FL Classic XL versus Peterbilt 379

Exactly! Economy car/ Luxury car. I like the ride and the feel of the road you get with a peterbilt. IMO them other breeds feel like your driving a golf cart with an 80,000 lb trlr pushing.

Western Star used to build some decent trucks too, I had a 1978 Western Star log truck, one of the few log trucks in this area that was actually built for that purpose. I would like to hear a comparison from some drivers driving new Western Star trucks.

 

When they brought out the FLD they really started going after the high volume fleet sales. And quality really began to suffer. I like my FLD. She's been a great truck and paid for herself. I like that she's easy to work on. I like the parts availability, and the used parts availability. I like the Airliner suspension on mine. I haven't noticed it being more tippy than any other truck I've hauled cattle with. Plus it's simple, with few moving parts. It's easy to replace the bushings.

For 8 years I drove KW's. And I loved them. And I still want one now. When my dad was alive he always ran Freightliners (his last was an 85 FLC) so when I decided to buy my own truck I decided to look for something different. My FLD has its quirks, but really it's a pretty simple truck. I've rebuilt my doors and added Hushmat as well as additional insulation. It's almost as quiet as my last KW.

 

I used to drive a 98 Classic and an 07' 379

I truly hated the classic. Steering wheel position sucked, can barely see the right mirrors, took a football field to turn it around. Dash looked like something out of a bad 70's car. You had to slam the door so hard you thought it was going to come off the hinges. That's what I remember off the top of my head.

Boss just sold it this week. I'm glad it's gone.

 

If you have cab mounted mirrors they do suck. Bad. Luckily I found an FLD with door mounted mirrors.

You can take the stop out of the tilt so it will drop down lower.

And for about $900 you can totally rebuild both doors.

Like I said, I miss driving a KW. But for someone wanting a truck, if they're on a budget, I feel they can get a couple good years out of a XL and then move on.

 

My brother bought this truck in CA at the first of the year. It's a 2001 with a 525 Cummins in it. 80k on an overhaul and he gave $30 for it.

 

I totally agree they are a good truck I just didn't like it. Whoever bought ours is getting a mechanically and cosmetically excellent truck. 600k original miles.

 

850k when he got it. Overhauled and new transmission 80k before he got it. The only unknown are the rear ends. It was a single axle and he had it built to a tandem using a cutoff.

 

If it were me, i might go for the classic, to save some cash, I have drove a few of the older classics and thought they handled just fine.
Don't know how the later Peterbilts are, but the late 80's to mid 90's had a bad habit of burning to the ground in the driveway overnight. IMO the first thing is new wiring harnesses if your restoring an old one. I would guess the plastic dash newer models probably don’t have that problem.