What if cab-overs wern't so aweful?

Well, talking about your basic design here, if your aunt was plumbed differently, then she would be your uncle. . .

 

Driver protection in the event of a crash seem to be the biggest issue.
Ride is the second.

 

I started out driving cabovers years ago. Besides all the negatives that everyone knows about my biggest concern was being the first one at the scene of an accident. Hoods provide a little better protection than a windshield in the event of a collision.

 

yeah i gotta go along with the ride being better and the added protection of the hood absorbing more of the wreck. also what i had found was that being over the engine, that engine heat rising was a biotch in the summer time, and not always welcomed in the winter (for me) either.

i think (on average) many of us "old timers" can get a hood into many of the same hard places a cab-over did, with a little more effort of course.

at least, i had no problems.

 

My first 8 or 9 years of trucking was in cab overs....
The biggest issue i had with them was if you crashed you most likely would not live to tell about it.
I like having the hood and frame sticking out in front of me...MUCH safer for the driver!

Those old trucks did not have very good AC in the ones that had AC at all...
Or nothing like going out west in the summer and the shifter boot ripped and all that engine heat choked you to death....lol!

These new drivers don't know how nice they have it in these newer rigs..
We never heard of air ride back then....just bone jarring,shaking and rolling..
I would get in from a trip and my insides would be sore for 2 days from all the jerking and bouncing...

 

I just wish they would make a cabover that was about 2 feet longer with storage cabinets. It would still be way shorter then your normal conventional. And with the same size bed as what I have now. It could easily be done with a 150" frame. I know the old cab overs sucked. But does anyone know how well the new euros ride?

 

Ez money nailed it. I started out in cabovers in the 80s. Spring ride suspension, single bunk, no power steering, rode like SHEYAT, and just plain ugly. A trip across I-80 in Pennsylvania in the 80s when it was beyond rough (unlike today) was abuse, hard physical abuse.


I'm no fan of todays freightliner cambodias, navistar pro scars etc, but now that I think of it, they would beat a COE any day LOL

 

an old cab over painted and fixed up nice looks great---but i sure wouldnt want to drive one nowadays----i hate crawling around trying to get dressed

 

Being able to stand up to put your pants/boots on!
Nothing between you and glory but thin sheet metal.