Why do so many Americans hate European trucks?

My drivers have teeth in their butts as they chew up the seats.
I do however find the seats in the Volvo don't hold up as well as those in the DAF's although the rest of the truck is better.

 

seems to me roads in SA are rought ore u operate trucks on terrain

 

video from one of guys from here , who work in Canada ,he talks:

it is -9C° , 3.13h AM, and now you can see how those americans trucks are "good" and have to run engines at -9C° all night ,


latter when he get out:

what a "macina"(we use this italian word when something is very good-strong)but he use this word as irony , that is like you are in mine they run non-stop ,if you dont park first you can not sleep, those guys parked opposite way


in europe we have webasto for at least 30years , and engines can start during winter as well , this guy was talking that even trucks which have webasto have to run engine because they wont be able to start
and that his volvo have webasto and he got new batteries and new starter so he have no problems with starting truck

 

I don't understand why webasto Type heaters aren't more popular in NA, saves fuel and you're not listening to engines rumbling all night, then it's the opposite in summer, trucks running for the aircon, some have a tripack but those are very expensive to buy and need maintenance, in Europe cab and block heaters are standard , cab coolers are very popular with manufacturers now fitting them

 

Most are petty good if you are doing work between the major cities (see photos of typical roads).There however has been very little maintenance on the roads in between these in the last 20 years.These are full of pot holes.A lot of our work is cross border in to other African countries and even their main roads are very rough.They get so bad that trucks need constant maintenance.

 

So why do your trucks start better in the lower temps..?

Is it the 24 volt system ?

Even with a block heater and synthetic oil (good batteries and starter) if it's -25F you have starting "issues" here.

 

Cat,how long do your batteries last?
You have 3 or 4,right?
We run on 2.
And mine last 5y(but they are never in use overnight,so a more realistic general lifespan would be around 3y)
So yes,that 24v system is better.

 

24V yes , maybe there are some differences in engines as well but since same engines exist on both side

however some trucks are not that happy in winter , man common rail engines are not willing to start in winter conditions maybe is problem in our fuel because it have a lot of water

this here is -9C it is 15.8F

but it seems to me that every new generation of engines have more and more problems with starting i wonder if we would need in future use torched cloth on intake like for perkins , my mercedes start always easy, better than younger trucks even it have no heaters

 

Yes my truck has 4 batteries with 900 cca each. My last batteries were 6 years old, just replaced before this winter. Even thou they tested ok , I didn't trust them....


Can your trucks heat the block with the trucks batteries ? Or are you talking about the webesco doing it?


I plug mine into the house power, and put a trickle charger on the batteries . Have jump posts on the truck so it only takes a second.....

 

what do you have from batteries?

i notice in recent years quality of batteries is reduced significantly , i know modern trucks have much more consumers and all become very wasteful , but on same truck before they could last more

now whatever you buy you are not sure what is this , best example bosch they are chinese with bosch sticker ,in my opinion here it is best to buy bosnian tesla batteries you really know what you get and are cheap... on mercedeses have varta i dont know which one blue or silver(i think silver) they are 140ah and not best , on others have some batteries from usa they are quite good have lot of ampers ( not ah but just A for easier start) usually when get colder and dont work i remove batteries and place them in basement , now have them on mercedes because will work tomorrow

brothers golf have some worst batteries that exist and have no problems tested at -27 outside at strong wind bad fuel, my golf have best battery i could find ( dont know brand) and still have problems( actually nobody have any idea what is problem i change all i could imagine , from heaters, battery, starter, alternator, controler for heaters and still have problems, same as first day over 10years and worst part is whatever you change it works well for week and again, now i was at bar for 2hours and it hardly start at 0C°

on scania 112 we had some croatian batteries called akumulator ,father bought them because old died and those were only on fuel station than, i never heard before and after for them they lasted for 7years with no problem at all and sold together with truck , truck was used a lot during winter (for salt) so they did not have easy life