Owner operator specd?

right now,

I'll be happy with a 450-500 HP Cummins, 13 spd and 3.55 gears in a used truck that comes with 75% or better rubber / brakes.

Along with a new drivers seat and a new mattress, it's a starter truck for me.

Need those things to conform to my butt, not some other poor slob...

This new job will show me whether I will like a DDEC as that is what these Cascadia's are loaded with. Tranny and gears would be the same.

 

My truck is down and I'm renting one of those direct transmissions with the 2.64 ratio that a "the guy on the radio" loves. I HATE it.

It's the suckiest sucker that ever sucked in the pulling dept. My little bitty 350hp Cat with it's 3.90 gears will out pull it all day long. I pull some long hills and run some winding, hilly two lane, and that direct tranny/2.64 ratio blows more than I could've ever imagined for what I do and where I do it. I squeezed 7 out of it once so far, but mostly it's 6.7 or so.

I'm sure that there are O/O's that love that set up. It just doesn't work for me. I'm sure "that guy on the radio" would tell you all day long that my truck would never get 7 mpg. Fact is, it got over 7 right up until the cam went at a little less than 1.8 MILLION miles.

I guess my point is, that O/O specs is kind of a generic term. What works for some just never will work for others. I suppose the best thing is to know what will work for you and spec your truck that way.

THe other thing is that I DIDN'T spec my truck. I'll most likely NEVER spec a truck out. I'm a cash truck kind of guy. I don't see myself EVER making payments on a truck. That means I'd have to be extremely lucky to find one that's perfect. I can find lots of them that will work just fine, though. I've ran the numbers and I just can't make it work to be worth giving what they'd want for a new glider, when my results with a cash truck are so close. Maybe one day, but if I do, it will be a cash deal, too.

 

No. It is a factory rebuilt DDEC IV 12.7 with the same 3 year / 300,000 mile warranty as a new one. Complete in a 2013 truck.

 

That is why I spec'd an 18 with 2.79 rears. Can run in direct when appropriate for best performance and mpg, and have splits for working tougher pulls. 2.64's were too tall for what I do. If I feel the need to run faster than the 58-67 mph range (1400 - 1600 rpm) that 16th direct on low pro rubber would do, I can just step up to 17th when on flat ground, light, and low wind and cruise along a 1400 rpm 68 mph. 10 speed direct with 2.64's just isn't right for what I do as well. Great, I guess, for Wally World trucks, but not mine.

Plus, that 12.7 is getting a ported and coated exhaust manifold along with a Borg Warner AirWerks S400SX4-75 turbo to replace the waste gate turbo and will have Walker Megaflow mufflers on the stacks. That engine will breath properly. That makes a big difference as well. And all of that is almost a thousand dollars less than just the turbo on my ISX.

 

what is it you do then? Run a bunch of mountain trails?

 

No.... but I do pull a lot of heavy loads around some pretty hilly areas of the midwest. Not always on nice 4 lane roads. There are some interesting hills in Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri, Indiana, and Ohio that can be almost as bad as anything in Colorado. Just not as long, but still hard pulls. And a lot of them on two lane, winding roads. Especially with 46,000 lb in the box. And that even includes a few gravel roads that have some hills that would cause a recent truck school graduate to tighten up so that you couldn't get a greased BB up their anal cavity, with that kind of load in the box. I do a lot of bulk commodities. But I also do the lighter stuff as well. And the 18 would be just as nice. Just less shifting. That is what is nice about an 18.... it can be shifted like a 9, 13, or 18, depending on the task at hand.

I guess that also elaborates the original comments about what I said that the term "O/O specs" can mean little depending on the application. It would be great if everyone got to just run the 4 lanes and set the cruise control and kick back all the time, like the dealers and OEM's seem to think the entire world of trucking is. Sure would make my life easier.

 

ok.

I cut my teeth in the rocky mountains with a mack superliner and castrated 350 mack. Common to put on 50,000lbs. Nice thing about running camel back springs and a 36" sleeper.

Most of the other trucks I had were 3406a or b engines that were only 400 hp.

The only thing right in them were 13 spd trannies.

I look forward to Monday to see how the DD15 @ 550 hp and a 13 spd with 3.55 gears will do. Guess I haven't seen much around the midwest here that really gets me too worried.

 

I've got a 02 Freightliner with a 12.7 470 Detroit straight ten tranny an 3:90 rears. Get between 6.5 an 7 an pull off an leave the large cars up most hills. Not a "O/O spec'd" truck but it does the job pulling 45,000 in a refer all day long.