Why is this truck so big?

When I spec'd and ordered my WS, a similarly spec KW was $35k more. The 2 differences were an ISX and charmers suspension on the KW vs DD16 and airliner suspension.

 

Sorry I misunderstood . I thought the raised cab on the ws was 35k. Never mind

 

Where did you see that truck for sale? I honestly hope that company goes under......

 

Come on you can't say this isn't a good looking flat top star?

 

This is by far my favourite Kenworth at my work.

 

How come Western Stars aren't more popular in the US?

 

I personally couldn't stand them when doing off road tanker work. The interior rattled and was falling apart, the engine felt gutless for a dd16. And these were trucks with less than 60,000km on them.

 

Looks like a regular Western Star to me.

 

See, to me that truck looks better than the star with the flattop. Maybe it is because the star sits so much higher off the frame and/or the shape of the sleeper itself. It just looks unnatural up there. The Pete and KW flat tops are much more eye appealing. I have actually driven a star nearly identical to that one in your photo. I think the sleepers are the same size even from the looks of them. Plenty of room for me in there.

Old boss got high one day and decided to show off to some friends how strong the jakes were. So he downshifted with the RPMs up to 2600 and now that kitty rattles instead of purrs. They have not opened up the motor but used that truck to repair the one the transmission went out of. It's a shame too because it was a nicer truck

I really don't have any idea other than maybe Peter envy. Everyone wanted a Pete or KW to prove their manhood I guess... LOL It all depends on where you are in the US also. In Maine they like them for log trucks. A sand and gravel company here has a whole fleet of Western Stars. The only issue they have is the Mercedes motors they put in them.

It could be that Western Star pushed hard and heavy for the vocational market and never really went after the OTR market. You can see that by how late to the game they came with an aero truck. But I believe that the wait was well worth it.

For me the Western Star is the Mack of old. We had a driver doze off and run into the median on I 94 around Billings. At 60 mph he then struck one of those emergency vehicle median cross overs. All it did to that truck was bend the front axle and bumper. Nothing else bent or broke. That to me made me a believer of how tough these trucks actually were made.

I have never experienced that but then I only run about 10-15% off road miles and that is usually at very slow speeds. I am not the kind that will go fast on those lease roads no matter what. Well maybe if a t-rex or something like that was chasing me but that is a different story and some really good hallucinations. I have only really driven trucks with CAT motors in them. Moving a truck does not count....

I did however get to drive an old 75 Pete with a 475 hp Silver 92 with a 13 speed and 5.23 rears the other day. Aluminum frame and only 8k on the rebuild. Drive it like a 4 speed empty because you did not need the bottom range... LOL It belonged to a buddy of mine and we just changed the rears to 3.73 today. Now it runs out like a Greyhound instead of a St. Bernard.
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