CITY OF INDUSTRY, California – December 15, 2005 – Utility Trailer Manufacturing Company, a leading manufacturer of dry freight vans, flatbeds, refrigerated vans, and Tautliner® curtainsided trailers, is pleased to announce that it has been recognized along with Hendrickson International by Newport Communications Heavy Duty Trucking for its innovative Wide Track Suspension System by bestowing the company with its Nifty Fifty Award. Well known as an innovative designer and manufacturer of durable, light weight trailers, Utility Trailer Manufacturing Company’s Wide Track System is one in a string of leading innovations that have moved the trucking industry forward in terms of efficiency, durability and payload. Selected by the editors of Heavy Duty Trucking as one of the top 50 products to be introduced in trucking this year, Utility Trailer Manufacturing Co.’s Wide Track Suspension System includes Michelin’s X One Single Wide Tire, a Hendrickson air ride slider with 6″ wider suspension centers, and 6″ longer axles. This system can be used with either “zero” offset aluminum wheels or with the new “zero” offset Motorwheel steel wheel. This new Utility “Wide Track System” also allows the use of any, industry standard wheel end and bearing system without a reduction in bearing life or gross axle weight rating. – – More – – “Utility has a well-established reputation of designing and producing highly productive trailers,” said Craig Bennett, Senior Vice President Sales and Marketing, Utility Trailer. “And the ‘Wide Track System’ is the latest example in a long line of innovations that exemplify the pioneering solutions that have kept us strong for 90 years. Combine the Wide Track System with our thin-wall 4000D-X and you have a durable, productive combo that represents the best our industry has to offer.” The thin wall 4000D-X dry van is ideally suited to take full advantage of the weight savings and increased fuel economy of the Wide Track System with Michelin’s new generation wide single tire, the X One. One fleet that has made the decision to purchase the 4000D-X with the Wide Track System is Mesilla Valley Transportation. “We at Mesilla Valley are always striving to gain efficiencies and safety measures”, said Royal Jones, Mesilla Valley’s President. “All of our Utility trailers are now ordered with the Michelin X One tire. We have also gone to the zero-offset wheel and the Wide Track Suspension. Our studies have shown that we will gain fuel mileage with the single tire. We will also have better stability with the wider suspension.”
