Older cabovers OTR?

Most cabovers are not oo speced trucksand I have a dislike for fleet speced trucks myself. That said they make the same money as any truck.
I had friends that drove wallmart cab overs when they were running them, they kept a fine eye on fuel mileage and any time they got under 7 mpg, they went in for a tuneup.
I have personally driven an older co with a big cam 400 cummins that would get 7 mpg.
You want the truck geared for what ever type of work you are doing, just like any type of truck.

If anyone is actually wanting a cabinover. I could put them in touch with a guy that has a pretty sweet freightliner that is oo speced.
It has an N 14 that is a 460 plus (I am pretty sure) with very low miles on an inframe.
18 spd for tranny.
At least one locking rear, but I think it is full lockers.
mechanically the truck is nice,
It is a nice looking rig appearance wise, real good actually.
Like all old trucks, it will need some bucks spent, for sure it needs a cab jack.
I doubt the air conditioner works, but don't know that for sure.
It has a custom diamond pleat cover covering the complete front of the truck for added insulation.
The truck could be a money maker for somebody and I think it could be bought for around 15 grand.
I should add, the truck is very road worthy. The last time it was actually used, a guy hauling nursery stock from the lower 48 came up in a volvo and lost a turbo. he leased this truck and ran 2 trips from washington to here, while they were getting his fixed.

 

You would have to define oo spec and take into consideration what that meant for the year it is. Back then trucks didnt have power door locks, windows were either roll down or air operated. Ones I drove had more gauges than today's oo trucks do.

 

Harrison has a couple new style Argosy glider kits with 14L Detroit’s in them. With some work they could be built into cool trucks.

Some real nice Pete 362’s on Truckpaper in the $50k range too.

 

Even back in the day, there was worlds of difference in oo spec and fleet, maybe even more so than todays trucks.
Engines, was my biggest hang up, fleets generally ran small ones.
Gearing, especially back in the 55 days, most typical fleet trucks would be geared for 55, while I was driving triple digit trucks.
Insulation packages make or break a cabover, there is worlds of difference in them and most fleets did not care about driver comfort back then.
Most fleets had 9 or 10 spds, some even 7 spds, when an oo would be at least a 13, or even 2 sticks to play with. I had one cabover that had a 4x4 airshift, it was a fleet oilfield truck, tached out at 58 mph, and the only creature comfort was an air cab jack and power steering, NO air and if it was insulated, you couldn't tell it. lol
OO trucks even back in the day, many were air ride and air ride cab, fleets liked rayco 4 spring, which is a no go as far as I am concerned.
Yep there was even more difference back then than now.
Then there was the cabs themselves, there was just not a lot of fleets running aerodine K100's, or the big bunk 362 petes with a queen size bed.

 

That truck reminds me of a girlfriend that I had a while back.

I said hey baby how about if I buy a truck and me and you will hit the road. She said really you want to do that? I don't know about that. I said come on baby it'll be fun it'll be an adventure. They can almost make a TV show out of it.

I can be BJ and you can be...
And then she started screaming at me,
" you think I'm an effing monkey! You want me to be the effing Monkey! What the hell is wrong with you!

And the more she screamed the harder I laughed...

Then after she calmed down I said okay baby how about if I get you a nice banana...

That was a fun night

 

I get a kick out of the cabovers are rough crowd. I was born with back defect and have always appreciated a good riding truck. Some cabovers were rough to be sure, I know this for a fact because I drove em, and even owned probably the roughest one I ever sit in for a while.
Some of you guys have never driven a short 180 in spring or walking beam ride conventional, no air ride cab either of the same era, they rode just as bad as the cabovers.

Like I said, I like smooth riding trucks, and one of the smoothest and quietest too, trucks I ever climbed in was a cabover. It was one of them butt ugly broke in the middle fords, but that baby was smooth.
Cabovers are still iron, aluminum and steel same as conventionals, set up comparably , the ride is comparable.
Fact is, argue the point if you want, but it has been proven in wind tunnels by folkssmarter on the subject than any of us, they are just as aerodynamic and more so than big hood trucks, all else being equal, they will get just as good of mileage or better than your 379 or W9, etc.

Can a guy run one and make money, well yea, just as well as other trucks, if he can put the time to run an older truck, or has a late model argosy or whatever. One reason, it is like running an international or even volve, T600 or some such truck, a guy doesn't normally spend much on fluff. I should say didn't I see guys fluffing up newer butt ugly trucks all the time now.
Generally speaking a guy is going to pay cash for any cabover he would get now, so no payments, maitenence will be no more than any other truck to speak of.

 

I wouldnt do it otr . i caught up with a cabover outside new york last week and we ran together all the way thru cleveland. He ran up the midwest there out to the east coast. Had his own authority and just trucks for a hobby . it can be done but i dont think id do it otr . alot do them hay haulers out west is still runnin cabovers they look real nice. Them west coast cabovers , they make em look real nice , but then again those guys are all runnin local/regional . if u got the money then do wat u want but if i was gonna do it id just get me one to run up n back to the grocery store

 

I wanted one back when I ran hot and heavy between the lower 48 and Alaska for 2 reasons.
Canada had the 244 in wheelbase limit, so I had to run a short conventional, not much frame left behind the sleeper.
I wanted a CO stretched to 244 so I could carry a motorcycle and also have a lift axle.
I came real close to pulling the plug on an argosy, already rigged out for the alcan. an older couple bought it to run groceries to Alaska and rigged it out pretty nice, extra tank, herd bumper, flapped up, etc.
They didn't run long before they laid it over, and decided that run wasn't for them, and the wrecking yard down at chehalis wound up with it. It had big power and double lockers too, would have been a perfect rig, but my wife hates cabinovers for some reason, so I thought about it till someone else bought it. lol