arrow truck sales

I'd look at Volvos pretty close too when the time comes, but only with the Cummins. I drove a Volvo last year for a few weeks and thought it was a pretty decent truck. Good luck with yours and keep us posted as to how it's holding up!

 

Alright! Another 780 with a Cummins - now I don't feel quite so alone in the world I'd be glad to compare notes with you if you need some help, PM me.

I still think the "electrical issues" are an urban myth - I haven't seen any yet and my truck has 500k on it. Although I did notice some of the cloth electrical tape coming off wiring down near the battery box and cleaned/ retaped it with vinyl tape.

I went with an '05 780, Cummins ISX and a 13 speed. The space and the ease of operation is awesome, and I still laugh a little bit when drivers have to open their door in the weather to see where they're backing (can't help it). Even with the wide-sided body on the 780 (670's are flat sided) you can see right past the sleeper like it isn't there. And everyone that's seen my truck comments on how huge the sleeper is (even my mechanic).

Enjoy, and glad to hear things went well (finally) between you and Arrow. I've had my own dealer-related issues from Nacarato Truck Center in Atlanta, but I finally gave up on them. I'll post that one of these days when I have some time to kill - it'll be a book. Let's just say they shorted me at almost every turn, and have a strange habit of missing phone calls and not returning them.

One of these days I need to replace the new batteries they installed a year ago (they installed 660CCA and 950CCA are the spec battery - no wonder it fails to start in cold weather) - to the tune of $500, buy a set of sleeper curtains for about $200, and buy shelves for the upper cabinets - they're missing. Then I'll replace the stereo - the one in the truck was broken (and not the original) - install a new mattress (eeeyuk) - and maybe even clean the inside (nope - they didn't even clean it a little bit). Heck, I couldn't figure out why the drivers seat was like a rocking chair until I found 2 bolts about an inch loose underneath it - I suppose they missed that too. Oh yeah, and the poorly repaired damage on the roof that's leaking water into the fiberglass. Watch those guys Better yet - don't go there! I haven't found a good repair shop in Atlanta yet, but I do know a great mechanic that might make a trouble call down there if you ever need it. -and there's chapter 1 & 2 of my book

 

Little update on the Arrow Thing!

We have only encountered one more ghost in our machine. The groaning that we had Bruckner's work on in Amarillo seems to somehow reoccurring. We called them and mentioned it but they think it's the airbags. Now, I'm not sure if they are connected or not, but several other drivers were complaining about their airbags on the 780.

I really am at a loss when guys start talking about anything that sounds like grease, oil, screws, bolts, nuts, diesel, lubricant (well maybe I can follow that one) or tools could be involved. But this is what's happening.... Our truck will be rolling along happy as a tick on a dog's back and then gggggrrrrraahhhahhnnnnnn and a whole lot of shaking will start. Our reaction when this happens is extremely varied.

My husband, genius that he is, pulls over and plays with that flipper button thing that supposedly makes the airbags inflate and deflate and it either stops whining or he starts cussing. That's the usual response because it doesn't work too good.

My response, is scream at him to wake up, I pull over and then see the above response.

Sometimes we go two days without any groaning at all....
Sometimes we have an airleak, especially cold weather, and sometimes we don't..

And now I feel like saying sometimes you feel like a nut and sometimes you don't.

 

The sleeper is the reason to buy the truck beyond a doubt! We had the exact same stereo issue. Not working, not original, ect... We bought the Delphi Sirius Satelite ready one, got robbed on the installation but it works okay. Same situation with the cleaning, I'm still finding crap. We splurged on a great mattress as we sleep up an d keep the bottom as table and chairs.

 

I'm wondering if you're seeing an under pressure on the airbags at the drive axles. Is there an air pressure gauge on the dash or in the info display in the cluster? Some have it built in, mine didn't, so I had them installed on the dash. The drives should run close to 60psi when loaded at near 80,000 pounds, and about 8psi when fully unloaded (bobtail).

Just a thought, try getting out when it's doing that and looking at the attitude of the truck. Does it seem like it's sitting lower or higher in the front or rear than it normally does? From your comment about vibration, I'd say the bags are dumping - a problem in the leveling switch on the drives. If it's not showing up on your dashboard with the warning and the buzzer, it's most likely mechanical and not the switch or wiring.

I've heard that running with your rear airbags deflated will usually make some noise, but I've obviously never tried it (not recommended). Does any warning show on the dash (like when you hit the deflate ("dump") switch on the rear airbags)?

 

I'm guessing that your right. I had the sensor that controls the leveler arm ( not sure what the actual name is ) that controls the amount of air going into the bags go bad one day coming through Nashville and it sounded like the whole drive train was coming out from underneath that truck. I was told that the noise comes from putting the driveline in such a bind from losing all the air. BTW never had a light or anything come on on the dash. I just crawled under the truck once someone told me what it was and zip tied it up to get me back to the shop since I was only 5 hours from home anyway. It rode a little rough with all that air but it was better then setting in Nashville an extra day waiting for the part.

 

What did you go with for a mattress? I was going to try the Mobile InnerSpace Luxury (at http://store.qualitydist.net/moinsp.html) mattress, but I really wanted to find one to demo first (nothing worse than trying to return ship a mattress). I can't make it to the Mid-America Truck Show this year, so I'll have to keep looking for a dealer that carries them.

I looked at the Delphi stereo, and I might go that route - although I was able to wire up an XM receiver for now and that's working well enough. If I ever get ahead some, I might just go crazy on a stereo in this thing - with 4 batteries and 9 speaker locations it has potential! I can see it now - cruisin in to load.... BOOM BOOM BOOOOOM BOOOM.... then I dump the airbags *pssssssh* LOL

Your style of writing cracks me up! Nothing like a sense of humor to keep life going well.

Your husband is probably right about the airbags, although it takes awhile for them to inflate/deflate - sometimes minutes depending on the load. The note about cold weather also makes me wonder if there's moisture in the system that's freezing up that leveling valve in cold weather. While you may not want to mess with it, it would be a good suggestion to someone who seems intelligent at a shop (may have to check a few of them). They might be able to take the lines loose, check them for moisture, and blow out the valve with compressed air (maybe something better but I don't know what might hurt the valve).

When it happens - groaning and vibration - and you pull over and hit the dump valve, is there any hissing of air escaping outside the truck? If not, they're probably flat.

You can also tell by looking at them. Let me try some layman's terms here

If they look fluffy they're inflated, if they look wrinkly they're deflated.

Deflated is bad because you're riding on the frame and the axles at that point, with no suspension to absorb bumps, and it also throws the driveline angle and length off, and can tear up your driveline (driveshaft and carrier bearings) and transmission over time.

 

Replace the leveling valve altogether, and purge your air tanks more often.