Cabovers

Most store loads are not heavy! We pull a fair number of Walmart /SAMs store loads . SAMs are heavier then Walmart . But even Lowes store loads are not heavy, just heavy on the tail . But the Walmart store loads are not all cases of soda, then are a great number of boxes of clothes . Think about what's on the shelf in the store . Vast majority of the store is clothes . Ever pull a load of jockey? Floor load , floor to ceiling all way to the doors, 18k in weight . Yes the can cube out those trucks . And 1/3 more on each 3 truck loads means you did away with the need for a forth one. Saving all the fuel needed for the forth truck load. Think out side the box , they did .

 

Freightliner never stopped making the Argosy . It is made in the Cleveland NC plant. And was always for sell in the USA as a glider . Most we're export sales, major player in several markets. And what you are over looking is people drive 10 car stinger set up , into some rather tight car lots. That's what Kansas Transit was trying to get you to see . Those in length , pin settings and over hang are very close to the super cube WM trucks, yet use the roads you seem to have a issue using. Or you thought your local dealer made them in back ?

 

Exactly, but you don't even have to go as far as a stinger, just our 53's with 4' off the front and 4' off the back are almost EXACTLY the same as that super cube truck, but we would be LONGER OVAL length.

We get into some pretty tight residential areas, Walmarts only go to dist. centers or stores, they always have more "room" than we do in a lot of situations. I think to a degree a lot of people look at that SC truck and can't get over how long it is, but park a long nose Pete with a large sleeper next to it and I bet the front bumper and pin match up pretty well, I think to some, it LOOKS more intimidating than it is.

 

Saw a new Argosy pulling a milk tanker in Indiana on Monday.

 

I'll say it again Sublime, I just can't understand why Freightliner would not at least offer that as a "new" out the door tractor? I also can't buy the no room issue for emissions, most cabovers have a LOT of open frame space, I just don't see the issue.

 

We have daycab tractors that are about as short as a tractor can get and they have all the emissions junk on them. It's possible.

 

Exactly, and I was talking with my dealer again yesterday and the two motors listed if you want to order "powered glider" are ISX and DD15, BOTH emission motors, so it's not even a drivetrain fitment issue.

 

ISX an DD15 are available in a variety of emission standards.

If they could meet current emissions with the truck they would have it tested and out on the dealers floors. They would have a large market as there are several fleets that lease and turnover trucks that are holding on to their old Argosys.

The doghouse of the Argosys is very low; like 2-3". There is just not much room in there. I know I have driven and worked on them.

The latest emissions standards changed a lot. That DPF takes up a lot of room since it runs hot. Most trucks have 20 gallons of piss strapped on the frame. You got all the heater, pumps, computers, and plumbing for that too. As such most fleet trucks lost 100 gallons of fuel capacity, and gained 500-1000lbs. So that is something. A lot of manufactures have removed the option of a second battery box and some have even moved batteries back in the cab.

The emissions that killed the Argosy saw the egr, the egr manifold and its coolant and plumbing, and the cat. That was enough to kill US production. That might of been adapted to work on the Argosy by now. But putting the rest of the stuff on the Argosy within the chassey packages that Argosy owners prefer is tough. You probably have not noticed some daycabs running the emissions equipment behind the cab on the deck plate:http://bulktransporter.com/trucks/2010-emissions-chassis-challenges

Hope you find what you want.

 

I also have driven Argosy's (although it has been years), but I was always told the issues for emissions were cooling more than room, and that is why they redesigned the front for the bigger grill and cooling ducts, much like the prostar and the casacdia have.

 

Cooling yes but not cooling the engine(radiator) per say. The cooling that is referred to in the case of emissions is the egr cooler. That requires more plumbing. And where that service component and its valve live on the engine is not the most serviceable spot on the Argosy.

Then you have to worry about air circulation around the cat. It has to be close to the manifold and run hot to be effective.

The same with the DPF.

I don't doubt the engineering can be done, but it all costs money.

Frieghtliner could have re-engineered a bunch of stuff to keep the Argosy going for a couple of more years but by 2007 the writing was on the wall. Everybody, including International, knew we were getting piss tanks, bigger cats, and DPF filters. It is hard to find a place for that stuff in the chassy package (short wheelbase) that most Argosy customers want. Argosy never had that many US customers to begin with and the new truck market looked worse than ever in 2007. The Argosy customers they had were willing to hold on to their old trucks and not looking to upgrade in the near future. They could not justify engineering costs at that point no matter how small they appear.

Now, the glider serves most all Argosy customer and make Frieghtliner a good profit.

I am sure Frieghtliner accounting has figured that making a 2014 Argosy emissions compliant does not justify the costs just to serve a few localities in California.