems. Now more than ever, they are becoming an industry standard within all the latest trucks. This is an exciting change that Ex-Guard is ready for. We protect the Collision Avoidance Systems on the front of your truck with our advanced front-end protection products.

Bob Saxton, Director of Marketing