Best MPG grossing 117,000 pounds

I'd go cat with an 18 speed, about 3.70 or .90 gears and turn it up a bit. Dont worry too much about fuel mileage, it's going to be ugly either way.

 

We have one shipper around here that knows a particular run can’t be done 2 a day. And won’t let anyone run two loads in a day with one driver paper logs or not.

And since they control both ends of the run it’s easy for them to keep track.......

 

The ideal truck would be a V8 Cat, 5x4, with 3.90, 4.11,big rubber, she'd walk up and down and make the ground shake doing it.Fuel mileage Fuggetaboudit!

 

I once hauled a container at 134500 as measured by Stephens City Platform on I-81 in VA before the load cells and structure physically failed. Dropped me, my 18 wheeler a foot down onto the steel beam skeleton over which I assume about another 6 foot drop which I probably would not have survived. I can still feel that steel singing (Am deaf, if I don't hear it at high pitch, I compensate by feel)

The 134500 is what the scale read when it broke. Actual must have been in the region of 150 Keep in mind I was running ball bearings out of Richmond VA downtown in 20 foot boxes filled to the brim. Triaxle chassis and 55000 in the box. The entire truck and trailer had a pernament 100K permit for virginia and maryland. SOmetimes the statepolice are leaning on desk edge with tears, red faces and laughing the kind of laugh that is good medicine to them and really... dehumanizing for me. I could just die.

In Dumfries Scales south of the Pentagon, they never laugh.

At that kind of weight on the interstate I found the entire front end would go out at about 34. Among many other problems. 200 miles later and about oh 14 hours back to Baltimore the run was over in the yard. The tractor (Mid 60's offset mack) got totaled, I never saw it again the next morning or after ever again.

It was a real bad day. I have other bad days like that one if not worse. However this entire trip including dispatch laconic instructions that passed for driver training in that company at 2 am

 

He's trying to beancount a heavy load. "I will be loaded both ways, 120k. I want to be able to go highway speeds with ease and get good fuel economy. What should I do?"

Performance is where you're going to save money. E model, 2WS 550hp or better, and RTLO20918B, and 46k rears with 3.90 gears.

 

12.7 is the way to go/Cat and Cummins isnt going to have any good MPG being 2000 or older

 

I have a hard time believing anything will get “good” fuel mileage pulling 120k all day. That’s quite a bit different than 80k all day. I’m not loyal to any of the big 3, but I probably would want the larger displacement for what this fellow is trying to accomplish.

 

True but the detroit will be bitter than a cat or cummins