question about aerodynamics and fuel consumption of cabover tractors.

i was told by a long time trucker,that the reason coe's get decent fuel mileage isw that there isw actually less total are exposed to wind drag---ok ok it doesnt make sense to me either --but i suppose if you take all the vertical and near vertical planes of the entire foreward facing portions--there probabely isnt alot of difference in area between a hooded truck and a flat truck
i drove one for awhile--i didnt really like it--up to high too wide --had to live like a lizard getting dressed or what ever--and if your coffee cup takes off accross the doghouse it is gone----but sure easy to get around places with it tho

 

Biggest thing I would caution about using/owning a COE these days is that you're gonna have to be a pretty good "old school" mechanic. Parts guys, parts. Lots of stuff there that you ain't gonna pick up from your local dealer/parts store anymore. Examples? Your cab hydraulics for one; dual action cylinder and pump. The linkages for the shifter and clutch. Radiator is another, very different from a conventional.

Sure, those parts can be found.... somewhere. But time involved is one thing if you're restoring one; another thing altogether when you're down while under a load someplace.

BTW, looking thru an old Overdrive magazine (July 1977) they have a "Tractor Dissection Report" (which they were always the best at) on the then new KW Aerodyne COE. List price $52,000 optioned out top of the line. SIGH.

 

That's $170,000 in 2009 dollars.

 

Kinda like buying a new Loanstarved huh? But at least back then you wasn't paying big bucks for recycled pop bottles and Chinese Electronics.

Y'know, you can still find a goodly number of the old COE's around. Wonder how many of the "Newer and Gooder" Plastic Fantastics will still exist 30 yrs from now?

 

SO far on my 95' I have never had no problem getting parts. I found if I ever neded one truckpro has in stock the cab jack. it is manual, but it would do the job. the hydraulic one & the lifts are available too. I don't knoe about the older ones. I bet they would be harder to get pars for. with mine being a INTL & so many built for Scheinder & walmart overthe past years, I think my make is easier to find parts for than other cab over's. the best part of my truck is non egr. & when something goes wrong it is easy to diagnos & fix unlike the new models.

 

I went for coffee this AM and saw Randy at the fuel stop. He's the guy with the cabover I posted about. Just returned from a round to Seattle and back. Got 6.23 mpg for the round. Went out at 79000 came back at 77300. Not bad for a cab over pulling a reefer. As an O/O fuel mileage is important to him so I'm sure he knows what his is and he's not a "hard charger" just runs steady and would guess around 65 pretty much all the way out and back. Do know he got in a bind a couple of weeks ago in Washington and loaded near Yakima on Tuesday and delivered the load in sw Mo Thursday AM. Said he was still trying to get over that one. Quote: "####, I ain't as young as I used to be". Anyway he's still got the COE and happy with it.

 

Maintenance costs were figured at $.05/mile more than conventionals.

 

World record for fuel efficiency is a COE.

www.daimler.com/.../0-5-1087728-1-1087768-1-0-0-0-0-0-8-7163-0-0-0-0-0-0-0.html -

 

More'n likely. Sure are goofy looking though!

Yessir-and I can't imagine that the average K100 on the lot was $52000 either. And inflation was so screwy in the late seventies that the figure I posted might not be all that accurate.

There's a big difference between the early electronic engines and the ones coming out now-the N14, 3406E, and Series 60(pre-egr) engines have really stood the test of time. Yeah, there are some electronics to mess with, but it's just a couple of sensors here and there, and they're very reliable. Yeah, the injectors are much more expensive, but if you throw in the cost of rebuilding an injection pump on a mechanical engine, you're probably about equal. The electronic engines have been around long enough that every shop in the country knows how to work on them, so they're not the big mystery they once were. I'm not arguing with you at all, I love mechanical pumps too, just playing devil's advocate a little.