I am curious. (Companies running cabovers)

I drove cabovers during school. They had 3 of them and a couple conventionals. It came close to fist fights a few times when the keys were handed out as everyone learned how horrible the cabovers were by the second week. I have to admit that I have been to a few places where a short cabovers would have been welcome.



I've been in one the above before and they are nothing like the old school cabovers. The level of comfort is so much higher and they dont have the treacherous entry and exit ladder.

 

I love the look of old school cabovers. I have since 1970 when my uncle brought over his brand new White Freightliner when I was 5. I owned one 12 years ago, and it had air ride cab, so it wasn't that bad.

I was debating, and I decided for a W900L instead. I asked myself, if cabovers were as common as conventional, which would I prefer?

 

Forget it.

You were decades too late.

You DO NOT want to be in them anyway. There is a reason those nice conventional trucks have lots of space today.

Cabovers are a product of rather restrictive weights and tight spacing in certain docks of their time. However to live in one of those compared to a conventional is to suffer some losses to being human. Some of those bunks are about the size of a coffin for example and that doghouse prevents you from standing up and so on. The steers will whip you in certain trucks and pretty much hurt you crossing curbs at a bad angle. And god help you if you have no airride at all. It will pound everything inside that cab, including you loose.

 

Many cabovers in my past that were well speced in the day and had big power ..9670 intl ..362 Pete fat cab ..and last one I owned was a 86 k100e aerodyne ..400 cat air to air 13 spd that hauled arse and passed everything but a fuel pump .
Average mpg was 5.0 but in wind and cold could achieve low 4s .
I still love old iron but in my old age I'm more appreciatitive of peace quite comfort and 7 mpg average .
Love cabovers but no desire to drive them .

 

And in those days we had fast trucks, unrestricted. No computers anywhere. I never dreamed that I would look back on those years as some of the best. And what engines... you could red line em all day (And did on some of them...) but they will simply refuse to blow up. I suppose as bzinger stated, the bigger the fuel pump the easier it was to keep up with all else being equal (Sufficient air intake and a hell of a turbo... or two...)

I don't miss the fueling of those things. Glug glug glug every day, kaching! 300 here 300 there 300 some more. UGH.....

 

Let us not forget how our feet froze in cabovers in subzero temps ! .

 

I found an old picture of my 1979 K100. Btw, I still have it. I parked it when I bought my 379. I couldn’t part with it. Drove it for 24 years.

 

You got that right, had a 3406b @350hp in my 87' 362

Never any problems

 

I'm not hating on cabovers and love them !
I just love the luxury of my cascadia a lot more .

 

As mentioned, Gardner has a fleet of cabovers, mainly day cabs, I usually see them around the central valley, mainly Modesto area, though I saw several stopped for the night at the Coalinga exit across from Harris Ranch.
They deal with a lot of crappy docks and yards where you need a cabover or a yard goat to fit, so it makes sense for them, but you aren't going to be doing long haul with them!