Durability and minimum maintenance/repairs

T800s hold up pretty well. It'll be interesting to see how these new T880s do. Trucks going down lease roads should always have double frames, though. A single frame OTR truck will not last, I know I have one here that is actually bent under the 5th wheel.
The maximum oilfield trucks should see between service is 10,000miles. Check and grease everything, change the oil, make sure the tanks aren't coming off, suspension isn't broken, etc.
If you guys need a competent mechanic to get a shop and service program going I'm looking and currently in Pecos.

 

t800 are mean't to be severe duty compare to t660 or t600. My dad drove his t600 on gas well, hauling frac sand. He have deal with ice covered 10 mile dirt road. Has Ag380, I'm sure that suspension won't last long because he hauled above it's capacity. Other than that, Cat mbn 500 hp, 10 sp manual, and 3.70 rear axles makes perfect for mountain driving/frac sand hauling. grease every 5k miles, change oil every 10k miles, and lube the fifth wheel once a month on our t600.

 

I was at the Freightliner factory and they were making the tank recovery trucks they had a 3/4 inch main frame and a 1/2 in insert. You can get any frame thickness you need as a single, without the problems of a double. Most of the logging trucks around hear are Western star, then KW, there are two of the Cat trucks.

 

Bose Ride Seat; works just fine.

 

The Kenworth C500 is a real severe duty truck, and comes in conventional or cabover configuration. You're going to need a Bose seat in it if you care about driver comfort, though. They're pretty tall.

 

The C500 is impractical for anything other than heavy haul- Walking beam suspension, most around here are dual steer, usually they are extremely long flat bed for moving rig components. They are also geared very low, typically. They look awesome though.
You can spec them out differently, but by the time you're done you might as well get a conventional truck.

 

What ever you decide; remove metal leaf spring suspension as an option, both front and/or rear axles. (increased tire life)

 

It is called air ride on front and rear axles. It's true that air ride increases tire life. Try to put centramatic balancers.