How Long Will a New Truck Last?

Discussion in 'Experienced Truckers' Advice' started by OldeSkool, Jul 29, 2019.

  1. stayinback

    stayinback Road Train Member

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    You guys up in Canada Love those Macks......Don't know much about them since the 90's.But the old R and U Models and some CH models last a lifetime...The 300 Mack Engine was Immortal.
     
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  3. AModelCat

    AModelCat Road Train Member

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    Biggest killer with emissions is babying the engine IMO. They need to be loaded up and worked. SCR systems with exhaust fluid are a step in the right direction IMO. With that technology I am willing to bet we're going to see EGR go bye bye. CAT has already started removing EGR from some of their new generation engines.

    Problem with EGR is it produces more soot. Less EGR = Less soot, more NOx. By reducing/removing the EGR and cleaning the NOx in the exhaust, the engine produces less particulates for the DPF to catch.

    That seems to be the biggest flaw Navistar had with the Maxxforce. I think they hoped that using no DEF would be a selling feature. Instead they had the EGR duty cycle so high it would just constantly soot up the DPF.
     
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  4. x1Heavy

    x1Heavy Road Train Member

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    White County, Arkansas
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    My first day with a 16 mile century first ever brand new truck mmm mmmm mmmmm! oh the Joy.

    Wife climbs into drivers seat and starts to settle. (Fixing to attack Dallas 30 Rush for the old Raton Road 287...)

    *&^% OF all.. mutters...

    It took me weeks to explain to wife the joys of a new truck. She said that there is nothing that needed to be said she enjoyed it. Push button and move this doodad and go.

    I was having thoughts of tele trainers or some kind of Duck Rogers style futuristic training that week. It would serve us right not to have any trainers.

    The least FFE could do was let me have a short load to understand my new truck before wife got it. Now I have to sit a day and wait. HA...

    (I was insecure. If she asked about something, I would need more input number five style...)
     
  5. MartinFromBC

    MartinFromBC Road Train Member

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    Mack Granite, heavy front end, tri drives, MP8 engine and 14 speed Mshift automatic. They are incredibly tough, and if you go look at my new thread I started in the Canadian section you will see they are the best selling heavy duty truck in all of Canada. I swear Mack way under rates their engine power to...hooked to identical trailers with identical loads on them, my Mack 500 hp trucks consistently out pull the Cummins 565 and 600 day after day. I've tried it on multiple days and different hills, and the guys i have hired on to pull my end dumps right now, well two have trucks with cummins power, and both rated as higher hp than mine, and yet neither can keep up with my trucks on a hard pull. Leaving town on a run we do three times a day right now is a long hard pull right from the intersection and a long ways up the mountain. One morning a few weeks ago i said to them on the radio, okay guys nothing is behind us three. I am coming to a full stop right here...and when i blow my horn go as hard as you can...well i just kept pulling further and further away....by the top of the hill they couldn't even see me i had disappeared around the corner. The reason we did this is every time I hire these guys they expect to out pull my Macks with the small motor and low hp rating, yet in reality they can never keep up and my trucks just keep pulling away from them.
    So either Mack wayyy under rates its engines, or cummins wayyy over rates theirs.
     
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  6. MartinFromBC

    MartinFromBC Road Train Member

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    What the hell is this guy doing to break the truck non stop that badly.
    Not sure if I could break that much if trying.
    And what engine is in it?
     
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  7. MartinFromBC

    MartinFromBC Road Train Member

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    I work my MP8 Mack engines extremely hard, could be why I never have any issues.
    Even those so called injector issues that i read about on the internet...zero problems. But you know what the terrain is like here, and the heavy loads I pull, they are often held to the floor and left there for long periods of time. I also don't see drivers nowadays idle their trucks down with the fan turned on, or let cool down long enough. I kick the fan on at least 5 minutes before I know I'll be stopping somewhere, then once stopped it idles another 5 minutes with the fan on to blow heat away from under the hood. I swear by doing that, always have and always will. I did the same thing with the truck you now own Bruce.
     
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  8. AModelCat

    AModelCat Road Train Member

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    The cool down is important. Most DEF injectors are cooled by engine coolant. Even some turbos are water cooled. If you don't give the truck a good 5-10 minutes of idle cool down time for the coolant and exhaust you definitely aren't doing the DEF injector any favours. Once coolant and exhaust stop flowing, everyone assumes it'll naturally cool down. It won't. The heat will concentrate in one spot and heat soak components.

    FWIW, because DEF is so reactive with almost everything, most of the DEF system components are plastic. Think about that when you hot stop your engine.
     
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  9. MartinFromBC

    MartinFromBC Road Train Member

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    So true!
    And when you do hear a truck idling down, listen to it, rarely is the fan running. Today as we crossed the bridge bridge coming into downtown Quesnel, i flipped the engine fan on manually, we drove through town and out the other side to the yard where we were unloading the processor at, it had been running for 15 minutes as we slowly went through traffic and to the yard, the guy pointed to where he wanted it and we did the swing and stop, turned the stop delay timer on, and shut the key off. We got out and while unloading the machine it shut down. No i didn't unhook the neck, no need to, its also a beaver tail. We chatted with the guys a bit, then i loaded up the extremely tired old skidder they are getting rid of, chained it down, i told Laura that I was driving the next leg. We jumped in the cab, i shut the fan switch off and started the truck and we left. I always do it that way, the same way my uncle taught me to do it when I was 13. Now it seems people are too lazy to even turn the fan on so it can just run. My drivers are told it is my way or the highway...no exceptions. Some here think its pathetic of me to drive all summer in shorts and sandals, not jeans and boots...but I am not lazy that is for #### sure.
     
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  10. mustang190

    mustang190 Road Train Member

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    The problem is all these companies spec their trucks without a fan switch! But then again most drivers today have no idea what that is.
     
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  11. MartinFromBC

    MartinFromBC Road Train Member

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    I have never owned, or driven a truck without one. Just ordered 7 more trucks yesterday, with a manual fan switch.
     
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