2015 Cascadia OTR Performance

Funny you should mention "Creep Mode". Will explain in my next post.

Jack's a former driver and he's really cool. He's just pushed for time and that was his way of saying from driver to driver: "You got this. No worries."

Will do. Jack and I talked about that but my F (and I've seen some G's too) and I were about to kill each other. Picture a funny animated cartoon with two Autobot Transformer style characters going at it at a truck stop. The F truck would be the bad guy of course. LOL. Let'cha know. Fixin' to post on today. VERY interesting day.

 

OK, initial report at 3K miles. Tulsa to OKC to Flagstaff (244-44-40) to Phoenix (down 17) to Casa Grande, AZ to Benson, AZ to Ozona, TX (I-8 and 10). 1,958 miles, 7.5MPG. Today's leg 621 miles I-10 from Benson, AX - Ozona, TX, (east of Ft. Stockton) 8.26MPG. 76K even gross from OKC to the Bird. Steady quartering 25 MPH headwind for a bit. 60 mile deadhead to Casa Grande (disappointed in DH mileage - It was about the same as loaded; heavy winds the wrong way, though). 77,200 gross topped off fuel there. Nice, even distribution. 7K series trailer w/ side skirts the whole time. Not bad for an engine and drive train's first 3K, though I do expect much better after break in. Research is all over the board on just how much better to expect, but "significant" is about all I'm willing to commit to due to the old "it was on the internet so it must be true" thing. Still waiting to hear back from a couple Freightliner Detroit people in the real world before I'm willing to put an actual estimated increase number on it. Fought some wind today but nothing bad and a lot of calm time. How'd she do?

I guess my one serious gripe will be absolutely dumb, and I'll get knit picking done first.

The seat is hard and I'm gonna have to cushion. I had to break out my tools and align a small faring piece between the right side lower and cab fins. it was "in" but not fully attached and skewwed. I had to loosen the bolts and attach it and the "nubs" on top aren't mating exactly to the holes and I'm gonna have to file the holes a tad bigger on the back side to get the nubs to seat and get the little wave out of the top lip. Curly-cue shavings from routing the plastic, I'm finding them EVERYWHERE. The HVAC vent on the lower bunk won't stay open when on high fan. I'm gonna have to wedge it open. Oh, and they can have that danged lane departure system. I thought my speaker(s) were shorting out. It's that stupid thing telling me I'm on the lane line when I'm not even close and nice and center lane, and it is FOREVER "Lane Searching" with an off and on and off and on yellow light on the dash. Yeah, pretty knit-picky.

Serious concern is vibration. I have zip experience with an auto. This is the first time I've ever been in one so I don't know if they all do this or just the DT12 (I called Freightliner and spoke to shop foreman - a COMMON concern, frequent calls on it from folks with this new system. Sorry, but normal unless you are getting warning lights). It does vibrate more than a standard when applying moderate power or cruising. About like the difference between snow tires and grooved all position tires. Noticeable but, "Eh OK", would be about right. However, when she's hitting full on the MPG Bar at 15MPG, but NOT getting whatever she needs (I'll explain in a sec) to trip her into "E-Coast" and is just metering barely enough fuel to keep her rolling at speed and the MPG bar full at 15MPG; it's almost like you hit the rumble strip. Almost, but not that bad. Maybe a half depth rumble strip. Put it this way, all the way over from Tulsa to OKC I thought I WAS skirting the rumble strip with the edge of my tires. I'm looking and checking and: "No, danged it. I'm NOT on the JB Jake Brake! I'm center lane! What is going on with this rumbling?" Took me til Pretty much Phoenix to figure it out. This thing can throw a TON of data at you and I had it set to full on "info flood".

Once she (on cruise or me on the foot) either adds power and get's her to about 14.5 on the MPG Bar or she trips into E-Coast (she slips it outta gear and you coast at your highway speed but only 600 RPM) the vibration goes back to the normal snow tire type or whisper smooth if E-Coasting. So WAAAHHH !! Poowe widdle baby cwyin' bout rumbling when he's getting 15MPG. See what I mean? It's kinda hard to gripe since it's happening at 15MPG and not a particular speed and the Shop Foremen (I called my hometown Dealership, I know them well - AND Tulsa ATC Freightliner; same response; sorry, normal) say it's not something that will break the truck or you know what I mean. It's just normal. Boo Hoo, 15MPG and she rumbles (but it IS a pretty descent rumble) and vibrates. I kinda feel like a dope even complaining about it. It does seem like for all the other brilliant stuff Detroit engineered into this whole drive train (wait til you hear this!) they could have figured out some dampeners for this, though. Paccar, I wouldn't think all that much about it, they're tight and solid all around; but Freightliner? Face it. It's a Lego Truck and that vibration is gonna cause "onesies and twosies" to start to come loose and rattle. Rattling causes premature wear. I mean on all the plastic. I'm gonna be forever tightening things and cutting custom rubber gaskets to dampen the vibration on stuff like dash gauge bezels, kick plates, etc. It makes me wonder about the bigger stuff, though. I'm guessing I'll be seeing some shop time in the next year on Service Bulletins and "fixes" on that if two different shop foremen said they get a lot of calls on this. Still, in a way I just bi+ched about 15MPG! Amazing. Is there no pleasing a driver? LOL.

Speaking of amazing, I did want to touch on and commend Detroit on this system in it's entirety (rumbling forgiven). This may be Freightliner chassis and what not, but it's pure Detroit on the power plant(DD15), Tranny (DT12), REAR END and Electronic Control Modules (ECM's plural). Meritor axels and brakes. Alcoa rims. Michelin rubber. Pretty much the rest is all Chrysler and about what you've come to expect and love/hate. Yes it's a bunch of plastic. But that bunch of plastic pieces also mean simple, DYI remove and replace JUST THAT PIECE when someone dings you or something rattles just too loose to tighten anymore on the inside.

The guts and brains on this thing are pure Detroit, though, and married to Meritor, Alcoa and Michelin, poppin' 7's and 8's straight out the gate unbroken in and I spent a very good bit of today contemplating how bad that rumbling really bothered me cause a good bit of today was 15MPG "rumble mode". About the time I'd be like; "Jeeze! C'MON! Make up my mind!" Then I'd see that ole MPG bar steady at 15 and say to myself . . .; "Well, you're getting 15MPG right now. You pay for fuel. Folks that know, and you trust, say it's normal and won't hurt. How bad does it REALLY bother you?" I'll deal with it. Stereo can cover. Tune Tosser ain't half bad in this thing. Classic Rock. AC/DC cranked can cover a lot of extraneous noise and vibration. Create some too. Fight fire with fire. LOL.

I'll part with a thing on how the tranny and I did. Strike that!! I spoke of Classic Rock. You might be thinking of The Kinks and Lola. Not THAT kind of Tranny. I mean learning to drive the DD12. That would be a better way of putting it. I sent the Truck Stop Beggar Queen packing with a can of Pop Top Campbell's and a plastic spoon. [Drag Queen voice] "Huh? I said I was hungry and wanted a date. What's with the can of pork and beans and the brush off?" Ahem, back to business.

I was very concerned how it would do in the big pulls and more so the big down slides. I figured I'd be in Manual and a selected gear w/ Jakes at whatever. We all know that getting up the mountain isn't nothing but whatever power you got. I been in economy spec'd rigs so long that I'm quite used to being the last one up the hill. It's not a race. It doesn't bother me in the least. She did as good or better than my DD15's w/ Eaton straight 10's and Rockwell 3:11 rears turning the same rims and rubber have. I guess to be perfectly truthful she did a better job at managing shifting for economy than I would have. I ran her in Automatic Performance mode up and down the gears a time or two, then ran her in Manual mode up and down the gears a time or two; just to make sure they worked. They did. So I've been running her in automatic economy mode, on cruise 99.98% of the time and playing with the different things like cruise and Jakes to see what she did, how she did it and when she did it. She did outstanding. Performance for economy AND speed control on descent. Took me all of about 20 miles of down slides to figure out how to get her to hold where I wanted her to in auto economy mode and engaging and disengaging cruise and Jakes as I saw fit. ###### smart machine!

I intentionally ate the 53 extra miles running the Flag to the Bird on 17 because I didn't want my learning curve to be on AZ77 and 2 lane state routes cutting the corner off from Holbrook. Sounds stupid: "Learning to drive an automatic?" But it's flat arse true. It's learning the transmission and how to get it to do just what I want, just when I want and when to let it do it's own thing. I am officially very impressed with this technology. This DT12 did phenomenal on the down slides, up crawls and flatlands. Better than me and I'm danged good. I couldn't have milked this MPG outta a standard and that's a real tough pill to swallow, but it's true.

My friend in Tulsa, Matthew, the Shop Foreman, just got back last week from training and certification on this new "system". It's the DD15, DT12 and DETROIT rears all together with THEIR electronic controls. The Driver Info on the dash says Freightliner because THAT part is. It reads all the Detroit stuff and connects it to the Detroit stuff with Freightliner wires and LCD display. The job gets done by the Detroit system, though, and I gotta admit; It kicked my arse for MPG performance. It shifted before and after I would have and milked better MPG. It's like it "knew" the hill better than I did. Matt told me it, it's because this particular system integrates GPS and USGS (United States Geological Survey) terrain maps and ANTICIPATES the grade and adapts accordingly to the load and throttle position sensor (how hard I'm mashing the motor) and my braking and speed sensors and about a million other things to perform a billion calculations per minute to optimize fuel economy with the speed "requested" (my foot or the cruise) to select the appropriate gear for everything I've asked it to do; BUT STILL LEAVES ME IN CHARGE ( so long as I know how to take charge).

Sounded like some George Lucas sh!+ to me, but the Schnizzle worked. I'll be danged and hanged, but it worked beautifully. I am absolutely impressed. However, a concern as a businessman/ driver is; technology is phenomenal when it works and we can't beat that. It's a disaster when it doesn't and this thing is SO dependent on technology that I worry that if every single little tiny electronic thing isn't perfectly aligned technology wise, if some little thing gets outta tune or synch; I'll be dead where I sit til the tow comes. The days of me being able to take duct tape, a bungee chord, leather boot lace and pair of panty hose to makeshift a fix to a shop are pretty much gone. Granted, for the next few years I have warranty and all that soldering and programming will be a covered fix; but it's still scary in a way.

How long ,really ,til they don't need an Aminal to actually drive this thing and can do it like they do drone planes? A kid at a computer terminal a thousand miles away. You think of this system, Lane Departure, Vorad Collision avoidance, coordinated with StaCom and it's not really a long stretch of the imagination to stretch us out in a career pine box. Don't need E-logs or ANY logs for an automated truck. Makes one wonder. Won't happen in my career; but what about yours? Til then I'm motorin' on. Who knows. They may ask me to consult. That'd be cool. Naaah. Can't see me in my Duster and Hat in the Board Room. Been there. It's just not a smart match.

Peace out all. Be Safe. I think it's time to crank up some Classic Rock tunes on I-Heart Radio, knock some turkey and taters down the gullet and call it a night. I AM impressed with this Mule, though. I've named her Darla. Don't ask me why. I don't know. It just fit.

Nite all. Be Safe.

 

Don't know yet. Haven't wintered w/ SS's yet and thus far this year dodged snow under the shoes. On my way to my Son"s hometown in S. GA for his wedding so they been working me that way and I been right in front of the polar vortex causing all the white stuff in the plains and north. Just been dealin' with the wind on the leading edge the whole way; chewing the hell outta what shoulda been better fuel mileage on this run. It's caught up to me tonight here in FL just west of the Capital, but it won't snow. Maybe some frost. I'll let you know. Sure as shootin' I'll be in the thick of it by this time next week. Brand new Michelin XDA2 drives and XZA3 steers. "Hands off straight" alignment truck and trailer. JCT takes real good care of their trailers. I gotta give them props on that. Trailer off-track is often due to drive axel mis-alignment.

This foal and the JCT wagons are aligned for sure. I've run them in wet "hydroplane" conditions and they did just fine. That was a concern. No more. I think the traction gripes I've heard can be traced back to driving technique or something else. Honestly, I'm more concerned about the tranny and I getting along on snow pack than I am the tires (and SS rim config).

The trick to snow traction is "being one with the throttle and brakes". Chains, salt and all the rest are fluff and frill. They help. The absolute fundamental key is proper foot to rubber control with proper foot and proper rubber for the conditions. ATC helps a lot if you are in the T/S (or wherever) and spinning to get on top of the snow pack and some bite for momentum, because the tracks you dug and salted when you shut down got filled and you got to dig a path, or whatever; to get on top of the snow and some bite to get going. Once I'm going it's no problemo. Slow and steady and don't give too much power to spin or speed to lose bite on any axel.

I have heard of this "snow-shoe" effect w/ SS's and I'm not buying it. I heard it on my dualies in wet hydroplane too. Didn't happen. I drove so it wouldn't. Matter of fact I'd rather have snow shoes with some bite on TOP of the snow than dogs trying to dig though it. Only time "slippery slick" bother's me is when I've misjudged "slickness" and had a tad more speed than I should have. No tire/ rim/ tranny config in the world is gonna make up for driver error on speed for conditions. That's a natural fact!

I'm not slammin a single soul for anything or advocating a particular this or that. You gotta know your Mule! Know it and get along and you can go wherever you want in any conditions you want. Maybe not as fast as you (or someone else) wants, but you can go. Key is to know when to say "GO, but SLOW" and when to say "NO GO." That ain't on tire config. Dualies or SS's. Both can make it anywhere in any condition the driver and Mule can drive to their own particular "getting alongs", as my Granddaddy put it. He was right too. I'm being totally honest here - I'm human. I'm not a million plus mile trucker God. I'm a danged near 2M mile "I make mistakes all the time, every day", driver just like anyone else that is truly honest. The Key is developing habits so the mistakes you WILL make don't cause any harm. Just a second of high heart rate and a big "WHEW! Um, Yeah. Let's not do that again. OK?" Space is the big one. No such thing as too much space or too much time to gently go and slow.

So, my snow concern is not the Super Singles with solid Michelin shoes. It's this whole drive-by-wire, Autoshift. There IS a trick to feathering the throttle because there IS no clutch to feather and that's what I been doing for 17 years. My left foot and leg did a LOT more work than my right feathering a smooth take off, or back up. I can take a dime and feather it up your leg and into your hand with my left foot w/ my boots on. Nothing for them to do now, though. Know what I mean? This is a TOTAL right foot truck with the right foot and toes needing to be real sensitive and gentle to accommodate "Creep Mode" without engaging "Go Back Fast" mode. Taking off is the same way. It's all in the right foot and right foot sensitivity and connectivity with the controls. I might as well be sitting on my left foot half Indian style and that's a big bit to get used to.

I quit grabbing a stick that wasn't there fairly quick. I quit putting my left foot down on a non-existent clutch a day or so later. Learning to feather a throttle without a clutch when backing and slow forward maneuvering; coming a bit slower. I do apologize to JCT and Phoenix Dairy for that hard dock bump. Least it wasn't too hard to tear something up. LOL. Point being winter traction; I'm more worried about mashing this foal a little too much (and I'm betting she'll spin big time if I do), than her wide feet. I like her wide feet. I just got to get a better feel on her reins real quick or I think we'll be spinning a real wide snow "rooster tail" and going nowhere fast. If you get my drift.

The foot pedal is so sensitive!! It's like a "dimmer switch/ knob" for the danged Dining Room Chandelier, only instead of a twist of the wrist to brighten or dim; It's a curl of the toes in my boot on the Throttle Position Sensor attached to a pedal designed to feel like (they didn't do that so well - WAY TOO SOFT!) a real throttle pedal.

Oh, props to my fellow fuel misers. Still holding 7.5 on the dash, 7.6 on the SensorTracs, 7.4 0n today's leg from Roanoke, LA to just east of Tallahassee, FL, all on 10 with a strong head wind. Wind makes a HUGE difference. I got the bar set to constantly watch MPG and you can see it very clearly when a truck passing "gets into my air" and the MPG bar drops (proving "drafting" in a big truck is a false myth), or I'm poppin' a sweet 10 and then a big gust comes and pushes the bar down to 5. We know intuitively how much the wind makes a difference but it is flat amazing to see it happening on the "bar" and how much it does. These OEM's ain't off a tiny shred in streamlining aerodynamics for increased MPG. It's 100% about "rolling resistance" and it is flat amazing how much of that is aero.

You will do outstanding. I'm sure of it.

Your avatar is familiar to me. I haven't nailed it down, but I know you from somewhere. Keep the above in mind old fart and you'll be square in the new millennium like me. Drug us both kicking and hollerin'', but they got us here and we're here to stay. LOL. Maybe impart a pearl or two on the way. LOL. Nice to see you again. Hang out as much as you can!

Time for bed. I can't believe my Boy is getting married!. How he turned out so well is a genuine tribute to his late Mother. Lord in Heaven knows I was somewhere in Montana, sleeping at a customer or wherever when he actually grew up; so it was her not me that raised him. Breast Cancer took her WAY too young. Is there any time that is "right" for that? Still, WAY too young. 40's. Too young for sure. SIGH. Wish she could be here to see this. Gonna be real good. She'd like it. She'd fuss about everything but be the first to start crying in joy at the "I Do's". ###### good woman taken ###### too soon.

You done a Fine and Outstanding job Michelle. See ya when I get there. Use any connections you got upstairs to keep that from being real soon or me taking anybody with me. That'd be real nice. He turned out real well. ###### fine job for all of it!!.

Night all.