How To Prepare Your Fleet Vehicle for the Winter

While winter may bring about conditions that are tough on your fleet vehicle, that doesn’t mean your business should stop running! In order to operate at full capacity and meet orders and production needs, trucks need to withstand the harsh conditions that come with cold weather. To keep your business running smoothly, let’s take a look at how to prepare your fleet vehicle for the winter.

Examine Your Brake Health

With cold weather comes icy roads, and in those conditions, your brakes can save your life. It’s best practice to get new brake pads and inspect them thoroughly when temperatures start to drop. If you notice any new squealing sounds, pulling, or vibrations, it’s time to check your brake health ASAP. To reduce the number of inspections you need to make, check the air dry system that eliminates moisture from the brakes and brake lines.

Consistently Check Tire Pressure

Deflated or overinflated tires take a serious toll on tread life and your overall safety. Setting reminders on your phone or calendar to rotate your tires and check their PSI increases safety and reduces the risk of accidents, especially on tough roads. To winterize your tires, you can change rib treads to lug treads, put valve caps on them, and ensure the tread thickness is consistently at 6/32 of an inch.

Charge Your Batteries

The electrochemical reaction that sends power signals to terminal ends and makes batteries work slows down when it’s cold, reducing its performance. Diesel engine vehicles require powerful batteries, so if yours dies while on the road, you can’t rely on a friendly motorist to give you a jump. Charging your batteries and switching to thermally insulated ones can prevent you from being stuck on the side of the road in freezing temperatures.

Top off Fluids

Checking fluid levels and topping them off is a critical part of maintaining your fleet vehicle regardless of the season. However, consistently checking antifreeze, coolant, and motor oil levels becomes even more important during the winter months. In particular, your motor oil can vastly affect fuel efficiency and engine life in cold weather. The letters and numbers on your oil container should give you an indication of how well your motor oil will perform in cold weather. Your list of fluids to top off should include the above and also windshield washer fluid, transmission fluid, brake fluid, and power steering fluid.

Now that you know how to prepare your fleet vehicle for the winter, you and your business are ready to perform at full capacity regardless of the season!