new swift trucks??

Not sure where i heard that they are heavy. Yours is about 1k heavier than my Volvo. Still you are doing well with your stats. Congrats! Do you idle much?

 

Unless you want to mentor to make your payments? Don't flease a truck. Do some research on this site on the flease. Buy your own elsewhere and sign it on.

After seeing all the problems in a friends '09 Junkstar? Leaky windshield (common on T2000's) and lots of other stuff. His is a midrise. Lots of elbow room, no storage. I'll keep my 670 Volvo over any of them. A 780 would be nice!

 

Actually Rug, i've crunched the numbers, and you dont need 4000 miles a week to make a half way diecent paycheck. $130 a day to break even on the truck. which is (ballpark) 200 mi a day. run 400 mi a day, and you'll make $100+ in your pocket, cover your taxes and health insurance. Yeah...there'll be some who'll say "why make $100 when you can make twice that at (fill in the blank)." Maybe so. But they got SHATNER for terminals. I know there are some ratty lookin swift terminals, but most of them, if drivers clean up after themselves, are nicer than your local Pilot.

Yeah, i dont like the idea of renting a truck, and then giving it back after a year or two....but you know somethin'? I like being able to say when i'm taking time off.... (within reason...take too much time off, and you work for free....not my cup of tea)

and NO...you dont HAVE to be a mentor to 'make it'. buddy of mine who happens to be in the shop with me, is a mentor with a student, and got 4000 mi last week. Now, why would i EVER want to be a mentor, and only see 1000 or so miles more a week? Not worth the headache of having to share your living space. Besides, i like my dog more than i like strangers.

 

My DCI could be better. I'm running about 15% right now, and it will be higher when I'm in any kind of weather. Lately, I've been pretty comfortable with the engine off. But, as said earlier, the Webasto only works with the key on. Might as well have it removed and use the space for my own purposes.

 

Ive got a heavy duty sleeping bag that keeps me nice and toasty in the winter. The inside of the truck will be cold, but i'll be nice and warm which is all i need. This helps to cut the idle time in the winter.

From what i've read, idling damages the engine, and of course wastes fuel and pollutes the environment. This engine has to work hard enough for me so i figure the less i use it the better. $$$$

 

I will be honest that I did not read through every post, but I thought I would add this just in case something was missing.

Volvo's with a volvo motor came with Icon But they are phasing out the volvo-volvo combo.
Volvo's with a Cummins motor came with TAS Temp-A-Start.
Freightliners came with OptiIdle.
Internationals and Volvo's now have Wabasto in them. Which is an aux heater under your bed that runs off the diesel fuel. You do not have to have your truck running for this. However for AC you will have to idle the truck and certain DM's don't seem to understand this.
As for KW's I really didn't get to much of a chance to mess with them before I was taken out of the shop and put on the road.

Unless you have a doctors note for sleep apnea you can not hard wire an inverter.
If you do just unhook it before you take it into a shop for repairs and hide the wires up in a not so obvious spot. Most shops wouldn't bother you. **Ours really don't care anyway** However be warned. If you route the wires wrong and they rub and start a fire IT IS ON YOU. Please use common sense when putting one in.

 

I have a '09 Prostar ... Webasto works fine with the key off.

 

I have an 08 T2 No major porblems. I had the KW shop wire in 1500 watt inverter, fused to the battery direct.

I have nothing done at a SWIFT shop, always KW or Cummins. At those locals I get treated like Gold and Treated quickly to boot. I had an air bag on the cab start leaking. MY shop said 24 to 48 hours, I am like really???? Never mind, I will take it to KW, in and out in less than 4 hours, via the come as you are and wait in line for servive method.

If I keep my foot out of it, 65 mph or less I run 7.2 mpg.

My next truck will be a Volvo 780.

 

The first week out in my T660, i drove it as fast as i could. I barely got over 6mpg. This past week, i've stayed right around 64, and my mpgs are running mid 7s. Had a 20k load and was running hi 7s to 8.

But anyway...yeah...any major work that needs done, i'm going to have done at a dealership. Sure its a few more bucks an hour, but its done right the first time, and in about 100x less time. Why on earth would you want to spend half as much for labor at a terminal shop, when it will take 3x as long.....oh, and you'll then pay 3x as much for said labor. Might as well spend the little extra in labor and know its done right by a dealer that specializes in your brand truck. Before my 30 day warranty from Swift runs out, the front glass is getting replaced. And i know i'll have to do that while i take hometime, so i dont end up sitting waiting to get into the shop. Driver side half has a tiny tiny rock chip in the very lower rh corner.. The passenger side half wasn't glued in properly, and the lower seal leaks and whistles.

 

How do you check your mpg? Is it based on what the computer says or do you check miles driven against fuel consumed? My computer says im doing between 8.3 and 8.7, but when i check it against what i actually consume i figure i get about 7.3mpg.