What is the most reliable truck you can buy? (That will run all 48 & pull ANYTHING)

Call Fitzgerald and get a glider kit with a 2003 60 Series rebuilt by Pittsburgh Power.

 

Well, if you really mean pull anything...

I'd like to see the 10-speeds with 3.36 rears trying to start 200,000 gross on 6%...

You spec a truck out for a job. There's some cross-over, but, the ultra fuel-efficient rigs aren't gonna pull the big loads... just like a 27,000lb. bobtail rig with double frame, 20k steer and pusher, and 48k rears won't do well pulling a reefer. Yeah, the horse will pull it no problem, but, it's going to get some horrendous fuel mileage doing it. It isn't the right truck for the job.

If we're talking it can pull about any sort of "legal loads" (i.e. non-OD/ overweight), look for something with a mid-roof.

Why? Because, if you wind up pulling a tanker, whether fuel or milk, or even grain-wagons for some places, the bays you're unloading in may only be 12-feet tall.

Other than that, pick and choose what you like for driveline.

Cat's are great pulling engines, but, when something breaks on them, it ain't cheap to fix it. Mack's can be pricey motors to work on, as well.

Cummins it can be six-one-half-a-dozen, some Cummins engines, like the N14, are very cheap to work on. Signature 600's? Not so much.

Detroit's are tough engines, part of why the big fleets liked the Series 60 so much is it was just a tough engine, hard for a rookie to tear apart.

Transmission choice is partially a matter of where you'll be running. 10-speeds are fine in the mountains, but, 13's are more enjoyable to run because you can clock into just the right ratio you need to pull the hill without overheating, but, still getting to the top quickly.

Rear-ends? Well, that's all a matter of discussion. Eaton is the dominant rear-end in the industry, and, for all intents and purposes, it's not a bad design and will tow the load. That being said, an Eaton rear is more delicate than say, Mack rears. At any given time, multiple teeth are in contact on a Mack rear-end, whereas in an Eaton design, only one set of teeth between the bull-gear and pinion are in contact at any given time. Spreading the torque-load over multiple sets of teeth will toughen that rear-end up. I've seen plenty of Eaton rears fail, never seen a Mack rear-end come apart.

Same goes for the Mack transmissions. Most other heavy truck transmissions utilize a twin-countershaft design. Again, not inherently a bad design. Mack, in true Mack style, went for more, developing a triple-countershaft design. Again, spreading the torque load out reduces strain on components.

Suspension systems come in all sorts of different designs. However, the most common style to see is a variation of the air-leaf design. Basically, it's a 4-bag air-ride system that utilizes a leaf-spring, as well. Kenworth's AG-suspension utilizes a leaf with a large radius in it mounting to the perch on the frame, whereas the Freightliner version (called the Air-glide, I believe), has a large spring-hanger that extends down from the frame on which the leaf-spring is mounted. There's other options, as well. If heavy work is your gig, few suspensions can handle overloading as well as the good old Hendrickson Walking Beam suspension, be it rubber-block or spring-ride, the design can handle significant weight, at the cost of ride-quality.

It all depends on what you want that truck to do.

 

My company buys Cascadias supposedly because their easy to fix.

 

The most reliable truck? Someone else's.