2011 Cascadia DD15 with EGR, DPF, and SCR

Well, I put my old Shaker back in the shop yesterday morning. The last time I did it, I forgot to tell them a few things I wanted done on my long list, so it was my fault.

The last time, I rented a International PRoStar. What a POS! You can read about what a vile failure of aborted engineering Intertrashional hoisted upon the world in my thread here. I HATED that thing!!

http://www.thetruckersreport.com/tr...ner-operator/125698-no-new-trucks-for-me.html

So, I had to rent another tractor last night to use. This one happens to be a 2011 Cascadia with 31,000 miles on it. Newest truck I've ever pulled with. It has the DPf and the SCR. It is equipped with the DD15 and a 10 speed. Here's a crappy cell phone pic I took before I left.


Even had a nifty little gauge to let me know when to buy more exhaust fluid.




First off, the pros. The Cascadia is a darn quiet truck inside going down the road, at least with only 31,000 miles on it. No rattles or squeaks at all. The doors shut real nice and tight and do not leak any air and have no wind noise. The mirrors don't rattle and shake to the point of being useless, as they did on the ProbeScar. Don't know how much any of this will change with mileage, but I really feel like the Cascadia had a better quality cab than anything I've seen from Freightliner.

The sleeper was nice. Cabinets with doors, plenty of storage. In fact, the whole cab had lots of storage bins that were pretty nice.

Visibility out of the truck was good, and it drove good with the rack and pinion steering. Ride was certainly a lot better than my old '96 FLD with 1.6 million on her and it was sixteen billion times better than that pile of failure, the ProStar.

Cons? They reduced the amount of foot room for your left foot compared to the COlumbias. While it still had slightly more room in the floor board than the dreaded Tupperware ProScar, I can't figure out why ANY designer would reduce leg/foot room. The dash had a couple of cup holders that blocked off some switches on the dash if you put a cup in them. Don't understand that, either. I was just hung up of the foot room. I just couldn't believe they REDUCED foot room. Just puzzles the you know what out of me!

This truck also had another pet peeve I had with the ProSmear, and that's controls on the steering wheel. The Cascadia had a button to activate the Jake (not that you could really feel the Jake when you pushed it), Cruise control, and two buttons to scroll through the info on the screen in the dash. I just dislike any controls on the steering wheel. I can't figure out who these drivers are who are too #### lazy to reach a half an arm's length over to the dash. I just don't like any thing on the wheel.

The strangest thing about the cab layout, though, was the placement of the pedal to tilt and telescope the wheel. They used a pedal, like a KW, in the center right between the brake and clutch. What I don't get is that it comes out of the bottom of the dash. It's way too high to reach with my foot and it's too low for me to reach with my hand. I hope the designer that came up with that got wedgies and swirlees from his fellow designers for such a bone headed thing. I liked the way they were in the Columbias/Century's and I think this was a huge NEGATIVE compared to them. It was really funny. I'll try to get a pic of it tonight.

The biggest thing about this truck, though, is that it's powered by a DD15. I've heard all over about what a powerhouse this thing is and all the torque it has. I did figure out what the DD stands for in DD15......Deeply Disappointed. What a DOG!! My arm is tired from all the downshifting I had to do. On the trip out, I had 20,000 pounds on and on the return trip, I grossed about 61,000 pounds. This thing is a JOKE! And, I'm a guy who really likes those 12.7 Series 60s. I would bet my next two settlements that I can pull with that DD15 with my 1.6 million mile 350hp 3176 Cat. In fact, I had to downshift last night in places I've never had to in my tractor, and I usually pull heavier than what I had last night. In some places, I needed TWO gears. After hearing all the hype about the DD15 on the various trucking shows on Satellite Radio, I was really expecting this thing to be at least decent. It wasn't anywhere in the zip code of what I'd call what felt like a high torque engine. And the Jake Was REALLY weak. You could hear it, but you really couldn't feel it.

I'm almost thinking this thing had problems. I'd like to drive another one to see, but right now, my initial impression of the over hyped DD15 is that it's far too weak to be in a truck, but too heavy to be on my riding mower. That makes it junk, for me. I just can't believe how weak this DD15 was. I can't express how disappointed I was in how gutless this thing was, especially after hearing all the hype about this thing.

Oh, and one more thing. I am afraid to see what the mpg's are gonna be. It has two 120 gallon tanks. My tractor only has 100's on it and I use just a little over a quarter of a tank in a night. I regularly get a little over 7 mpg's with my old truck. This thing, loaded lightly, on the same run used over 1/2 a tank last night, so I'm guessing it's an absolute fuel hog, too. I'll see for sure tonight when I fill it up.

Guess I'll just be stuck driving old trucks. I've hated every new truck I've driven so far. And, I think I've driven about all of them but the KW T-2000 and T-700 (I don't care to drive those) and the Pete 387/587.

 

I rent from them frequently. They don't derate the engines, they say. They do limit the speed to 70mph. I believe them. Most of the trucks I rent feel just fine, except for the DD15. Usually, the trucks with the ISX's and Cats feel just fine.

 

Oh, I did want to add that this was the easiest driving truck I've rented. Normally, there's a little bit of a curve changing trucks, and it'll take me most of the out bound nightly trip to get used to a different tractor. Sometimes, after those rentals have about 3 or 4 hundred thousand miles on them and about 145 different drivers have had their turn raking on the gears, none of them drive worth a flip.

This thing drove and shifted like I had driven it for the past six months. It's new and the tranny was really nice and tight, but the throttle response was real easy to get used to and I'm sure that helped.

Of course, it was so completely powerless, once I was in tenth, I spent most of the night with my foot on the floor in a fruitless attempt to make 62 mph, my normal speed. Any incline at all and it starts slowing down. Let it get to 1200 and it completely falls on it's face. Anything lower than 1200 in tenth gear, even on mostly level ground, and you'll find 800 RPM pretty quickly and needing to downshift. I downshifted last night in places I never have before, even nursing my truck in on 5 injectors.

But, it did drive and shift nice.


Every time I checked, it was 0-60 in a few miles. It did shift real nice, though.

I just got my call for tonight, BTW, and I'll not be under 72,000 at any point tonight. This ought to be interesting.

 

Well...my truck is a 1996 model, and both it and the engine have 1.6 million miles. No engine rebuild yet.

It does rattle and shake, but that's just a Freightliner interior. I've driven trucks with half the mileage and age that were much worse than mine.

You HAVE to keep up on maintenance. I do it RELIGIOUSLY. I keep good quality oil and fresh good quality filters. I like to run CAT filters. ANytime I don't, my truck lets me know. I'v tried the cheaper filters before and it shows up on my oil analysis. I do an oil analysis every other oil drain, and always have. I let that be my guide on when to change oil. After running this thing a while on the same run, I know it pretty well. The oil analysis always come out good and will let you see problems a lot earlier than feeling them going down the road.

I put it in the shop before every winter (It's in there now) and pretty much have everything that looks like it's going to need attention fixed. Also, I like to fix small problems as soon as I see them. Little problems always turn into larger ones. I've never seen anything on a truck heal itself, so I just go on ahead and fix it.

Also, I regularly drain the coolant and have it analyzed, too. I do not believe in running cheap coolant. I NEVER pour water in the coolant. I carry coolant with me if I need to add any. Not long after I got the tractor, I changed ALL the hoses over to the blue silicone stuff and haven't lost a hose yet. I guess if I did, I might add water to get in, but I'd drain it, flush it, and refill it with coolant AS SOON AS I PARKED IT. I think coolant and it's importance is often overlooked.

And, of course, it's mine, and I'm the third owner. The guy I bought it from owned it since it was 3 years old. I'm the only guy that drives it and so was he, when he owned it. We both drive real easy and I know that helps.

Also, since I run out and back, I have VERY low idle time. When I do idle it, I like to run it at 1,000 RPM. I keep the block heater plugged in during the winter and it starts easier. I keep my block heater working good. I think reducing the wear as much as you can with the cold starts helps, too.

The only other thing I do will probably draw some fire, but I really do believe in Motorkote. I run it in the engine, tranny, and both differentials. The guy I bought it from ran it for years before I bought the truck and I kept on doing it. I've never had any major internal issues with anything on the truck. Just gaskets, old seals, old O-rings, and old electrical wires. I really don't think this thing would still be going, AND the oil analysis' still looking very good if it wasn't for that stuff.

Bottom line is maintenance, maintenance, and maintenance....and drive it like you're buying the parts, because you are. I spend a lot less on parts and repairs by keeping my truck up than a truck payment. One day she's gonna wear out, but I'll maintain her the best way I can right up until that time.