Is there a reason certain makes of trucks aren't seen often in the oilfield?

An all Mack truck is whatever you throws at it!! It looks odd but they are one heck of a workhorse!

 

You're in the wrong place. Lots of Western Stars around here, bottles, transports, sand haulers, you name it. Outside of Freightliners, which I have never seen setup in a truly heavy duty manner, you can pretty much bet the farm on NON-AERO Petes, KW's (particularly the T800), Western Stars and appropriately spec'd Macks.

It's really more about the chassis setup holding up to the lease roads, than the particular brand. For example, double frame, HEAVY axles (min 20K front, 46K rears), geographically appropriate driveline (here in PA 500hp is considered a minimum, as are 13speeds), etc.

 

Freightliners are lightweight, and just don't seem to be put together well enough to handle the pounding. We've got a few Pete tractors with 450-500K miles and the dashes/doors are rattle free, mirrors don't flap, cabs are quiet, and this is after a service life hauling water and flatbeds in gasfield work. Our Western Stars are much newer (oldest is 2010 I think), a mix of triaxle tankers and 3 or 4 axle winch trucks pulling frac tanks or rollertail trailers, but the same feeling of durability is there.

A road spec tractor doesn't do well here especially in a sand can. 10 speeds just have too large of a gap between gears to cope with some of our steep leases and access roads, and anything below 500hp is an exercise machine by way of gear shifting. The vast majority out here have 18 speeds. I can't understand how you can cope with a 10spd in the Rockies...here in the Appalachian region we have much shorter grades but they're STEEP (one nearby on a hardtop road is posted at 21%). Being able to split gears makes the difference between making reasonable time up the hill or having to chuck it in the low side near the bottom and crawl up, listening to offers to push/pull you up from all the guys with bigger motors

 

The company I work for has nothing but western stars

 

My company has a mixture of 379 Pete's, T800 KW's and Mack's. Lately all they have been buying is 13 speed Mack's - word is Mack cut them a deal so that's all we'll be getting for a while.
I drive a KW - 10 speed with a kitty. Good running and pulling truck.

 

lots of western stars pretty common acualy probably not quite as much as a pete or a kw but still very common. iv seen guys running all kinds of trucks out there freigtliners volvos macks petes kw's westernstars even seen a old autocar once.

 

And there is price point too. Mack, WS , Pete and KW are expensive per se. Mack is very proprietary too meaning you have to go back to the dealer. There is also a lot that goes into the buy decision like available power.......there was a time you couldn't get a Detroit in a Pacar product .........

JMO