2015 Cascadia OTR Performance

No Macho, I didn't know the different states would leave you alone on your steers at a little over. I did know some had tolerances for tandem axels, but never really knew how much 'cause I always axeled and being a flat backer, I had a 10' spread on my trailer so the 40'/ 41' rule never came into play cause the front spread was just shy of 40' from the kingpin. Nothing slid. Not the fifth wheel either. It was fixed center over the drives. You axeled at the plants and if you didn't axel (or gross), back to the crane you went to move it. Fuel was pretty much just in the gross. This "everything slides" has been a trip. I did find out the "please, please, please - let me slide" way that my running a little over on the steers got no pre-pass free pass but they rolled me across w/o stopping me at the platform scale. Long as I'm not over gross. Thanks for the info and, clearly, I gotta go back to school on state tolerances. I do think the autos are lighter than the standards, though. I have NO factual data to back that up; just something I'm remembering from when they came out. But if YOU can scale it w/ a JCT 2015 and a standard; I should be able to w/ an auto. I just gotta figure out the "where's". Thanks Man.

I'm not takin' up for or downing' anyone, but my big, big concerns to committing to a $150K Autobot w/ Super Singles, truth be known, were based on the early generations and how others reported they did and didn't do back then. Same the w/ Super Singles themselves. JCT was first place I ever actually DROVE them. Same fears and concerns based on when they first came out and what went down in reality OTR on the first generations.

One of the things I've learned here at JCT is; It's a WHOLE lot different when you are footing the bills. Analysis is no longer just analysis and a thorough report. It's real money out of your own pocket if you are wrong - real money in your pocket if you are right. Risk is no longer a concept in business classes. It's the money in your pocket today, tomorrow and next month and year. Literally. It's a big pill to swallow to admit that you're gut feeling is based on outdated info from when this stuff first came around; yet the factual, statistical data of today's 10th generation of working to correct that which wasn't right a bunch of years ago strongly suggests what you "know" and "feel" about this or that new stuff has been handled several generations ago. It might have been true then, but only a rare occurrence now. The one doesn't disprove the 10,000. It only proves nothing anywhere is perfect in any production model of anything. Not a kitchen utensil or a tractor trailer.

In ANY purchase decision, you are taking a chance that even the very best of the very best might dish you out the one lemon off the line of the thousands and thousands and thousands they produced right. On THAT you roll your dice and take your chances just like everyone else. I can say this about my Darling Darla the Autobot;

She's doin' just fine. She's living up to her breed for a foal her age. I'm getting everything I wanted outta this young mule and then some; and I'm treating her very well in return. Honestly, I think that's most likely what it all boils down to in the end anyway. Research the breed, pay your nickel and take your chances she was born on a good day, take the time to get to know her and let her get to know you, take that time slow and easy, treat her right and take good care of her and she'll take good care of you. So far so good with Darla, but we DO still have some getting to know each other to do as we both grow into this new world of driver and mule.

I guess that's with anything or anyone, though. You either grow together . . . or you grow apart. Whichever happens, is gonna be a bit on both. I do MY part, and that's all I can do. The rest? Well that's just part of the risk game we play. There's a bit of a Gambler in ANY Lease, Lease/ Purchase or O/Op. Sometimes you get dealt a Royal Flush but bet wrong and leave a lot of money in everyone else's hold. Sometimes you bet on an inside straight and it plays out for you big time. Sometimes all you can muster is a timely fold.

Never know till you ante up and play the game.

With women OR mules.

 

Thanks Jack. Loved the post. Great read. I liked the style anyway. Got the speed thing down but I think it is more to do w/ engine RPM than speed at this point. Rear ends vary in ratio and the different individual gear ratios in all the gears produce different road speeds at different RPM's. 1225-1300 RPM is considered max efficiency. Less is lugging raw fuel out the stack (BUT the lugging doesn't hurt them anymore like it did w/ the mechanical Cats and 600 series Detroit's, mech 671's etc, and then the electronic "Series 60's"): more than that is burning more than it has to w/ no power gain. So they say. Seems to be the case w/ my Darla anyway. Whatever road speed that produces with your gear ratio is what it is. The more gears you can go through to keep it at that RPM range up and down the hills is what matters there. Speed don't burn the fuel so much as RPM's over 1300 and under 1225 seem to. I do better setting my cruise by the tach than the road speed and, like you, just live with the fact that the rest of them will pass my by on the road a few times. 1225 for Darla is 60, w/ her gearboxes. Everybody passes me. Don't bother me a bit. Tickles me to death to see it. Swifty passes me by (thrilled he got to pass someone, I'm sure). Then I pass him b/c he's at the rest area I'm going by. Same thing at the pumps. Folks pass me by - but then I pass them at the pumps they HAVE to stop at: I planned mine and kept to my "MPG plan" so I keep motoring right along at 60. Tortoise and Hare. Who won that race? I got my plan and after my pre-trip Please and Thank You's to the Man Upstairs I roll. And I don't stop for the next 8 hours. Then my electronic baby sitter says I have to for 1/2 an hour. I roll at 29 mins and let it "catch up." Didn't used to stop then. Now Uncle Sam says I have to stare at a clock for 30 mins at 8 hours and saddled me w/ an electronic tattletale. I got it worked out, though. I appreciate what you said. Speed is important, but think more in terms of RPM's and see if that kicks the bonus up a tad.

Got me really thinking about the Winter Front, though. Used to shove cardboard on the grille to keep some kinda heat in the cab in the winter. Nobody cared much about MPG back then. It was a heater thing. Make sure your foot breezers were shut (duct tape on the outside at first frost - they NEVER shut tight enough for winter. Handles and cables always too stretched), towel draped over the inside lower doors (always cold air coming in at the handle) and if it still wasn't getting warm enough; start blocking some radiator wind w/ whatever you could scrounge. UNLESS, you had a rig that had snaps for a proper Winter Front. Those were neat. Little tap, tap and all the ice just fell right off. Cardboard behind the grille? PITA to clear. Plus, you got it too hot sometimes.

Darla's been down a few tenths on MPG lately and I been playin' around w/ other things trying to get those tenth's back. They add up real quick like in the wallet when the fuel comes out your settlement each week. I hadn't though about how much diesel hates cold, though, since truck manufacturers finally figured out how to keep us warm inside w/o Winter Fronts. Diesel DO hate the cold. Burns better in a warmer furnace. Makes sense. I'll give it a shot and let you know how it works out MPG wise.

Seat: You ain't lyin'!! Never thought about "new seat" equaling "hard seat", but it DOES. All these attachment, adjustment things in this seat are nice and all; but they adjust the WRONG PLACES for my boney arse. My left side butt bone is sore as can be and my lower back is not liking something in this set up too. The back is probably 15 years of flatbedding in The Empire, Keystone, Buckeye and Windy days not yanking on tarps, straps and chains in the winter. I think your body anticipates needs as we get older and mine is saying: "What? I'm all tightened up and ready. What's this; walk out and look at a temperature thing? That ain't what we been doin'." Plus, I'll give whoever this; this mattress is SOFT! Like sleeping on a cloud. WONDERFUL drifting off TO sleep. Not so much so waking up. I thought about putting a slice of plywood under it but . . . it's already sitting on a hard plastic. What's the plywood gonna harden?

Anyway: Autobot? She's real different alright, but I got to liking her. We still got some coming together to do on the slow maneuvering side but I'm glad I chose her. Some guy in a Chevy 2500 tried to gun past us in a right turn "squeeze play" and clipped her right front with his left rear, but her nose protector did it's job real well and she didn't get a scratch on her. Rig Guard needs replacing, but Darla's OK. That, and the fact nobody was hurt was the main things there.

Jack; Bring your Yankee self here often please. I enjoyed your post a lot.

 

That's right. Anti-gel. Forgot to factor that in. Running where we run I buy a LOT of fuel that has anti-gel in it in the ground at the T/s's. No-gel states are also warmer. Hmm.

Interesting. I was going by what guys in the shop said which was the same as the guys at my hometown Freightliner said. I been knowing and dealing w/ my hometown FL shop for about 15 years and I was doing some Fuzzy Math about PM Service and went to talk to my guys. I did some cypherin' and came up (for ME) that despite the discounts from our shop, I (personally, my particular situation living in SC, and my long term relationship w/ Triple C FL there - want to emphasize that) do better OVERALL, by getting PM's and minor fixes done at my hometown FL Shop during my scheduled hometime - UNLESS I'm going by Sapulpa anyway and can get it done on a 10 hour break or a planned reset. If it costs me a day I woulda been running to do it in Sapulpa, the savings in labor and parts don't offset my lost revenue for a down day. If I'm home and gave up that revenue for hometime and can get PM done at the same time, I don't have the extra down day. It's not much, about $150 better, but still. So I talked to our shop and they were cool w/ that. Anyway, I was talking to my shop and our shop about this particular config and that's what both said (back to RPM's) and it did back up my playing w/ the speed and MPG and noting RPM when I first got her. Thing is - no two trucks or drivers are identical. I think it is outstanding that you did the math and research to know what is just right for Esmeralda, and I think that is what you should do. I have a different config and at only 30K mine is still WAY tight as a tick and not even CLOSE to getting broken in. I will say this in SLIGHT and RESPECTFUL contradiction to what another person posted re your mileage: I was told by both our shop AND my Hometown FL guys that these new DD15's w/ either the autos or standards won't be seeing their full MPG and power and aren't fully broken in til about 150K. They both said you'll see a little decrease at around 50K, do the OH at 75K and it should go back to what it was then slowly increase to it's peak at around 150K. True or not? I don't know. Like the RPM thing - just what I was told by more than one that SHOULD know. We'll see if they do. LOL.

LOVE the name BTW. I am particularly fond of our color scheme. The JCT shades of blue and green are my two favorite colors, and I love the way the new blue and green decals reflect like DOT tape does. Ever notice that? They are reflective. I was coming out of a total Mom and Pop t/s in VA OMW back to my truck in their poorly lit (like fuel islands only; LOL) lot and someone was pulling around and their headlights swept across my truck and those decals lit UP like DOT tape while the rest of the paint just, you know; does what regular paint does when a light shines on it. Esmeralda. Brings shades of Emerald Green to mind. I Love it. Here's hoping you and Esmeralda are as happy w/ each other as Darla and I are and a little nod to you for not having to go through re-learning about a new transmission.