Waiting on New Trucks thread.

I do not even get 8mpg empty.

 

Hell, I get 8mpg at 75mph (in little to no wind that is). No lie. Heading home from Indy once I had a 15mph tailwind the whole way and got nearly 10.

DD15 (505hp) Eaton 10 spd OD 3.08 rears. I run flatlands with light loads (5 to 20,000 pounds) mainly, so I built it to turn 1350 at 70mph. I get about 8.5 at 70.

 

what trailer u pull makes all the difference.. It is useless to chase fuel mileage with my trailer.. I can get 4.5mpg running 58mph the whole way.... Driving any slower does nothing but waste time, with no increase to fuel mileage. What is the point... If i had a reefer or van i would chase fuel mileage like everybody else... Even with a flat or step u are limited to how aerodynamic your load is... But still not much of a fuel pig as an rgn

 

Ok. I’ll ignore the fact that a personal friend has been doing it for 3 years at 105k gross on 8 axles and stick with the usual “it’s something different so it must not work” attitude.

Be interesting to see the reasons why someone can’t do heavy haul with an auto when the 18 speeds come out, even though Volvo and Mack have been building heavy haul trucks with 12 speeds for years.

 

Living the 3rd world dream…….

 

it just gets better and better and better….

 

Yeah just like you’ve ignored the fact I’ve said multiple times that you can use them and it still be a sub-optimal setup. Eaton themselves will tell you the same thing. Matter of fact, call Eaton and ask about the side loading you’ll have on take off and in lower gears with a 2.XX rear set at 100k+ because of how much larger the pinion will be and in turn how much more offset the ring gear will be, no matter how the transmission is geared. That’s a simple physics limitation. But what would they know right? They only manufacture the stuff.

We’ve run 13 and 18 Eatons across 3.25 to 4.11 rears with weights up to 130k on five to seven axles (we don’t pussyfoot when paid by the ton, fill that wagon). We’ve had two 10 Eatons, one direct and one over with 2.79 and 3.08 rears we used for OTR hopper work in the early 2000s. One was a Lightning 2 box but can’t remember which one. Both had C12 CAT. We couldn’t even give those things away when it came time to sell them. All the fuel savings were lost on the resale. The best they ever averaged was 7.8 mpg over a quarter. Not worth it when the other trucks would bring 50k+ on resale and sell in a week or less versus 9 months.

As far as automated transmissions go, yeah they’ve gotten better. That still does not overcome the limitations in physics you have with a 2.xx rear end as it relates to the pinion and ring gear. Unless you and your friend have parts forged with unobtanium. But, if it works for you and your friend, cool beans. My “old fashioned” ways work for me.

 

My insurance is fairly high for a 1 truck operation. I do have a less than stellar record however when I asked my agent why it’s that high and continues up her answer was the age of my truck. Due to its age it’s considered a bigger liability to cause an accident. Something North is the under writer or carrier itself. My mind has went blank there

 

Probably TrueNorth. But hell even our insurance is high and we haven’t had a claim in 7 years. And even that claim was just for 2500 in damages a deer caused that my dad hit. And we’ve never had any kind of cargo claim in 40+ years.

 

Can I ask how much you pay a year?