Waiting on New Trucks thread.

One in a row

 

Actually a cabover gets pretty good fuel mileage.

 

Stop making sense

 

Wow, a whole lot of back and forth comparing footballs to pineapples. First off, no North American diesel engine manufacturer guarantees performance or fuel economy, so even identically spec'd trucks won't produce the same result, I've seen it numerous times over the years in the shop when comparing ECM totals between sister units.

Secondly, most on here are thinking along the lines of 80k# legal freight running 100k miles a year, while others are talking about niche markets running small areas, like I do. I think when you're talking typical legal OTR freight, an aero truck will be easier on the wallet at the pump. Otherwise, EVERY major dry van, reefer or flatbed company wouldn't be utilizing them, the guys in charge of those companies aren't idiots when it comes to making money. On the flip side, guys dragging around 100k#+ OSOW aren't going to see the same ROI on an aero truck, the load physically overcomes most, if not all, advantages that would be seen on a 102" × 53' whatever. You could argue that there would be an advantage though and I would think you would have to figure 2 places behind the decimal point to find it though.

 

I used to think that too, until I bought one of those units. Arguably one of the worst decisions I ever made, and didn't even get me arrested.

You're right about the last part with one caveat: they make money when you have over 1,000 of them in the field and lots of empty seats for backups. Just one by itself is a boat anchor. They're made to survive every possible rookie mistake over and over, then be cheap to repair/rebuild, and that's about it. Fuel and wear are barely a secondary concern with them.

 

To be fair Joel is his own boss at this point with the new truck he was working with his brother before he got this truck. And he is also one of the reasons the new spec's are coming out as he worked with the engineers at Volvo for some time. The problem with going to the dealer and asking them to spec a truck is often times they have no clue what they are doing. Even this new I-Torque spec has given almost every dealer an issue on ordering it. Unless that salesman is top notch I would never trust one myself. You would be better off doing your own home work with some input from them.

I do like your over all take on how it all work out. I think you are seeing why they do not spec that 2.47 with OD hardly at all because of starting power and reverse. As long as a person understand its limit it will be fine but put a moron behind the wheel and they will ruin it.

 

Nailed it yet again. Hint the reason I was making the comment on your 2.47 OD. Not many companies will try that spec without adding the 13 or 14 speed with crawler gears. But then would drop it lower if they had that.

 

I don't hate Joel. He's in a unique circumstance to try some really interesting stuff that happens to be funded in part, or fully, by Volvo or the carrier that owns the truck. Regardless, I appreciate his efforts to share it with the world, and his single-mindedness on fuel economy to show what's possible.

You touched on availability to the general public. What's never mentioned is cost and repair parts if you do manage to get it on the order sheet. Somehow these bleeding edge options never break or wear out?

It wasn't bleeding edge, or maybe it was when it came out, I suffered a similar situation so somewhat jaded/sensitive about it. The first truck I bought was an '04 Century with an early 14L. Not for nothing, it was an ok truck that got the job done most times. However, you may be aware that Detroit did some "bridge" configurations when transitioning from the 12.7 to 14L. Mine was one of those. Even some of the more common service parts, stuff that had no bearing really on the bridge-related stuff, were unobtanium. If you could find them, the cost was double or more and it took a week or two to get them. When the parts guy asked for my vin, it was just a few seconds until the other foot dropped. I knew what was coming. It was in fact the thing that tipped the scales at the end, in terms of a major repair, where it was cheaper to junk it and try another truck.

Re the 2.47. The first truck was off the lot, one of someone else's order of 8 trucks where he only took delivery of one. If the story is to be believed, the original guy was running contract dry van freight ATL to FL. I'm sure he was averaging deep into the 8's if not better, a much more ideal use case. I run anywhere east of I-35 roughly. I knew what I was getting into before taking it. I seen apparently credible accounts of others running similar specs even on western grades and decided to go for it. I haven't been disappointed obviously, as I ordered a second one just like the first. Incidentally it has also run true to the pre-order engineering runs optimizing speed, as well as truck/trailer dimensions.

 

I am sure Joel did get some kind of discount from Volvo since it was a flag ship truck and is featured for Volvo. Hell you may even be right as they could had given it to him. His brothers company helped sponsor a lot of the older spec's and sure Volvo has worked with them as well on pricing. They are running a new set up as we speak the way I understand it. I believe it has something to do with a 3rd gen TC but not really forsure.

I don't think all the stuff he has is even do able for what I would like to do in my business. The savings for the lift axle is not enough over time unless you own the truck longer than 4-5 years depending on fuel of course. I for one will never own a truck longer than 5 years and get new. I think most of the stuff he has on that truck is pretty easy to get vs any other Volvo on the road. And of course I could not do the super singles unless not at this point in my life.

He has the Link for suspension as an add on and a OBS system by Harvard. He also has the Airdog and that is based right down the road from me and is easy to get parts for. He also has some custom filters that anyone can get if they wanted but I see no reason for them. Samething on the Airfilter but it is pretty easy to get as well. Only thing I see maybe harder to get is his tires as he runs larger front tires and of course super singles.

Now is the transmission has a problem that might be something different since it is a 14 speed and not the more common 13 speed. But it will be covered under warranty at lest for 750K so not a real issue other than wait times. Really the truck it self is not anything special in parts but just spec'd right and the programming as well. Lots of it goes into that more than some people understand.

 

The dash calculation is rarely correct. Especially back then. Supposed to be accurate now. I’d never trust it. Good for honing mpg driving skills. My 99 Classic had one. It was always higher than reality. I could get it to read 10 mpg. Reality was 8.5