what make of rig do you drive?

I'm currently Not Driving. But when I did I drove Pete's Frieghtliner, KW's and I drove a small cab Volvo. I also drove an Autocar, Cabover Frieghtliner and a CAbover Pete. I liked them all with the exception of the Volvo. Only reason I did not like the Volvo it was the small cab and my knees was up against the dash even with the seat all the way back. The LArger ones are ok, no problem with them. I like a truck I can get in and go, Name onm the hood is a name on the hood.

I prefer a truck with either a Cummins or a Cat in it, I do not like the Detroits.

 

The Cabovers I drove was Junk. I got my first DOT and the truck was so bad, they did not care my logbook had not been touched in a week.


But Did they ride as Rough as otehr claim? To me not really. I been in some Conv that rode rougher. Were they Hot? Yes the but that was good since it was winter... Were they Tight? Hey' 13 years of Service and 9 of them on Ships, I am use of tight Quarters..

Would I buy one today? If I can get into it and out with ease, pending on my Limbs, Arthritis. So it best I get a Conv, but if it was not for my Arthritis, I would buy a good used one to get started again with.

 

I've driven Volvo 610s, Freightliner Columbias, International 9400is, Western Star 4964FXs, Kenworth T800s, and Peterbilt 379-119s.

For turning on a dime, the 610 ruled them all. The Columbia and the Star both had Mercedes engines... definitely not my first choice of engine.

The International had a 525 Cat... tons of power, but the cab was noisy and hot. Both T800s had Cummins 475 ISXs, one was an autoshift and the other was an 18 speed. Of the two, I preferred the 18, but otherwise hated both trucks. Rode rougher than h###.

The Petes rode like a Cadillac, had 475 Cat C15s and 18 speeds. Unfortunately, they didn't turn very tight, but I could live with it.

The Star rode pretty nice, but handled like, well, a truck.

The Columbia rode nice, but the autoshift revved the wee out of the engine.

Overall, I'd have to say that my top 3 in no particular order are the Volvo 610, the Pete, and the Western Star.

I'm currently looking at a Western Star 4900 EX with a 500 Detroit and 76 inch sleeper. Don't have much experience with the Detroits, so I don't know what to look for.

 

If you are buying used, try and find a non-egr series 60, they run cooler and are less finicky than the new EGR ones. If you find one you like and it happens to be an EGR DD, look for the 'Big' detroit, the 14L displacement one. They can be turned up to 515hp, whereas the non egr detroits were 12.7L but still can put out 500hp.

 

I'm currently in a 2000 freightliner classic. 550 cat and 18 spd!

 

I first started out with a Ford CLT 9000 cabover over twenty years ago with no air conditioning stuck in chicago rush hour.The dog house had just enough heat for me to cook on.It was like having a hot plate built in other than that it sure was nice in the tight areas at the docks though..i kind of miss that truck but the company since moved on to conventionals ...i remember driving a brand new GMC GENERAL FIVE STAR from this company i drove for..now this truck was mothed balled.I prefered the pete myself

 

In the past 30 years I have driven about everything.I hauled coal and gravel for over 25 years so every load I hauled was overweight.I prefer the LTL 9000 Ford or Aeromax,International would be second then Westernstar.I don`t really care much for the rest of the trucks,but that is just me.

 

I'm not telling, I'm embarrased.