Best tractor for durabilty

91-97 mack with the P pump. Hard to kill and they will start when its -10 without being plugged in. Good luck finding one not all ratted out or shipped out of the states

 

back in the 90s the mack ch with a 230 in wb and 60 in mid roof with Hendrickson air rides like a baby carrige. Feels like any modern truck and 6.8-7.3 mpg is about avg in today's standards.

 

2007 kw with Cummins or older kw t600 with cat. I have one of each, 1.5 million and 2.5 millom miles.

 

Are you talking about a truck for 100% highway use or maybe lots of off-road use (oil/gas field work) or some sore to vocational class truck (refuse hauling)?

 

As much as I despise the Pete's, you really can't go too wrong with a late 90's or early 2000's 379.

Same with most Kenworths (well maybe except the T2000).

Western Star's are probably one of the toughest trucks on the road, even the new ones, despite being owned by Freightliner. And I'd argue one of the nicest riding trucks I've ever driven.

Freightliners were solid built trucks before they started building the Century class. After that point, they became plastic garbage. Think FLD, Classic.

Mack's are pretty well bulletproof trucks, and spec'd correctly, ride really well. But I wouldn't touch one newer than '97. And you couldn't give me an '03 to '15 model.

I don't know much about the Volvo, I've only driven one, which was a 95. If you can get past the awful looks, it seemed to be well built and the ride wasn't bad either.

For engines, they all make good engines pre 2003. After that, it's like Russian roulette. If I had to buy a truck from 2003 to current, I'd probably look at the Detroit or the Cummins.

 

I am going to step on some toes, you guys either drive or own one or two trucks in your life don't have a clue.

There is no such thing as truck durability is based on a brand, there are too many factors to say which is the one to get ...

BECAUSE THEY ARE ALL THE SAME.

Each model has its quirks while each individual truck has to be judged individually, no one brand is better than another because they are all designed and made the same way and have been for the past 40 plus years.

It is individual choice which will work for you. NOT a brand but looking at the office end of things, comfort, function and visibility is main, the looks on the outside are just looks and don't mean much.

I have had every brand out on the market (not every model), I have run these trucks in my fleet at one time or another, some worked well, others were dogs but they were all individual trucks to me, not brands.

I have two brand of trucks I used in my fleet that I will purchase, I won't run after Petes or KWs because they are not worth the change. It isn't because these are the greatest, they don't have the support I need and I need consistency with the support of them, which I get.

 

Some trucks were built to meet huge order counts from multiple huge fleets. These trucks had to have cheaper build standards to meet the volume demands

Other trucks remained low on the volume list and thus maintained a more rigid build standard from quality of panels and parts, to the assembly line.

You can quickly determine the truly mass produced trucks just by counting them daily. All that said, the Cascadia holds up pretty well all things considered, year after year.

Biggest issue is bypassing all the earlier carb trucks, before they figured it out how to better design the DPF systems for longevity

 

I had a 2013 Western Star for just over three years driving these rough roads we have in Saskatchewan. I was impressed how well it stood up, still didn’t have any rattles or squeaks when I traded it off.

 

True, but these aren't going away and it's unclear if the worst of the increased prices is behind us. And you can't drive old equipment forever but I suppose you can always be 5-10 years behind the curve if that makes sense to you.

But at least with Detroit, I think one would be safe in buying new for a long term life span, with minimal maintenance costs. They seem to have gotten the bugs out as long as prescribed routine maintenance is performed