Why is Kenworth using Paccar if their reputation is so bad?

I drove one of our newer t660s tonight. It's a 2013 with 330,000 miles on it. It's a whole different animal compared to our 2011-12 kw's. I was running 65 at 1380 rpm. I climbed the dames point bridge on 295 at 45 mph which is impossible in our other kw's.

The engine brake is still very weak, and the acceleration leaves something to be desired but overall it's better than our older ones. It definitely pulls better.


One of our older kw's will go through a whole tank of def in a shift, while the one I drove tonight didn't even use 1/8th of a tank. They both have the same size tanks and the one that gulps def has no leaks that are visable. So I'm not sure what's causing it.


If I was buying a new truck today, I'd most likely still go with a cummins. Or a glider if I'm able

 

The Cascadia/Detroit S60 Combo is currently being produced. The Cat will come but that will be down the road still. Lot's going on behind the scenes.

 

The 2015 PACCARs have been getting surprisingly positive feedback from our drivers. We ordered a bunch of T680s, MX455, 3.08s, FRO1610C transmissions, while our Rocky Mountain doubles trucks have 3.36s and an autoshift... the RMD drivers say that the new trucks pull better than a lot of the older ones, which were primarily T800s with a 450 ISX, FRO1610C, and 3.90s (IMO, too low of a gear... RMDs aren't that heavy, and you're not really gonna pass that off as 'heavy spec' for resale with a Family 1 ISX and 16 torque transmission), Pornstars with the Trashforce and I don't know what the rears are, and a couple Volvos with the D13 and again I don't know the rears.
Maintenance wise, they haven't been terrible thus far... while I do like where they relocated the dosing injector to, I ended up preferring the old location, rather than the new location with those ####### rigid lines it's attached to... with the dosers, you want to make sure they're perfectly straight before torque them in, otherwise the bolt snaps, and you more often than not end up replacing that housing... on these new trucks, that also contains the wastegate, and I have a feeling there will come a point at some time for carriers - especially those who serve as starter companies for techs - where that's going to go south.

 

We run a bunch of them with in what is termed Euro 3 emission standards. Nothing hung on to the motor and no before or after treatments.
Very happy with the motors.
We still have a few of the Paccar (DAF) motor that preceded this and much the same.
Most went about 750 000 miles before we would do an inline.
If we were running at NA weights and conditions Im confident 1 million would be achievable.
The oil coolers , compressors and alternator/belt tension-er bearings were failing to regularly.
We did however get the tension er and alternator bearing issue by changing to dust proof units as we did a lot of dirt roads.
The core motor has been great , but it is really the package that counts.

 

Yeah, I've had to change a lot of belt tensioners on those. Not a difficult job at all... I have them and the belt replaced in about 20 minutes.

 

Okay, so we are ordering a 680 with the 450 hp PACCAR motor. Pull a pnuematic and have to high idle to run PTO/Blower to unload. There are places where it can take up to 4-5 hours to blow off a load. On the PTO we're having put on, it will run at 1100 RPMs.

My question is the high idle unloading, drying trailer etc.... is pretty high, time wise. Can I expect headaches with this emission crap? I have no experience with these new engines. And when guys talk about idling causing issues, I don't know if that is idling at 600/700 RPMS. Or if high idle like we do to unload is not an issue.

Thanks

 

At high idle you will not have as many issues, the idle issues come from a lower exhaust temperature than the emissions control system needs to burn off the soot. High idle and driving a PTO will put a load on the engine and raise your exhaust temps so you should be ok.

 

Stan,to add to King Q reply,the MEGR MAN/Maxxforce platform has been dropped several years ago.
Man and Scania were (like International) promoting not using DEF but they stopped going that path even before International stopped using it.
All EU engines are DEF's now.

About the emissions problems you hear about,i honestly think that most are not resolved because off poor training off mechanics.
The unwillingness by some drivers not to stop idling their trucks is also a problem.
And the believe that bigger is better (engines) also can cause problems.
With the low weights being hauled in NA ,i would never buy a truck with a bigger engine then a 13L.

 

I've noticed no lag on acceleration like others have ... But I have a 13 speed and shift at lower rpm and it picks up speed quickly ... I have run with a couple buddie who have auto shifts and I run away from them pretty easy using low boost and shifting at low rpm once up to speed we pull the same .. I honestly think they program auto's to accelerate slow to save fuel but once moving they do well power wise .. Other than a couple updates zero problems or oil consumption in 195,00o km(120,000miles) on a 2015 ..they take about 70,000 miles before they release full power though factory programs a break in schedule in ecm so it's a bit lazy at first .. In a few years I'd be surprised if many order the cummins in a paccar product seeing as how they hardly fix one issue before the next one arises .. Bad cams,pistons breaking,piston rings breaking, oil control issues,antifreeze consumption,etc,etc it seems like cummins just can't get it right which is a shame because when running right isx is a great motor

 

From my experience you are definitely correct.

We have autoshifts in our KW's with the Paccar engine. Its setup 455hp and 3.36 gears. It it very sluggish until you get up to 1500 rpm, then it takes off like a rocket from 1500 to 2300rpm. If you try to keep it in the 1100-1500rpm range it takes WAY to long to get up to speed, if I was OTR then it may not be a bad thing, but doing local work I need acceleration. It lags bad after 6th gear, it just plain sucks for pulling hills.

With our cascadias powered with a DD13 at 430hp, i can run over the dames point bridge in jax fully loaded and keep at 45 mph by the time I hit the top. With the paccar i run down to about 30-35mph.

None of our KW's with the paccar engines pull good, none.