Kenworth W900L owners and drivers

Always start out in low gear
Shift like you had an egg under your accelerator foot
Never use a clutch except to stop or back up, u should give yourself enough room at a traffic light so you dont have to stop.
GOAL Get out and look everytime you back.
Let everyone pass you and catch them at the truck stop.
EVERYONE on the road after dark is drunk except you.
Turn on your turn signal and move over to the line and count to 3 and see if you hear a beep-beep. Saved my ### more than once.
Wash and wax once a week. Customers see a lot of things and I know from experience that some even told our company not to send a dirty truck to their place again.
Do your bookwork every day and never fall behind, pay the IRS $500 every August, (just because, there is no rhyme or reason, it is a TAX)
Get a good bookkeeper
Deliver ontime or call and tell them why even if its 10 min. late. Stay clean and wear clean clothes.

 

Get the oil and antifreeze analyzed right off. I have used lucas products in the past,I gallon in oil at every change,put the additive in your wheel bearings on truck and if you havbe your own trailer use it. use it in your trans and rear ends as specs say,your trans and rears will run 20% cooler. I'm not one for additives but lucas does work. Use cat filters ,especially on the water side,never weld on a trailer when hooked up,it causes electrolis in your system and the chemical reaction can make holes and pits in your sleeves. be sure and have the ph checked and you will have a sound motor. use that clutch only when you have to,use your jake as often as possible,shut that engine off every chance you get. I ussually put new batteries in and new alternator,keep old one for sparre,new hoses for water and belts. everytime you stop check everything you can see ,like leaks undertruck, tires leaking,specially front ones,loose lugs. new scratches or damage,sometimes others are not too honest when they damage your truck,try to park it away from others or at best along a parallell area where only one side is exposed to another truck hitting your mirrors. It all costs money and you are the one paying for it all. Double check your load,is it secured inside? are the doors closed? i always put a lock on all enclosed trailers,doors can't be opened easily for intruders to look into your trailer. Don't forget to remove it if you drop or bobtail out.Sounds like you have a nice truck there. I just stepped out of a 99 W900L with a 550 cat and 18 in it,with a small sleeper,work has slowed and I am going back on the road. i am looking again now. best of luck to you.

 

Gee, Your'e welcome! Next time be specific. I hate it when people come off like jerks after asking a question.

 

Don't play around with your coolant is the # 1 thing I would say about that Cat. Do exactly what the factory says as far as cooling systems go. Otherwise you will end up with a cylinder liner leaking coolant into the oil.

 

we own 2- w900L's and both have 600 cats. We truthfully havnt had any major problems with them except on the older one (a 1999) one of the cylinder linings cracked took about 2 days of us pulling it apart and putting it back together and we were good anyone have similar problems?

 

Just reading over my info here. Two things,no jack rabbit starts,with cats your tires will wear really fast, don't do like some other drivers do,that is go thru all the gears all day long,use just the ones you need to pull the load steady and it saves your shifter forks gears etc,synchros,also slow down by letting your footup ahead of time,just use the jake,and downshift the top high gears,using the lower gears just wears the trans out,let the truck slow down by itself,you don't save time or money by slamming the gearbox. Don't run the jake all of the time,use it just to slow down,reason being,when you leave it on,you are causing alot of jerking and pulling on your drivetrain,this jerking causes your drivetrain to wear out faster,it wears your universals and can loosen your yokes on the trans and especially the rears,when this happens they can break or wear really fast. if you feel a slapping when you let up the fuel pedal and put it down and your universals are tight the yoke pinion nut is probably lose. I once had a new pete every year for 5 yrs with a company with an excellent maint mechanics there tightened that yoke pinion nut every month or two,as they loosen with wear, Always keep your tires inflated to the proper lbs . Constantly look for water or oil leaks,especially your heater and bunk hoses,the clamps and loops they are routed thru will chafe them if they rub,and get a pinhole then a sudden burst of loss of coolant or oil. If your engine ever loses oil pressure suddenly,put the clutch in and don't let it turn over. I had an oil plug fall out after having the engine serviced,it stayed in for three weeks and fell out,reason I missed it was the air dryer was spitting oil out under the engine and I never realized the plug was seeping under the oil pan,it fell out on 78 in nj coming downhill just before 287,buzzer came on looked at the guages,oil pressure was 0,shut the key off and coasted to a stop out of gear and clutch in, I save the engine,Ta mechanic replaced all the oil on the side of the road and three weeks later the oil pressure was still the same as it was before I lost the plug. Always use a torque wrench when you tighten plugs,less change of forgetting to tighten it. just thought I would add this info to help you. Most older mechanics agree with me that leaving the jake on while you shift does ruin the u joints faster,just some drivers can't shift without using the jake,it does help their timing,but best not to do it,especially if you own that truck and have to pay for extra wear and tear.