Day by day adventures of a new solo OTR driver

I suspect a dash cam. No policy that I'm aware of related except maybe eliminating distractions.

 

My dash cam

 

I have the Dieselboss dot com dash cam and love it. In this clip at around 4.22 mark you can see this crazy silver Honda driver cut me off and a tanker truck. And also objects are closer than they appear on video due to the wide angle lens

 

So, today I headed through MO up into IA for my delivery. I am 1.8 miles away from the delivery but will have to wait until tomorrow morning because there is something special about this load and according to the remarks and a message sent to me, under no circumstances am I supposed to get there early. I don't know what is so special about this load but I got paid to deadhead 400 miles to pick it up and it only weighed 20k so as far as I'm concerned GIVE ME MORE OF THESE lol.

No preassignment yet but just got my NAT worked out and updated so I imagine I'll have one some time soon.

Miles for week 3 so far:

Day 1: 400.4 miles 8h 10m OD
Day 2: 417.5 miles 8h 5m OD
Day 3: 444.4 miles 8h 10m OD

Hopefully I will hear back from Schneider Finance soon. I have done some researching and thinking more about trucks. Here are my thoughts:

IF I get approved to purchase a NEW truck from Schneider and IF I decided to actually go the new truck route, to me this is what it comes down to:
*Note - I have not actually driven all these trucks, so please correct me if my opinions/information are way off. The spec information on the T680 and 579 I have gathered from the PDFs Schneider has provided on their site.

Cascadia -
Pros:
No down payment/Cheapest and therefore quickest truck to pay off
DD15 has had time to prove itself overall as a relatively reliable engine.
DD15 is a large displacement engine with tons of low RPM torque - the way a truck should be powered
Tons of Freightliner service areas pretty much wherever you go, even at many truck stops
OK fuel mileage, generally improves after the first several hundred thousand miles

Cons:
10spd transmission - a deal breaker for me
OnGuard - an ABSOLUTE deal breaker for me - I have had several experiences with this system that make me extremely nervous about driving this truck on snow/icy surfaces this upcoming winter
Its a fleet truck - lots of plastic, rattles that develop over time, pull out desk is tiny, definitely does not rank high in my opinion of driver comfort

Volvo 780 -
Pros:
Probably one of the most comfortable trucks on the road for the driver
Very well thought out interior, I believe Schneider orders them with workstations which is a HUGE plus for me because I like to have a place to sit and use my laptop
Not sure if Schneider specs them with a 10spd or a 13spd? I believe it is a 13spd, if so that's obviously a plus

Cons:
Volvo engine - LOL NOPE.
End of story for this one. I will not touch a Volvo engine. You will not convince me otherwise.

Kenworth T680 -
Pros:
13spd transmission
Nicely spec'd interior, full gauge package, passenger seat turns around into a "workstation"
Impressive fuel mileage reports (from talking with drivers that are running them and from reading on here I am hearing 7-9MPG fully loaded, 9-10+ with lighter loads
Comes with Espar diesel fired bunk heater - big plus, I really like these.

Cons:
Paccar engine - while I don't despise it like Volvo engines, it hasn't had time to prove itself yet. Its also a tiny engine that will work harder to pull heavy loads compared to larger displacement engines such as the DD15 and ISX15. Probably will not outlast larger displacement engines.
Some parts of the interior still feel kind of "cheapo" - just something several drivers have mentioned.
Bendix Wingman Advanced - yep it's got it too.

Peterbilt 579:
Pros:
Large 80" sleeper
Shorepower ready
13spd transmission
Fridge built in

Cons:
Super nice truck with Paccar MX-13 turd engine, large amounts of embarrassment upon opening hood at truckstop
God knows how much of a down payment and what the monthly payments Schneider will want for this thing
Basically a glorified version of the T680 in terms of truck specs - same engine, same transmission and driveline, just spec'd a little nicer.
"Bendix Wingman Advanced" Really? REALLY?

So... where do I stand. Honestly? Ugh... not really impressed by any of them. Paccar engine brake from what I hear is pretty crappy too, and as someone that uses the engine brake a lot that really turns me away.

Cascadia has a 10spd and OnGuard - nope.
Volvo has a Volvo enigne - nope.
T680 has Wingman - nope.
579 has Wingman - nope.

SO WHICH DO I CHOOSE? THE CHEESEBURGER OR THE CHEESEBURGER?

I really just don't see it happening. ___IF___ Schneider would let me spec a truck a little differently, maybe with a larger down payment or something so they know I am serious about keeping the truck, I would probably try to get a T680 with a Cummins ISX and a 1850 ftb/lbs driveline as the way its currently spec'd it can only handle 1650 ft/lbs, and absolutely NO system that controls the brakes apart from my foot on the pedal . Will that happen? I can pretty much guarantee you it won't. If I am approved to get a new truck, will I ask? You betcha.

If I go the used truck route with them I will probably look for a Pete 387 with a Cat C15 and a 13spd, I know they have a fair number of those in the fleet.



Can you tell I'm sitting here bored at the truckstop??

 

Diesel,

Spoke with Jolene at Schneider finance this week. I am good to go for choice, plan to start in Jan. Have to call back mid Nov to pick a truck, BUT she told me of two 2011 Cascadias available now. Both are 13 speeds and have Cummins engines. Also APUs of course. A lot of trucks they have are speced differently from the company trucks.

What do you think?

 

I would definitely be interested in taking a look into those.

Honestly its a coin toss with any of these engines. I've always been partial to Cummins. Are they perfect? No. The ISX pulls very well. Best engine retarding power around. They can have EGR issues just like any other. They have variable geometry turbos which are very expensive to replace. I _think_ 2011 was the second year that that ISX was using DEF, so probably not too bad as by then some of the bugs would be worked out.

I'm interested to see what the hp/torque ratings are at. I know some of the older Volvos that Schneider had were running 400HP ISX's which is just too little for my liking. Can always bump it up but the driveline has to be able to support it. Hopefully SNI will get back to me soon so I can start talking.

 

She also told me they have inventory in four different locations now, not just Green Bay.

Keep calling, bound to get through eventually. Good luck.

 

Oh I've gotten through on the phone, just waiting for them to get through my finance application. I don't want to get ahead of myself looking through their used truck inventory that is always changing, shoot there is always a possibility that they could call me back and say the only thing they're willing to finance me is a used Tonka truck.

 

Oh, gotcha. I'll keep my fingers crossed for ya !

 

I'm ready to start choice now, but have to wait due to wife. I gotta take 3 weeks off in Dec, not a good way to start choice, so i wait.