Cabovers

I’ll add the defroster to your list of things that sucked

 

Cowboy Cadillac with a 318 DD pulling a train @ 105.5k up the Cascades. Low side on a 10 spd. Only thing I'd pass were bicycles. We're trucking now. We called them Dragonflies. Drag up 1 side & fly down the other.

 

We used to run them in the midwest, can vans we called em. Light loads of empty cans to breweries and canneries..pia

 

Never had any issues with COE. They had to be properly outfitted and if you cant get heat or defrost while burning 4mpg the truck needs some attention. Air ride cabs made a world of difference. Last one I drove 92 Freightliner double bunk COE

 

You could always spot a driver not used to a cabover, the right side wheels would be running down the shoulder. I knew drivers that quit their jobs if asked to drive one, others loved them. Nobody mentioned the nasty blind spot on the right side, and my union job had set back axle Frightliner[sic] cabovers, I can say, without reservation, the absolute WORST truck I ever drove. It's a testament to my driving skill I never ran over anything with that POS. Years ago, before these "off ramp warehouses", a cabover was needed to actually get to some places. I hated every cabover I drove, but drove what the boss told me to. Good friend had a nice KWhopper, wrecked it twice,,shortly after this pic was taken. 1st, pic on lower left, deer jumped in front, he jack knifed and the trailer dolly leg did all the damage. After he got it back, lower right, he was out in Ohio, some guy with an empty flatbed and no lights pulled onto the highway, and he ran into the back, totaling the truck for good.

 

No they don't ride as good as a conventional, but they are miles ahead of the old ones in terms of comfort. It was more of a floaty feeling with soft squishy cab suspension. I imagine it would take some getting used to but I didn't drive it for very long.

 

The last few models they came out with right before they stopped selling them in the US were really nice .
The set back axle and air ride suspension makes all the difference in the world .
And the last couple of years they had a flat floor with just a little raise where the doghouse used to be .

You’re sitting about the same distance in front of the axle as most plastic fantastic trucks have you sitting behind the axle.

no one complains how terrible their zillion dollar motorhome rides , you know, the ones that are cabovers with the driver sitting in front of the steer axle ?

I owned a 9670 international with no power steering and leaf springs .
It was horrible.
Drive it for a couple of years and bought a Ford LTL 9000 conventional with a 36” flat top sleeper and leaf springs .
The LTL 9000 had the longest and widest hood of any road tractor ever made.

drove it a few years and bought the grey international 9700 cabover I posted with set back steer and air ride suspension.

the 9700 rode much better than any conventional with leaf springs and just as good as any conventional with air ride .
You got some up and down since you were out in front of the axle , but it wasn’t rough .
I was using it to do short hauls,250 mile radius of the terminal , with some days having at least 3 or 4 stops and sometimes a lot more.
So the short wheelbase was very handy.
It was a good money maker for me.
Had the 350 big cam Cummins and a 9 speed, bought it used from Ryder with all the Maint records etc .
It wasn’t hard to work on either, it had a air power jack to raise the cab,
You just hold the button down and the air does the jacking. You could use the manual jack if you didn’t have any air.


In a cabover , YOU are the crumple zone , but that just makes you pay a lot more attention to your driving . and it’s not a danger if you hit a four wheeler. You’d have to hit something taller than the frame for it to be a danger , so as long as you don’t hit the back of the 18 in front of you , or a bridge piling , it’s not an issue .

I liked em , but again, the set back axle makes all the difference .
I owned a late 80s ? Freightliner argosy cabover with the condo stand up sleeper
, it had air ride suspension and an air ride cab but not the set back axle and it didn’t ride anywhere as nice as the 9700 international .

 

I worked at a carrier who had a bunch of ex-Matlack guys who bought old cabover Matlack Macks and were running liquids for us.
They were able to get the latest units, low mileage and oversize engine compressor set up to blow off loads and PTO's for a pump at good prices as the larger tank carriers all dumped them around the same time.

 

That’s why I bought them . In the late 80s early 90s they were almost free.
Usually 1/4 the price of a hood that was the same age and condition and engine etc.
I got into being an o/o to make money , so getting the same Cat or Cummins engine , the same 9 or 13 speed trans , the same air ride suspension etc as a Pete or kw hood for 1/4 the price was an easy choice.
That’s also why I bought Ford LTL 9000 hoods.
Same drivetrain as a 379 or W900 but 1/4 the price . The one pictured here had a 444 big cam cummins and a 13 speed .

i paid $13k for it , drove it 18 months and spent $18k for rebuilding the engine , trans and diffs. Drove it a couple more years and sold it.
Then bought the grey 9700 cabover posted earlier , for $13k I think . I liked the big Ford but I liked the 9700 COE too.
I had zero repairs with the coe , maybe a clutch and brakes and tires . Made a lot of money with both trucks , which was my reason for being an o/o in the first place .

but I was dead broke before trucking. I was working at a state park in the late 80s , making $975 a month before taxes ,
Mowing grass, picking up garbage , cleaning the restrooms etc .
First month in my lease purchase cabover international with North American Van Lines / Triple Crown I made $5000.
so I had no problem living in a cabover .
I felt like the richest man in the world . i kept living in the trailer park at $165 a month , for a while but since I was gone quite a bit to begin with just started living in the truck .

At my age and lifestyle now, would I go back to driving a 9670 with leaf springs ?
Nope, but I also wouldn’t be where I’m at today without doing that in the late 80s
To get started making money and buying my first house etc .