Silly question #1

We replace our trucks at 300,000 miles or at 5 years.I have a 10 year old trailer that has just had it's brakes,drums,bearings, etc replaced.It's still a good working trailer.I've seen quite a few older COE's on the road lately though.

 

Where i used to live in Southeast Missouri, a lot of the farmers use old trucks. The farmer that leases my land used to have an old international cab over, not sure of the year though. I wish my KW 660 could use the 2 headlight system, but it can't.

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Have a good 'un

 

the old style square "classic" headlights are good for #### when you run up in the north where I live, it is so dark we need to put extra lights on our trucks. We bought a couple new trucks and the headlights lights are so much better, much better visibility.

I have never kept a truck more than 5 years, better to get rid of it or trade it while it is still worth something and before it starts to cost you al ot of money in repairs.

 

I have been out of the business for quite a while (18 years) but I used to have single headlamps on my truck because in the winter the snow won't build up on it as it is on, so when you turned on the brights they weren't covered with snow and ice. I also thought they looked better. My $.02

 

I guess my Pete is a show truck... maybe I should start polishing it...

 

I believe that Consolidated Freightways spawned Freightliner when they couldn’t find a truck to fit their needs. I’m guessing that by keeping all their equipment similar ( 2 headlight vs. 4 ) would reduce parts inventory by two thirds.
Speaking of CF, they had one great idea that I thought would and should have caught on but never did. That was the low mounted mirror on the drivers side. It was down on the door and at an angle. With most trucks, it is easy for a car to hide behind your mirror, but with this design, that blind spot was eliminated.
Another feature on Freightliner cabovers that I would notice would be the ladder. On the “deluxe”? model was an aluminum 3 step ladder, while the “base” model had what looked like rebar bent in a “U” shape.
There must have been intense competition between the big class 8 manufacturers back in the early ’80’s. That’s when Peterbilt introduced their redesigned coe with the three windshield wipers, and Mack advertised their trucks as being leakproof while showing firefighters blasting the cab with water. In 1984, Freightliner tweaked their coe by changing the 4 round headlights to 4 rectangular ones and altered the grill.

 

I acually preferred the older model cab, I drove a new Freightshaker COE '77, and liked it better than after it was redesigned. Now especially, all the trucks seem to be all glass. I know it is to improve driver vis, but I liked it better the old way. (part of being a dinosaur I guess)

 

most insurances will not cover a truck over 10 years old why breakdown and new emission laws etc. bogus

 

Nothing really "simple" about an in-frame rebuild. Nothing cheap, either.