Western Star COE

wow that is soo cool, what year??? think we can find a used one like that????

 

This was nothing more than a re-badged White Road Commander. ( We called them "Road Commodes") Apparently, White was trying to fill the void after losing Freightliner with this cab over, and Western Star was basically a White. I had an '82 Western Star conventional, and while it had mostly White components, it was a very good truck and I made money with it. As with most cab overs, these were miserable trucks. They rode rough, were hot, noisy, hard to shift (every cab over I drove had a terrible shifter) and a nightmare to work on. Never liked cab overs ( except for backing in somewhere) and I say, good riddance to the cab over. This is probably a very late '70's, or early '80's, when cab overs were king.

 

I have to say though.....my Pete 362 COE rides smooth. I have driven several COE's and they were all rough....except for the Pete....

That Western Star is ugly!!

 

That's true, Pete and K-Whopper generally were much nicer trucks, but many fleets didn't go that route, and the most popular cab over, without question, was the IH 4070 Transtar or the Freightliner. While I hated my time in the Freightliner, the IH 4070 was actually a pretty nice truck, although, the one I drove had Reyco spring rear suspension, and that truck shook so bad, it would pop out of gear. Most of those trucks had creased right side fuel tanks, as they had a nasty blind spot, inherent to all cab overs. You could always tell a driver that wasn't used to a cab over, as they'd be driving with the right side wheels on the shoulder ( I was guilty of that myself) We have to remember the reason cab overs were so popular in the 1st place. Many states years ago still had archaic length laws, and cab overs were the only way to haul longer trailers. Some drivers liked them, but I knew of some that would quit a job, if the company got cab overs. With the end to overall length laws and fuel prices ( cab overs were not too efficient, think a box on wheels) there was no reason to have them, and can you even buy a new cab over?

 

Looks like a road commode with a WS grill

 

The ONLY thing I hate about my Pete 362 COE is the fact that I am dead as heck if I ever hit anything.....like ever....lol.

 

mi freightliner FLA rides like a cream puff. about as soft as our 379 petes. the cab does move a lot. like a boat.

i think coe's are super easy to work on. jack the cab up and everything is in the open. front engine access is tight. clutch r&r dream job tho.