Cabovers

Well I can only tell you that Freightliner is what I'm familiar with. I do like to kid the Peterbilt folk because they're Peterbilt folk... but that's not what I'm doing here.

I'm sure those guys can much better advise you to parts and all of that but I briefly had a 1990 Peterbilt and the dealer was completely and totally useless for parts. Freightliner really truly does have a better Parts Network and availability of parts. Now maybe someone that knows Peterbilts can tell you something different but that was my experience. I know there are plenty of guys that restore the older conventionals, so there must be a way of getting parts.

The only cabovers that I ran again were Freightliners, but I was really surprised at how well they rode. As long as whatever you are looking at has an air ride suspension and an air ride cab I would think it would ride pretty well. Like I said the Freightliner rode surprisingly well for sitting on top of the wheels.

I will say climbing in and out was not and is not for me.

But I'm sure tomorrow someone will come on that will be more familiar that can give you more help.

 

Some parts are after market available, some from scrap yard.
Depending on engine and transmission most drive line parts can be found
Not going to ride as good as
conventional truck, pain getting in and out ,tilt cylinders for cab are sometimes a pain ,leaking, jacking slow.
I drove COE trucks from 1974 till around late 80's.
I enjoy looking at the restored ones on the road today, hope I never have to drive one again.
But the parts probably aren't as hard to get as some parts for newer trucks nowadays. Good luck. Post pictures if you get it.

 

Never had one but any old truck you want to use to pull a load will need a total rebuild front to rear. If you want to pull an RV that is a different story.

 

JMO... but why to you want one if you really don't know much about a cabovers ?.... like someone posted if your gonna work it 's probably gonna need alot of work unless you are willing to pay the ungodly high price for the restored ones I've seen for sale...
Personally I wouldn't give you a bag of skittles & a warm Pepsi for 1 .. but that's just me I drove a couple back in the day .. ..
But that's just me

 

Engine, driveline, transmission, suspension parts are all still readily available. Other parts not so much, and if you can find them are expensive. A call to the Peterbilt dealer requires them to pull up the "paper book" of part numbers, if they still have one, and your VIN #. Most times, you get the NLA answer.

Maintenance is like any other truck, you gotta keep after it.

The one in my avatar is a '86 362 and a project truck in my spare time, which aint much.

 

A former coworker and his brother bought this one to rebuild as a tribute truck to their late father. They are both very accomplished builders with numerous show trucks between them though. Engine and transmission are great for a 4500 dollar truck apparently.

 

Pete and kw are good for cab parts, my uncle has an old a model KW and we can still call and get parts for them, oldest Pete is an 89 and parts are still easy for that as well.

they ride like a lumber wagon, try not to fall out of the cab while putting your pants on in the morning

The best thing to look for if you want a Pete from that era is a 359…

 

Good luck finding cab panels though. I had to get a new firewall for my W900A custom built from a fab shop. Turned out better than the original though.

 

luckily we haven’t needed any actual panels yet. Wiper motors, switches, blower motors etc

I though my cousin was going to take the 330 bucket to my uncles LTL a few weeks ago after being on the phone for 3 days trying to find parts for it …

most engine/trans, suspension are all universal from whatever brand it was spec’d with