Picking my own freight baby! My journey to & of being on Schneider choice, the Adventure & Numbers!

Well it also could be that Crete is buying the cheapest version of the Cascadia and don't care how they're put together. ..

 

My turbo went in the ####ter @1200 miles..so PACCAR told them to replace it and turn truck up to 485HP to run the emissions hotter or some such..which turned it into a test truck.
So now I go to the dealer from time to time when they email me to get the ECM downloaded.
It made a world of difference..truck runs better and I've had little problems.

As for the "tune" I have a buddy that works at a Pete dealer who has access to the PACCAR computer program..he juiced up my torque curve and injection timing..bumped my limiter up a hair.

He couldn't turn me up to 500 HP without voiding the warranty..I might need that somewhere down the road.

 

those paccar changes are documented with SNI aren't they? Just to head off potential trouble down the road.

 

Yep..everything is above board.

Nothing to see here SFI..just move along.

 

Sounds to me like you've had experience driving a couple of Crete Freightliners and now have your entire opinion of the trucks they make based on that. Hell, half of the problem seems to stem from the fact that like most fleet maintenance shops, they don't give a crap about getting stuff done in a timely manner or fixing stuff the right way the first time around.

I'm guessing that most of those Cascadias you drove were driven by other drivers before, too? You know how many times those things probably drove off cold, shut down hot after pulling up a pass, were driven foot on the floor through the worst roads possible simply because the driver doesn't give a **** because it's not his truck? You ever watch some of these guys trying to slide their tandems that wind up so much torque in the driveline until it says "no" and stalls, sending the cab and everything in it flying all over the place? The Cascadia I leased was a well-maintained, good running truck. It was reliable, pretty comfortable, and never left me stranded. I took care of it because at the time it was "my" truck. Is it as nice as my T600? No. My T600, even with the miles it has on it, you still have to open the window a bit when closing the door to let the air pressure out or it won't shut all the way. It still seals up that well. It's got its fair share of shakes and rattles and little idiocies like any other million mile truck. But it was obviously well cared for by its previous owners and I will continue to treat it the same way. It's very difficult to give an accurate comparison if you're comparing a truck you got brand spanking new to driving a fleet truck that was used and abused by four previous drivers.

The way a driver treats his or her equipment has so much to do with how well it performs. If it's abused it'll abuse you back.

There's nothing wrong with being proud of your ride. I said it and I say it again, I'm not knocking anyone that has a T680, they are nice trucks. But to sit there and compare a T680 to a Cascadia like you would a largecar W900 to a 2 million mile Freightliner Century is silly. It's a truck.

 

I could tell the same stories about my kw T-800 which I bought new with just about every option they would bolt in it.....

Took 4 years to straighten the problems out .... No Tks to paccar (corporate weasels).

FW your truck is very nice ... But to new to tell if it's a problem child

 

Great description for the "Northeast" but please make sure you never include New York as part of New England... it's not and never will be part of New England (unless they get rid of the Yankees .

 

I've had three Cascadias in my short 3 year driving career.

My first one, when I was a company driver, was a company truck with one previous driver. It's was a 2011, can't remember how many miles were on it. It had the earlier version of DPF on it, DD engine, 10 speed. I drove it for a little over a year and had zero problems with it.

When I came over to Choice I went with a used 2011 Cascadia with 575,000 miles on it. My problems with that truck are well documented in my second thread. It was a POS. SFI let me out of my one year lease after 6 months.

I leased a 2015 Cascadia on a one year lease next. It's my current truck. It's treated me pretty well. Had some vibration issues, they've been resolved. It has zero squeaks and noises inside while I drive. It's got 89,000 miles on it. If it had the diesel APU I would have considered releasing it for another two years.

My next lease truck is a 2016 Cascadia with the AMT transmission on another one year lease. I paid the extra $1800 for the diesel APU. I'm also paying ThermoKing another $1000 for a couple of other upgrades to the APU. I never seriously considered leasing a KW or Pete. All I've ever known is the Cascadia since I've been driving. I know people that have the KW and love them. I believe you have to like the truck you drive, it obviously makes the job a lot easier. I'm very comfortable in the Cascadia. I wanted to try the AMT transmission. I've heard good things about it. We'll see how it goes...

Roll on....

 

Thanks sadwar! The ParkSmart was really that bad? Did I'd have the OptiIdle so it would auto start when the batteries got low? What upgrades did you have done?

I read your whole other thread...definitely got a back roll of the dice with the first truck...glad the other has treated you well!

 

My 2011 company truck had the ParkSmart system. Worked great, no OptiIdle, Schneider is anti-idle all the way...

My current truck has the Idle Free APU, all batteries. Works well for what it is, has a built in inverter and the AC works well. But it's no match to a diesel APU.