A note to the anti-auto crowd

The one I ran did fine on fuel - going down the road. With 3.55 rears, I'd be running roughly 1500 RPMs at 70 MPH, and it took a lot less effort going up inclines than it would've been with a smaller motor with matching gears. I kept the idle to a minimum, since my truck didn't have an APU, but there were some nights when it was unavoidable... middle of Summer in Houston, or nights when the temperature dipped below 20 F, in order to keep the tank heaters going and the fuel from gelling up. That's when it got a bit more costly, since the big D16 would burn more fuel in idle than a 12 or 12.8 liter motor would.

 

You got some good points there mate ,almost anyone that runs heavy here in Ireland runs v8 Scanias, the higher hp motors really do give better fuel economy on hilly terrain rather than a smaller motor that's constantly needing gearchanges, a local compay is running a fleet of Scanias to Italy and that's all mountains, severe climbs, not uncommon to be going up a 9% hill over 20 kms long, he runs 6 cyl 480 hp models as well as 730 hp v8 models, wanna guess which ones better on fuel? Yup the 730 hp and by 1.7 mpg's! But the same may not be true if they are running light on flat terrain

I'm glad your d16 ran well, what you describe makes absolute sense and obviously you're not just driving across praries .

 

Scania makes a nice truck. Among other vehicles, I'd sometimes run a twin steer Scania tipper when I was working in South Africa. This one had a 12.6 motor rated at 420 hp. I was really surprised how smooth it rode, especially for a vocational truck with such a short wheelbase and a Chalmers suspension. Although I still preferred the RD690 Mack he had imported from N. America... it was just a bit more familiar to me, as was the LHD and 18 speed transmission.

 

Would you believe I've never heard of a chalmers suspension

 

They're pretty much exclusive to vocational and some heavy haul vehicles which operate within a local area. Hauling long distance, you wouldn't want one.
I'll try to remember to take some photos when I go to work Monday.

 

Thanks! I'm really interested to see what it is

 

Here's one I found on the interwebz:



This one is turned upside-down.
It basically gives the tandem axles a central pivot point, as opposed to air bags, which are more independent. Better for stability on uneven ground. Camel Back and Walking Beam are other suspension types used for the same purpose.

 

Ah yeah I see now, we have a similar one but usually Multi leaf or parabolic spring with a central pivot point , the truck I drive has it cos it's rated for 330,000lbs, just never heard it called that before, thanks for takin the time to educate me!

 

Where I am from Trucks are expensive.

A general freight 6X4 500hp Scania will cost you $ 220 000.
A Volvo $ 205 000.
A Freightliner $ 195 000-00.
A International $ 190 000-00.

A Heavy Haul 350000lbs 6x4 unit will set you back about $ 250 000-00 with very few extras.

I usually by 2 or 3 year old used trucks at about 30% of that cost.
They are scares so I may have to by new in the future.
Volvo or Scania willl be my choice.

 

We used to have Chalmers suspensions on Matlack tank trailers. Camel back daycab tractors, and chiropractors on speed dial!!!!