Kivi Bro's Open Deck done Right

I’m a local Mon - Fri driver. The truck runs from the time I start it in the morning until I park it for the night. When I stop to load, unload, fuel, etc… I idle the truck at 900 RPMs. They tell you to idle it from 900 a 1200 rpm. This keeps the oil pressure up enough to lubricate the whole engine. It’s also adequate to keep the emissions crap happy.

 

FTR, I’ve put 700k miles on the old girl and the only repairs I’ve had are:

- NOX sensor
- Power divider
- Radiator
- Alternator
- Power window motor
- Windshield washer motor

That’s it other than routine maintenance. Most of those were under warranty (bought the extended warranty, 400k miles)

 

Magnum's PACCAR motors had a heck of an engine brake, as long as you kept the rpms up where they recommended. They were like the Maxfarce engine, designed to have maximum braking at 1900+ rpms.

And if Kivi is going down the same path many other companies are, I am willing to bet they'll set it up so it won't idle unless it's near or below 0. Especially if they're putting APU's on them and fuel prices continue to climb.

 

I had a blk 579 midroof with an apu and rarely had cooling issues in the summer with the apu on.

 

I found that insulating the glass does more to keep the inside cool than the color of the truck does. Years ago when Crete had that 1 year of Century class with APU's, the one I had wouldn't keep up if you left the glass open, but if you put some sort of reflective cover in the windows, you would stay cool in the bottom bunk just fine...the top bunk was a toaster oven because they didn't connect the APU's ducting to the trucks vents, so unless you had a fan to circulate air up top, all the cool air stayed at the lower level. And those didn't have much in the way of insulation like today's trucks do.

 

All of our trucks are o/o spec’d, but we don’t sleep in ‘em (Most don’t anyway) so no APUs, etc… On the rare occasion we get stuck out somewhere, most of the drivers get a hotel (owner pays for it). I’m probably one of only a couple that prefers to stay in the truck.

The trucks have the little coffin sleepers and they’re not hard to cool or heat. Like I said before. I just set the idle at 900 rpm, same if I’m loading or fueling. I idle at 950 rpm when unloading (PTO blower).

I’m supposed be getting a new 389. It’ll have a 13 speed if I ever get it. It’s been on order for months Can’t get any trucks right now.

I doubt the boss man would buy any truck that’s not supposed to idle because, as I said before, we run our trucks from the time we get in them in the morning till we park ‘em at night. We’re just told to bump the idle up to 900 or so whenever we stop for fuel, loading or whatever.

It’s extremely rare we ever see single digit temps here (Arkansas). Teens and twenties are more the norm for overnight lows so never any issues there.

 

Coffin sleeper? How did I know that???