Cabovers

God YES!!! That's HOT!!

 

Looks more like a hood off a Pete or W9

 

Haha, I wanted to know what it was like to drive/own a cabover so I dumped the air from my W900's suspension flipped the steering wheel completely horizontal and started using a ladder to get in it. I also watched the movie "white line fever" 10 times. I think I got it down.:smt064

 

we have a blue 1983 freightliner COE at work, right now its my favorite thing to tinker with, (till my shop manual arrives for 2 of our international diesels). the previous owner had a bunch of stuff on it, im still trackin down where 1/2 the switches go (most dont do anything right now but still wired). bunch of airlines that dont go to anything anymore. still figureing out what is actually in it(parts wise), cant find manuals for it, supposedly its too old. has a big cam cummins, eaton(i think) tranny and a deep reduction box (comes in handy). ordered a 18" steerin wheel to get that 22" outta there. extended the shifter up about a foot now i can get it into 5th/10th, the doghouse was in the way before, atleast the way i held the stick. i cant find the hi-beam switch. would be nice to get the tach to work. want to change all the lube fluids in it soon too, the privious owner of the contracting company didnt maintain equipment all that well, (workin my way through our trucks/ machinery) the stuff that wasnt used much is still in decent shape but the frequent stuff needs a lotta love.

i do a lil bit of everything for this company so the bigger projects i almost have to do on weekends.

thinking about buyin it from jerry if i connect with it as much as my vw, (another reason im tryin to fix all the small stuff while the company owns it i know i could have fun either building a diff vehicle out of it, or leavin it as is and still addinon/modding. the kid in me loves the jake brake, its not too loud on this truck (and i live in ak) so i get away with usin it in town a lil bit.

i like conventionals a bit more, but i do enjoy lookin at some coe's.

any info on lil tweaks u guys know of for these things would be much appreciated, cant really dump $$ into parts right now tho (one of the lowest priority/un-used vehicles in the company) has a pyrometer on it but no boost. i will continue my hunt for info on it tho

 

Heck, I may have to do a cabover just to be a little different. They'll be the new funky-cool ride, and since nobody seems to want 'em, you can get a lot of truck for cheap. That window is pretty narrow, though, as the plentiful roadworthy units ain't getting any younger.

 

It's nearly all cabovers here in Europe because of our ridiculous length limits, cabovers do have many advantages over conventionals, the view, manouverabilty , aerodynamics are much better (despite popular belief) I believe there is a place for them in the US for deliveries and city driving. Cabovers here ride extremely well, cabs are fully suspended from the chassis giving a ride comparable to that of a luxury car, they are quieter inside than a conventional and are very safe also , ( most are built here to Swedish crash test standard: all 6 pillars must take a static load of 15 tonnes (33,000 lbs) each. Also there's a 'jump back' system for head on crashes, part of the cab suspension is like a scissors , when an impact occurs this scissors folds out allowing the cab to slide back along the chassis leaving the chassis to take the impact, the crumple zone is at the rear of the cab for straight trucks. I know it would be hard to tempt drivers in America out of their conventionals but cabovers can't be beat for city or delivery operations