How come most trucks are conventionals?

Of course !! LOL Sounded good to me

 

so much fun in a cab over trying to do the snake and get your pants on--unless you have one of those flat floor ihc--those are like a small house inside--but still a cabover---heaven forbid you hit a bump while shifting---

 

As you can see from my avatar, I own and drive a Freightliner Argosy, and have driven cab-overs for most of the 35 years in the business. My friend will tell you that my brain has turned to jello because of the rough ride etc. so take that into consideration when you read my answer:

In 1982 the US congress passed the first of the STAA acts which mandated several laws be made uniform that used to be left to the states. Included were overall length laws. In most instances, trailer length was limited first to 48ft trailers and then to 53ft, but tractor wheelbase, and hence overall length was no longer an issue. Cabover popularity has been in decline ever since.

Drivers prefer conventionals because they generally do not need the maneuverablity that cabovers provide, and most truckload drivers stay on the road for extended periods of time and the extra room is a plus.

Basic laws of physics dictate that the longer a wheelbase, the better the ride, and this is true. Add to the fact that most drivers who used to drive cabovers did so in obsolete designs with a lot of spring suspensions giving cabovers a well deserved poor reputation.

I drive a cabover with state of the art cab and chassis design, done by our friends in Germany at Daimler Benz, who owns Freightliner. Although I make enhanced revenue from the loads I can handle because of what my truck can do and conventionals can't, most operations simply do not need a cabover's advantages. I fill a niche need.

The ideal operation for a cabover fleet would be 2-4 day multistop trips with deliveries to locations with tight parking lots( like Auto Zone, or fast food restuarants) and return to base for the weekend or more often. Bad idea to stick some poor schlum in a cabover for 2-3 weeks at a time with truckload freight going dock to dock.

 

To be blunt COE were pieces of junk that beat us up and burned ud
Up. You try driving 600 miles of bumpy road in a crap over. It ain't
Much fun. And when you wreck you are probably going to die. Thank the
Maker they are rust buckets now.

 

I drove an old Oshkosh COE that had a plank covered with felt and vinyl as a seat.I guess 60lbs was needed to depress the clutch.If you did not hold on you would be thrown off the seat. Impossible to fall asleep while driving.Except for winter when the wind blowing through the cab was freezing you , you felt like you were in a sauna.In fact a sauna is nothing. No over weight drivers as you got a work out all day.Kidney belts helped little.

The newer European COE drive like a dream.Not as much living space but the drive is much better then the American COE's that are already 1000% better then the old COE's.

 

Love the long nose conventionals...

 

LOL. That's pretty good.

 

Cabovers were originally designed by Dr. Cabot Overton, DDS. The term comes from a shortening of his name, not the design.
Dr. Overton was an entrepeneur with a large student loan from dental school, and found that by designing the tractor in the fashion he did, that it would provide a substantial income enhancement for his profession.
Cabovers were originally designed to shake fillings loose, and did a handsome job of that.
Later, a good friend and medical school compatriot, with a specialty of Emergency Room Surgeon found that he could enhance his business by designing a sleeper that fit with the Cabover design. The original sleeper was a crawl thu model, where the rear window of what we would now call a day cab was removed and the edge of the framework was wrapped in a removable plastic edging. This edging would shake out as the truck rode down the road, and the driver, in a state of delerium, would often cut his hand on the rough metal edges as he tried to free his clothes from the jagged edges. Often, when stepping down to the floor just behind the doghouse, where the space was just long enough for a size six shoe, the driver would step on a loose filling, wedge his foot between the doghouse and the rear wall, then slice his hand on the exposed metal edge as he fell backwards and tried to catch himself.
Companies abandoned the cabover design when a class action lawsuit was brought by the Teamsters, requiring companies to pay a clothing allowance and post bond for drivers arrested for indecent exposure after falling out the open windows of the driver's door, when crawling thru the sleeper portal to start another shift. Seems the remnants of clothing still on the driver after crawling into the sleeper were finished removed when tumbling out of the sleeper and thru the window. It was found the windows were left open for some ventelation since AC was a luxery most companies decided drivers didn't need. It only made them 'soft' which cut against the grain of the truckers image.
You can spot an old COE driver by his lack of teeth, club feet, twisted body and scarred hands. He is often found in a state of modest undress.
All of the above is true! I swear!
At least this is the way I explain why I look the way I do to my grandchildren...

 

I was not aware of that....
I drive a big W9 because if I get in a wreck I dont want to be the first one there!!!