Long Hood Peterbilt 359/379/389 and Kenworth W900

Western Star is part of Daimler-Chrysler so pretty much everything offered on Freightliner is available on Western Star.

 

i don't think Liner offers a daycab coronado anymore? Unless i get a coronado SD and put regular highway tires on the front axle?

 

A few things that you need to consider before buying a "long hood" truck. First and foremost is fuel economy. Pretty doesn't equal prosperity. Get 5.5 mpg (average) vs 7 or 8 MPG in a more aerodynamic truck should be pretty much self explanatory. Secondly, if you are a bigger person ( and i don't mean to imply anything wrong with that) trying to get from drivers seat to bunk in a peterbilt or kenworth hood might prove to be interesting as the seats are so close together. ( I'm talking about the w900's and 379's). I guess finally think about backing one. With a w900 and 379 if you look out your window while backing all your going to see is a stack. So yes running straight down the road they are awesome, I guess you just have to decide if your wiling to put up with the less fuel mileage, and other things mentioned then go for it! Good luck and God Bless

 

No. Ive started in cabover and being over the steer has disadvantages and advantages like getting into docks made for early trucking in the 20's and 30's but the disadvantage is a coffin sleeper and bad ride. But when I was young, I was hard and did not mind it so much.

The hood trucks that you speak of are special. They are like all other conventionals with hoods. However... fuel mileage is about 1 mile less versus newer hood trucks. Maybe close to 6 at best and 5 at worst.

The ride is better like all conventional and you sometimes need bumper posts to feel out the obsacles getting into a dock. However the advantages out weight these problems of space. The shaking of the hood gives you a clue as to how she is riding under a load while working and gives you something to use as a reference if you slide on ice if you are fast you can correct the slide faster by the angle of the hood before your mirriors show the trailer coming around.

I like em, I have no reason not to buy and use them. They offer a bigger maintance area to reach the front end and engine space way better than most of the newer shorter hood trucks made today. Now they do tend to accumulate snow and ice etc and that is valuable as a early warning of road icing to me. No biggie.

Now.. if there is anything wrong at all I would probably point to the non studio sleeper spaces which is not that big but better than cabovers and not as good for example as a Century sleeper. So a bigger sleeper is a good asset. You already got a long frame, might as well use some more of it for a bigger sleeper and APU.

 

If you know how to operate it won't matter what you have. That being said, I love my 379. Turning it is better than a 900L, but not as good as a 780. Fuel economy is fine as long as you don't stuff your foot into the radiator. For me its the ride quality, which is as smooth as a 780, but doesn't sway in the turns as a Volvo( which it MUCH taller than my flat top). Even though I have a ISX, not a cat( which I've had in a old Mack dump which would pull over a bridge) I can out-pull anything on the road going uphill. I'm speed limited to 73, but any freightshaker that tries to pass going upgrade I blow away. I pull bulk so when I'm loaded it's at 79,000+ all the time. They just don't have it to power up-grade. This is only on slight upgrades on I-95, not even hills to speak of.
Going through hills into western NC/VA I just turn the fan on, drop a gear or two and wind my way up it. Every time I'll see a freightshaker or some other plastic truck on the side of the road. No joke, not exaggerating. I'm just telling it how I've experienced it. The 780 I had had a lot of electrical problems and air leaks. Nice ride and great turning, but the little gremlins kept popping up. I've fixed the 379, but it's been very minor, driver-repairable items, leaking radiator hose, loose turbo to exhaust clap, bad tire valve, that kinda thing.
I just like the idea and driving in a classic long nose, not plastic. I had a road cone crack the bumper fairing on the 780 when I was going to the GW bridge in NYC. That was a $600 piece. Wouldn't have happened in a Pete. The better fuel economy for the plastic truck doesn't outweigh the replacement cost of the fairings and pieces to the plastic trucks.

 

How's this for a hood?

 

i have always liked pete's over the kw's if i didn't do dump work i probably would have bought a pete. between the weight and lower ground clearance in the end i felt the mack was a better truck for what i do. but its not near as nice as a pete. iv drove a few w-9's i the turning radius was not near as good as the petes and i liked the pete dash lay out better. and i think the pete's ride better. but a w9 or a long nose pete is pretty hard to beat. if ever stop playing in the dirt i might get a 379 pete.

my favorite truck i ever drove, was a company truck i drove for quite some time it was a 06 379 with a pusher 565 isx 18 speed with 3.55's in the rears. it ran good pulled hard looked good rode great not a single squeak or rattle. i took really good care of it and for that the rewarded me with a bran new 389 with 200 miles on the odo when they issued it to me after about a month i wanted that 06 back.



my set up is pretty light around here but some of your guy's empty weights make me feel fat....lol

when i pull hopper i pull a tall side sidewall tridem tempte superhopper. weight in almost at 32k even with around 3/4 of a tank of fuel. but on 7 axles i can load 68k lbs or 73k lbs on a harvest or winter permit.

 

You can get the Coronado SD in a regular 13k/40k 6x4 configuration... you can even get it in 6x2 with the Bendix system to adjust inflation to put more weight on the live axle when needed. You don't need to buy one heavy spec. Not to mention that there'll more to it than just changing the rims and tires on the steer axle... a truck with 315s, 335s, 435s, etc. on the steers will have wider brake pads which won't accommodate a 275/285/295, and so you'll end up replacing the brake spiders, as well.

 

Including the shaking?