Older cabovers OTR?

Ran into this Gentleman last year in Mobile, Al still doing it everyday. Good fellow to talk to.

 

That's a thing of beauty right there!!!!

 

I am best in conventional for OTR.

Ive done pure OTR in a COE so help me, but it's not successful because situations come up and I end up taking out a car with a COE when a conventional it wont happen. (I have a particular issue with one of the eyes and it's worse in a COE rather than conventional) it is what it is.

I can tell you that the COE is thirstier on fuel and you fight the wind more OTR. Im ready to get some home time off in a month on a COE and compared to say a full condo or suite conventional I can stay out months. There is a difference.

I started in COE in trucking because the produce work required them I suppose and that was what it is back in my time. I would quit a company with COE to move and join companies without a COE. And progress to improve the situation working up the pay tree too. And they talk about job hopping being bad today.

I will have mixed feelings with COE. I had a 93 COE with a huge engine and unlimited in any way thus 130 cruise is possible and has been done. It goes to show if you have enough horse and geared right, it does not matter if that front end is square into the wind. lol. Just glad i don't deal with that anymore.

I was strictly conventional from roughly 1994 all the way through to the last month of my trucking with JBH with a COE. I told the recruiter I will have a accident with a COE first month vs a car and It's going to happen. And it did. That is why I don't drive em if I can help it. They claimed not to have a conventional. But the north little rock shop had a forest of them along one wall of the property unused. So don't believe a word of that. It's hooey.

Anyway that's my two cents with COE. They aint BAD trucks, just somewhat different and for me specifically it's best I don't deal with them in life, Ive already put in my time on those.

The one thing with COE is it's pretty easy to wrench on it provided you have everything stowed before tilting that cab. And getting everything stowed in a OTR truck is a real pain. So that is another vote towards a conventional if you have to have work done on a truck at a moment's notices, it better to have a conventional.

I have gotten COE's with reefer trailer into places where I would gently (Relatively...) lean into a Chain Link fence to get the extra two feet to get under that trailer while docking. It's crazy though because it's a straight truck facility and here I am already filling the space between the fence line and the dock. With very little to no room for backing. Im #### good at backing. Really good. But not for that kind of backing.

 

Here's what I don't get after reading all of your information here. Mind you I've only been over-the-road for 4 months now. I can't understand how running a lighter-weight cabover oh, where I've seen that some of these are 6000 pounds lighter than a conventional, then run a lightweight (junky) wabash trailer. Minimize weight over the whole rig. Assuming excellent maintenance for restoration etc. With something like a high torque 60 series or Cummins big cam 400, 13 speed, 3.53 gears or higher( goal is basically idling at 63 mph) how can you not compete?

 

A whole 4 months huh? High torque Detroit idling at 63mph huh? 3.53 gears too? Under 1400 and a series 60 falls on its face, at least the 6 that I’ve owned have including the one in my old cabover.

 

First off THS, welcome to the forum! Ease up on him FCG, we were both new one time LOL....By the way, the .40 is my choice of a carry round...
Anyhoot, back to the topic of COE & weights...Pulling a reefer vs DV or FB, we always started out heavier...That unit hanging on the nose added 1.5k off the jump...Competing for loads back then ('80's backhauls), we needed to be able to scale at least 45k...Also, with a shorter W/B COE it was easier to shift that +45k around to get legal... As far as trailers go, most guys (O/O's) had make preferences for quality/durability, not M/T weights.... IMHO, at that time, you couldn't beat a Great Dane/Thermo King combo, but I digress....So, the M/T weight of ones power unit had to be considered. For example, the Mack Superliner CONV was a well built unit (all Mack), but man was it heavy, tough to scale over 43k.... Fuel tank sizes also came into play, with twin 150's, some times I had to run low to keep legal.
As for the ride, convenience & OTR work though, make no mistake, the CONV has it beat hands down....Bear in mind that what I said pertained to trucking 30 years ago, things are likely different now.....
As far as best engine size, gear ratio, torque peaks, fuel quality, and trans combos, that's a whole another topic....
Anyway, remember to keep a thick skin on here, some of the fellows can be abrasive at times, but you can learn a wealth of info from them if you want too, be safe out there....

 

This isn’t the lunch counter at the Petro. The only way to nip nonsense in the bud is to call it out. I don’t care if you’re a rookie or have diesel flowing through your veins, people are here to learn real things not made up stuff from those that have no idea what they’re talking about. Maybe I need to go back on hiatus.

 

Those old cabovers always intrigue me. Especially the Kenworth and Peterbilt trucks. I love the old style paint jobs and the fact that they are a slowly disappearing part of history. I run local and have considered many times getting one. I drool at the pictures, until I see inside of them. I don't like the dash on them and for sure I don't like the huge doghouse and short little gearshift. I also don't like all the reviews of how hard they are to work on and the fact of very little leg room.
Oh well I guess for me the bad outweighs the good, but I still at times wish I had one just to drive occasionally. Maybe a backup truck for when mine is in the shop or something. Who knows maybe someday...

 

Maybe you do..............

 

Has anyone else been noticing in general more cabovers out in the wild lately. Not like the old days but definitely been noticing more than the regular 2 or 3 I use to see.