Upgrading fleet - Pete 386 or KW T660?

Paccar has a lease program on new 386 and T660 right now. I believe it is for 3 units or more and a term length of 48 months. I think the payment is $1700 or $1800. We were looking for a couple of used trucks two weeks ago and ran across this at the dealers here in Georgia. You are very correct that used prices have increased before since demand has gone up. People haven't been trading in the last few years to supply enough used inventory. I think this is an attempt by Paccar to put some used inventory out in about 4 years. Not really excited about spending that a month and having nothing to show for it in 4 years. They call it a fair market lease and I forget what the ballon would be at the end should you choose to buy it. Of course you could just keep on making payments and buy new every 4 years or so. Just make it a cost of doing business. I am sure that's what most of the bigger fleets do to cut down on long term maintenance and driver retention. Don't know if we'll ever grow big enough to warrant buying new unless it is something needing specialized specs. As far as 386 or T660. If you're gonna need dealer support, I'd seriously look at that as an important part of the equation. Probably would choose the ISX over the Paccar motor. We run CATs so have no real world experience with those motors but a mechanic told me there is a bunch of filters (maybe 5?) on that MX motor. Probably would be pretty expensive to service. Like anything else, if you run a particular brand of motor you tend to know when things need to be done and how to do fix the repetative things that go wrong.

 

I put about 60k on a 2011 386 with a DEF Cummins. Then I got into a 2011 T660 with a non-DEF Cummins, and have put about 120k on this setup. Overall, I think the KW is the superior design as far as cab/sleeper goes. It also has the edge aerodynamically, that will net you some real savings on several trucks over the years. As for the DEF, I wasn't a fan. It's a very complex system that uses engine coolant to keep the DEF at temperature. My system developed a leak and parts were not readily available. I had to run over a week, refilling 1gal of coolant a day, which was being sprayed all over the sleeper/frame/exhaust, before I could find a shop with the parts to fix it. FWIW, the DEF motor did run a bit smoother overall.

 

Oh yeah, idk if it's available on the Pete, but the 8-bag rear with composite front leaf is a vast improvement in ride on the T660. I've had both, and would not go back to 4-bag and steel.

Running the Western States you may want 3.36 rears.

 

The suspension your talking about is the Kenworth AG380 (it's 4 bag by the way)which is the Pete Flex Air I believe. Issue with this suspension is it's only rated for 38k but as long as you never haul heavy it should be fine.

The 8 bag suspensions are the AG400 and AG460 and they have a new 40k 4 bag which is the AG400L.

 

They're pretty much the same truck with the exception of the cab and sleeper. I like the T660s larger Studio Sleeper. Skip the couch, though. It really sucks trying to sleep on that concrete slab.

If you do decide to buy instead of lease, I'd reconsider the 525 hp. The price of the warranty on an ISX with 455hp or less is about 1/2 of what it would normally be.

 

i just went with the new W900L studio sleeper with the isx15..its has the AG/400l 18 speed..sofa bed/tv package..loaded up in other words...i traded in a big sleeper truck for it but we kept the t-600 and the 780 volvo we use on our race team..

 

How do you like the AG400L?