Kenworth T680 vs Freightliner Cascadia??

I have driven a 2007 Volvo, 2014 International, 2013 Freightliner, and now a 2014 Kenworth T680. I can say out of all of those trucks the Freightliner has more room, but the Kenworth has all of them beat in ride quality. People say the 2016 rides better, but no one has told me if it ride's as well as the Kenworth or not.

 

I drove a 2015 T680 made in USA with a lot of defective parts,one of them was the left door handle inside the cab.Most of the vehicles have recalls too,the marker lights on the fenders were replaced with new ones because as stated by the technician at the Kenworth dealer if water got in it could start a fire.And for the price,they range in the same price if same specs.You can also get a Cascadia with a Cummins isx.

 

I drive a 2011 Cascadia high rise double bunk that's lease is up soon. I will be getting a new T680 around Christmas. I like the storage in the Cascadia much better. I have only driven this truck for the past 60k of its 480k miles and the main problems I have had with the truck are fluid leaks in the heater and check engine lights coming on on a fairly regular basis. They changed the DEF metering pump and lights came back on after less then a week. They then changed the main module which is part of the three switches that contains your hazard lights and it has been fine since then. To be be fair to Kenworth, the new T680 I am getting is the smaller 52 inch sleeper. I am trying to get the company to spring for the cabinets on the back wall. A sleeper that small should have come standard in my opinion. Kenworth in my opinion over the past 5 to ten years seems to be thinking more about the carrier and less about the driver with all these smaller sleeper options.

 

Bump to an old thread. Looking at a 15 cascadia dd15 or a 15 t680 isx15. Both auto 2.64 gears both around 400k. Cascadia is actually 3k$$ more. Im prolly splitting hairs as both seem to be decent trucks. Mostly care about fuel mileage reliability and repair costs. I stay east of Mississippi not many hills. Freightliner id think has more service centers and ease of parts? Ride and looks mean little to me. What do you guys think

 

My old 2012 shaker cascadia was hands down the most reliable truck I've driven thus far. Geared right, specced properly for my work, decent (not great) on mileage (but I'm a steel hauler), and walked across KY with 68,000 on the deck (permit load) only dropping two gears for the hard pulls. Factory flashed ECM, set for 75mph.

That truck got out and boogied. Fired up every day and went to work without complaint. Cost my company a couple of oil changes and a water pump while I had her.

 

Retired Walmart driver. Get the Cascadia! And I've got a stainless steel mirror mount bracket I'll give you for your cb antenna.

 

Hi, i'm a new driver and looking to get educated on all those gearing information.

What do i need to look for in a truck before buying one if my usual load weight around 40k-42k?

What would be the ideal gearing ratio to climb a hill faster?

In some web pages people say its best to have a mininum of 600hp but what about gear ratio?

 

Im glad i found your reply, i found a 2015 t68p for sale around 40k, maybe thats why the company sells it :/

 

If your main goal is to climb a hill as fast as possible, big power specs and very fast rears 3.73+ are what you want, look at heavy haul.
You will sacrifice huge amounts of fuel economy though be forewarned....


If you're running regional or long haul with a modern truck, you don't want higher than 3.08. The best modern downspeed driveline trucks will be in the 2.25-2.85 range, i personally like the 2.64 set on 22.5LPs but would consider the 2.50s on a new Volvo XE because they lowered the RPM of peak Torque even further on D13XE.

I run gross frequently and my 2016 XE truck peaks Tq at 1050rpm, it cruises at 1200rpm@68mph. Love it. One shift down puts it in direct gear and on top of the power band if needed. It walks the majority of trucks through fancy gap , so don't let rear ratios scare you.