Looking for advice on specs for a day cab

At least a smaller one. Just in case. Naps are nice.

 

I ran from the other side of Atlanta down to Macon @ 75 mph the whole way empty got 5.0 mpg. Then ran back up to Atlanta @ 66 mph empty got 4.9 mpg. Went from Atlanta to Bowling Green loaded @ 75 mph got 4.3 mpg. Then came back to Atlanta empty stopped for a 1 hour nap still got 4.3 mpg.

Now my empty weight is 41,000, trailer is higher than Willie Nelson, and no fairings on the truck.

 

One of the things I hate about my truck is. It only has 1 fuel tank on the drivers side. And, the hydraulic tank is on the passenger side. If I speced the truck out I would have 2 fuel tanks and the hydraulic tank behind the cab. My truck is also set up to run dual or single wet line trailers.


Where are you located? I know a guy who may have a pre emissions Freightliner with a Detroit and wet kit already.

 

So you are going to chase dry freight in a day cab?

 

Friend of mine has the same truck with a small bunk. Has a x15. Hauls pallets and wood chips. He drives apprx 65 to 70 mph on interstates. Lots of 2 lane roads also, he gets 5mpg. He says it has got a little better mpg as it gets some miles on it. Think it has 75,000 miles on it. I would hope so. That is not good mpgs. He says power is good though.

 

In other words lump it onto the van trailer and then lump it all off.

That's something that on occasion has broken the bodies of the people who relied on that for a living.

If I had to go out and buy a tractor today for heavy work, it's going to be Freightliner SD 122 or the KW 2000 whichever is closest to it in spec. Might have to fall back onto the good old 379 LH and a couple other things. If cornered I might give the Granite or the new Mack a go. But Im the one who writes out the specs to build. Not the other way around.

 

The t680 I had had the isx12 or 13 (whichever) auto trans was getting 4.5 - 4.7 on average. The guy driving it now is getting about 5 mpg. But he's not pulling as tall of a trailer or in the mountains like I am. Guess it's just the nature of the beast.

 

That's pretty rough. Think my old man said his old daycab with C15 Cat and 4.33 rears was getting about 4.25 mpg. Tridrive pulling a tridem trailer.

 

End dump sits at 13’5”. Why? What are you hauling that is that light that you get to cube it out?

 

Back on topic with the Op. Seems like some didn’t bother to read the Original post.

Wheel base should be in the neighborhood of 220”

No need for double frame. Single will hold up fine.

Gear ratio should be between 3.70-4.11

Don’t know your location, the terrain you’ll be running, but 425-450hp ahould suit you well. You don’t need more than that.

Mack seems to be a heavier day cab and you easily tare 25 ton in a early ‘00’s CH with them specs.

You don’t need all this heavy spec nonsense. Plus to find a used truck spec’d like guys are telling you, it’s gonna be a needle in a hay stack. And that truck is going to be worn slab the heck out.